League Size, Schedule, and Playoffs
4 Team League
One Division of 4 teams.
Each team plays each other team twice.
Playoffs and Cup Game:
There is no playoff round in a 4 Team League. Instead teams play the final Cup Games on the last day.
The Gold Cup is 1st Place versus 2nd Place. The winning team receives Gold Medals and the losing team receives Silver Medals.
The Bronze Cup is 3rd Place versus 4th Place. The winning team receives Bronze Medals. The losing team does not receive medals.
It is six Regular Season Games plus one Cup Game for seven games total.
6 Team League
One Division of 6 teams.
Each team plays each other team once.
Playoffs and Cup Game:
1st and 2nd Place receive a Bye. 3rd Place plays 6th Place and 4th Place plays 5th Place.
The losing teams play in the Copper Cup and the Winning teams play 1st Place and 2nd Place.
The losing teams from those games play in the Bronze Cup and the winning teams play in Gold Cup.
It is five Regular Season Games and one or two Playoff Games, plus a Cup Game, for 7 to 8 games total.
8 Team League
Two Groups of 4 teams.
Each team plays each other team in their Group once.
Teams are then split into an upper and a lower Conference, based on their performance in their 3 Group Play Games.
The Game 4 and Game 5 match ups are crossover games against teams in the other Group and corresponding new Conference.
Playoffs and Cup Game:
Each Conference has a separate Playoff Bracket.
1st Place versus 4th Place in the Gold Cup, and 2nd Place versus 3rd Place in the Bronze Cup.
The losing teams play in the Bronze Cup and the winning teams play in the Gold Cup.
It is five Regular Season Games, one Playoff Game, and one Cup Game, for 7 games total.
The first 3 games in Leagues with 8 or more teams are called Group Play games, which concluded Saturday. The next Match Ups have been determined and the final schedule for Saturday has been posted to TeamSnap. Some game times had to be moved up or back one time slot from their original tentative game times. Please review.
Click the link below for the Spring Standings, Schedules, and Results.
https://www.pennathleticsclub.org/soccer-spring
The results of the first 3 games determine Conference and the next two opponents. The Eastern Conference is the upper conference and the Western Conference is the lower conference.
Basically, after the first three games, half the teams go to the upper and half the teams go to the lower. This split fosters better match ups as teams progress through the season, culminating with your best match up, or most evenly matched opponent, in the final game of the season.
10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, or 24 Team League
Groups of 4 teams.
Each team plays each other team in their Group once.
Teams are then split into an upper and a lower Conference, based on their performance in their 3 Group Play Games.
The Game 4 and Game 5 match ups are crossover games against teams in another Group and corresponding new Conference.
Playoffs and Cup Game:
Each Conference has a separate Playoff Bracket.
Each Playoff Bracket is similar to the 8 Team League Playoff Bracket format, but varies according to the number of teams.
The remaining two unbeaten teams in the Playoffs meet in the Gold Cup.
All other teams also play in Cup Games on the last day - Bronze Cup, Copper Cup, etc.
It is five Regular Season Games, one to two Playoff Games, and one Cup Game, for 7 to 8 games total.
Cancelled Games are rescheduled to the predetermined Make Up Date.
An even number of teams is strongly preferred, however, an odd number of teams is possible. Their formats are similar in design, but are generally structured very differently and are much more complex, which is why we only have an odd number of teams as a last option.
Teams may have more than 2 playoff games in Leagues with 16 or more teams.
