PitchRank was built for one purpose: to create the fairest, most accurate youth soccer rankings in the country. We do that using a two-part rating system that looks at every game from multiple angles while staying stable, consistent, and extremely hard to manipulate.
At the heart of PitchRank is a powerful engine that understands the game the way coaches do — by looking deeper than scores. Here's what it takes into account:
Quality of Opponents
Your results are measured through the lens of who you played. Beat a top team? That matters. Roll over a struggling one? Not as much.
How Competitive You Were
A 1–0 battle against a powerhouse says more than a 10–0 cruise.
Strength of Schedule (SOS)
Your record is only half the story. Who you earned it against is the rest.
Offensive & Defensive Behavior
Your performance patterns matter — not just the scoreboard.
Recency
Yesterday's form matters more than last season's form.
Stability
Consistent teams get recognized. Fluky results don't define you.
The result? A true, data-driven measure of team strength — not just a tally of wins and losses.
Once we understand how strong a team is, our system evaluates how a team is trending. This is where machine learning comes in.
It looks at every game and asks: "Given what we know about both teams… did this result feel expected, or surprising?"
If a team consistently overperforms expectations → they're climbing.
If they regularly underperform → the system takes notice.
This adjustment is intentionally small, but incredibly powerful. It helps surface underrated teams — and filter out misleading results.
Our final rankings combine both components:
Core Performance
The foundation
ML Trend Adjustment
The fine-tuning
This blend creates a ranking that's:
- Stable week to week
- Fair to every team
- Impossible to "game"
- Reflective of real on-field strength
- Constantly learning as new games come in
It's the closest thing youth soccer has to a true rating system.
Every Monday morning, the entire network refreshes:
- New results feed the engine
- Strength of schedule updates
- Cross-state comparisons tighten
- Machine learning picks up new trends
The rankings get sharper every single week.
One of PitchRank's biggest strengths is how quickly the system builds connections. Tournament in Arizona meets tournament in Texas. Teams cross into California. National events tie everything together.
The more teams play, the more accurate — and nationally interconnected — the entire ranking ecosystem becomes.
New teams start conservatively, then rise as results come in. No inflated placements. No artificial penalties. Just a fair runway to show who you really are.
We tell you what matters — opponents, schedule strength, consistency, and performance trends — but we do not share the exact formulas, weights, or internal parameters.
That's our secret sauce. And it's what keeps PitchRank ahead of the curve.
Is this easy to manipulate?
No. Schedule strength, consistency patterns, and ML comparisons prevent "gaming the system."
Does winning by a lot help?
Only when the opponent is strong. Context is everything.
Why doesn't one game swing our ranking?
Because long-term patterns matter more than isolated results.
Can we report missing games?
Yes — tap the Missing Games button and we'll automatically find and add them.
Smart rankings.
Fair rankings.
Real rankings.
PitchRank blends statistical truth with real-world performance to show where teams actually stand — not where inflated scores or easy schedules would put them.