Not only are men, on average, stronger and faster than their female counterparts – teenage boys are sometimes better athletes than female college soccer players.
Recently, the Crossfire U14 Boys soccer team defeated the University of Washington women’s soccer team 2 to 1.
Political commentator Brandi Kruse first noticed the April 30 match and then noted that the women’s team lost.
As a reminder “U14” means “14 years of age and under,” so these players could have also been 12 and 13 years-old.
Commentator Ari Hoffman noted that the women’s team is still pretty good.
“The Washington Huskies women’s Division I soccer program is coming off a Big Ten Tournament championship and an Elite Eight appearance last season,” he wrote for The Post Millennial. “Yet despite the program’s success, the women reportedly lost to a boys’ team made up of players too young to drive.”
He said the result should come as no surprise, given the physical differences between men and women – even between 13-year-old boys and 21-year-old women.
Hoffman wrote:
To longtime observers of the issue, the outcome was hardly surprising. Women’s teams have frequently trained against boys squads for years because the increased speed, strength, and pace of play can sharpen performance ahead of competition against other women. Coaches often view the practice as a way to simulate tougher conditions before matches that are expected to be less physically demanding.
Indeed, this is not the first time a boys’ travel team defeated an elite women’s team.
Infamously, the U.S. Women’s National Team lost to a U15 boys soccer team 5-2 in 2017, as CBS Sports previously reported.
Reporter Roger Gonzalez ran interference for the team, claiming the women’s team “surely wasn’t going all out, with the main goal being to get some minutes on the pitch, build chemistry when it comes to moving the ball around, improve defensive shape and get ready for Russia.”
In 2022, Arsenal’s female team similarly lost 5-0 to a U15 squad.
“Biologically, a team of boys aged 14 to 16 are thought to provide the ideal test for a women’s team because, although they are often quicker and stronger, they are not at the insurmountable level of a senior men’s side,” The Times reported.
[Featured image courtesy of University of Washington athletics]
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