US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2026 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

Disgusting.

There are good tournaments and bad. The more shady the tournament, the fewer teams attend, so the more they need to combine age groups. That is the cycle. Buyer beware.

Anyone from Team 91 want to chime in on the 91 Carolina game?

So this means what exactly?

Sure, MD didn't play that well. Both teams missing players as well.

To his credit Carolina goalie played very well. Its a fall scrimmage, not even a tournament.

Our 91 team was missing several key players because football. It’s playoffs and they did not want to risk injury.

91 produces more D1 athletes than your club. Don’t be jealous

As someone posted above, Madlax events are in fact one of the tourneys where, let me get this somewhat right, asks program directors "especially those who use an age based category like 12U or U14" to enter in the Madlax grad age class where "most of" their players are classed. I would bet that light weight programs from outside the DC-Boston corridor complain about being classed by their oldest class player, and at the end of the day, ML wants them to attend the event, pay up, and get beat up by the HoCo Elite, or NY/NJ top tier crowd.

1. This certainly lets ML play fast and loose with *their* holdbacks
2. This certainly frees up ML to play whoever the heck they want, because when the Cleveland Hobos LC or whoever, come to play ML DMV 2026, how would they know the players are from ML Capital 2024/5/6 ?

So that's how you end up having a team of approximately half 2024s playing in a 2025-2026 bracket against true 2026 rosters. All these tourney organizers with loose rules are lucky that a kid hasn't been permanently injured in one of these events. Yeah, liability waivers etc etc.

That was a lot of wasted hot air because I am not a Crabs dad.

Now come on, you already know the answer to this.

Pick any two that apply....

Saturady in MD is for football
Carolina had a few 23's playing, drove themsleves to game
ref was from Charlotte
MD big boys didn't fly in from TX
It was their B team
Millon had all the starters at a clinic
They were a "National" team playing local kids
Everyone in Carolina is on Growth Hormones
Fall lacrosse doesn't even matter
St Paul's had their Open House

2022 HOCO final standings
Crabs
Hawks
VLC
DC Express
True Md
FCA
91 MD
Next Level

91 will be in the mix with hawks and crabs. #Gilman#Elite#yourkidwillworkformine

Mark says all of the above.

You forgot it was windy.

Sure your not holdback dad... or should I say King Crab .

Spring is a long way off. Go enjoy your winter.

Whats wrong with that??? It is MD after all . Isnt playing down the norm? Frankly the rules should be if you want to play down a year ( in age) Everyone can regardless of grade ... Would even everything out.

It's good to see parents getting mad.

Crabs 26, holdbacks, play downs, and everything Madlax does to cheat every chance they get are what is wrong with lacrosse. It's disgusting. In just the past 5 years, I've seen Madlax get caught cheating 3 times in various tournaments.

It's all nothing more than cheating...sanctioned or otherwise.

Lacrosse needs to go the way hockey, soccer and just about every other competitive sport does and go calendar year with identification cards that are used to verify rosters before every game.

Crabs - holdbacks and new additions
Hawks - Rage punching the air still soft at defense
DC Express - best of BLC, VLC and next level
Looney’s - new additions and key kids back from injury
True Md - new additions and goaltending
VLC - lost too many kids but has some talent at middie
91 Md - if they bring in Texas kids drop them down 1
FCA - purged by Looney’s but has strong midfield
Top Caliber - best AAA Team moves up
Next Level - best of the worst remaining

And if lacrosse is determined to stay grade based then at least require players to show proof of grade.

Did we ever get resolution on this? Details or a cell number?

Did ML get kick to the curb? where do they fit in?

You think that there are HS freshmen playing on8th grade travel teams?

Do the current Crabs parents and coaches not realize there are former parents and coaches still connected that are providing birth dates and details for every kid on the roster. You can't hide or holdback from facts. Just embrace it and be the villain. Stop the denial. Enjoy whooping up on everyone this year, cuz it's gonna be a long sad one next year when there's no way to hide your kid needing an advantage in High School. He will sit there just being not as good and wonder what happened. Of course there's always a 2nd year to hold back if you still don't have any pride left.

yes

Yes. Known fact. People I know personally are doing this now. They are “planning on doing a PG year after HS” so they think that this okay. I tell them they are cheating. They don’t think so. I won’t call their club out. It is up to them to follow the rules.

THIS! It’s hilarious actually, the crabs denial. I think they must be forced to take a class on how to deny.

Do you think Crab parents care what everyone else thinks…you’re a 🤡 if you think they do!

Yes, ML has one...

You are right, they don’t, which makes them 🚮.

For ML, Crabs and others, that's the amusing thing.

You are talking about families where entitlement and inevitability reign supreme. They are in their own world and just don't care about any outsiders' opinions.

The end game is age 14-18 LAX GLORY, a prestigious scholarship to a D1 school where they get zero playing time, then Going to work for Dad's firm, or possibly some bigger firm with his bros, at age 25-26 instead of age 23-24. When Dad's Plan is already set, who cares about the extra 1-2 years of school

For half of them, the inevitability of Dad's Life Plan for them can be a recipe for self destruction or at least life long depression. "Bro I was a rock star when I was 16, I played teams that were all 14 year olds! LETS GO!"

This fall alone I've seen:

One: 2025 "all star" player from out of state, suiting up for a club's 2026 B team
Several: Comments from my kid, "That guy is a 2025, I know him from FCL / Trilogy / he's a high schooler at my school."

Lost some key players, poor coaching, poor practice attendance, and never had much team chemistry. They lost to a AAA team recently. But they still belong in the elite division; no way their owner would allow them to be bounced down.

I love this answer. Can we be friends?

Looks pretty accurate to me, with one exception. DCE tried to get the best of VLC and NextLevel, but in the end, all they got was one d-pole from NextLevel. And, DCE lost a player or two to MadLax. So if DCE finishes third to Hawks and Crabs, it would be due to remarkable development of their existing players (ie, legacy BLC), not new players acquired from other teams.

They lost a goalie to VLC, an attack to TRW, another attack to ???... practice twice a week and boys play football as well in the fall.

HOCO will be interesting for sure.

lol whatever makes you feel better about yourself and current situation. Hang in there; more government checks on the way for you.

Crabs parents most certainly care what everyone else thinks.
As a whole, they are the most insecure parents in all of club lacrosse.

Edge from Canada had several teams just like this. Parents didnt hide the fact they were. They said whats the big deal. The rest of the teams they are playing against are loaded with holdbacks? They intend to do a PG or holdback and switch to another school ( private)

Ha! Struck a nerve. As if the only alternative to working for Daddy, with your UVA American Studies diploma, is to be unemployed. I love it!

Let me guess, third generation at Bullis/Landon, your son scores high on all standardized tests (and has, since private school pre-K evals) yet you held him back for pre-1st and are holding him back in 8th 'to make sure he's on target.' You're a partner at the firm your dad founded and the firm has an ad on the Bullis scoreboard. Your son is good enough to start at an on-age AAA club but who has time for that. Within 9 months he'll be two years older and an Elite starter, and that's the beginning of the best part - bragging at golf club lunches about who is recruiting your kid for D1, just like Dad and granddad.

I'm not necessarily against any of it.

It's just remarkably on-brand. Including the smugness.