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Agree! Our team is one that often dominates on the field. But our coach takes the opportunity to try new plays, attackers practice off ball movement and their cuts, and players try new positions during high scoring games. Good sportsmanship allowing the other team to have a chance.

Agree! Our team often dominates and our coach uses the opportunity to try new plays, have attackers practice cutting and off ball movement and giving girls an opportunity to try new positions. You don't have to shoot and still show good sportsmanship.

If this is 100% true, have to share the name of the HS. If you hold it for 19 straight minutes, you forego normal rules of decorum and can expect people to talk.

I wish it was here, but there are 3 issues here:

1.) Who is paying for the equipment to do this? What if you are on a field with no scoreboard?

2.) This will take away a tactic that slightly lesser teams use to stay in the game with better teams. Taking the air out of the ball is an equalization strategy. So the rich will get richer.

3.) The MPSSAA is trying to grow the game (see PG county schools added a few years back). A shot clock will disincentivize adding girls lacrosse to areas that historically did not have teams. Come playoff time, these teams from non-lax areas are getting beat 25-0. With a Shot clock it will be 40-0, or a roll to the corner every 90 seconds or 2 minutes.

It was allowed in College lax till it finally changed (thankfully), maybe the coach looked up to MD because they were famous for holding the ball. I 100% agree that public HS should be using it and I'm not sure why they don't unless it's because they don't have the means/funds for the shot clock.

Good points!

It was not mentioned that the team that was stalling/holding the ball was losing by five goals at the time!!

There is a full article about it in the Capital Gazette today. It was Chesapeake High School who was LOSING 7-2 when they decided to hold the ball for 17 minutes. Their coach was quoted as saying it was a big victory for them as they had never held this opponent to 7 goals before (they typically get blown out by them). I am sorry but if I am a Chesapeake player or parent I would not be happy. I would rather my daughter try to compete and learn something from a game.

Basically the Chesapeake coaches (both former SPHS coaches) are saying to their team they are not good enough to be competitive. Way to pump up the self esteem of these girls. Talk about head games with athletes. The game in the first half was pretty competitive. The Chesapeake goalie rocked it out there. Total embarrassment for the Chesapeake program.

NU and Cuse to an extent were the teams who often won with a long stall. MD did it for 5 mins at the end of 1 champ game and rules were changed. What’s good for the goose…

Fairly important detailed left out of the original post.

Public schools are doing a disservice to players by not using a shot clock and sticking to halves not quarters. College is a different game now. Only way to prepare is high school and club. They should be mimicking the college play because it's a different game with quarters and a shot clock. Officials can keep shot clock time if clocks can't be bought. They have done it in the past for broken time clocks, scorekeepers who don't show up, penalties when needed. it would also alleviate a lot of the stress for offifcials who get nasty with said scorekeepers for not resetting.

bottom line- a lot needs to change about high school ball.

as the parent of a public school player there are lots of changes needed. the first and most important change is that public schools need to have "cross county divisions" for regular season play like the IAMM has. i know it's fun to have the spirit of playing against the other teams in your county but there's not enough good teams. you get these fool lopsided games that you would eliminate with divisions. Imagine if St. paul's had to keep playing a school like St Tim's who is a "C" division team because they're geographically close together. i know there are scrimmages and out of conference play but divisions would be best. Secondly they need to have shots clocks even if each team has their team manager or a parent volunteer sit at the actual shot clock and keep it. that way if you're at a field that doesn't utilize a scoreboard as a previous poster said you can still have portable shot clock. it can just be one the sits on the ground. although in four years of watching public school girls lax i've never been to a field without a scoreboard. thirdly , if a team is up by more than 10 or more they need to let the clock run and not stop it at each foul. a fourth which is an idea i hadn't thought of but another poster listed it is a 10 or more goal rule where then the shot clock could be turned off. that would solve the problem of an even more lopsided game because of having to shoot within 90 seconds. i would also say they need a tyker " up by more than 10" draw rule where the losing team automatically gets the draw possession but that may be too extreme. really the best way to line the public up with IAMM is divisions that span across counties. Pick any good IAMM "A" lax team then pick a school that is geographically close to them but in the "c"
or even low "B" and imagine if that's the kind of team the A division girls had to play. public schools team (the strong ones but also the team who aren't strong) don't want to play these blowouts. Both the winning and losing team detest it!!!

Public schools athletics don’t care if you are going to college. It’s part of the overall educational experience and it’s an activity to participate in. The MPSSAA is a joke. Leadership is weak and nothing to add for the athletes. Public school lax is incredibly average now cause kids going to privates even to sit on bench.

A public school can schedule games against anyone they like - it's up to the athletic directors and coaches. Look at Glenelg's schedule.

And it's not just a public school problem. Look at the WCAC...they also don't have a shot clock.

That was the most bizarre article! The ches coach was referenced as saying that sphs ran the score on Ches when they played last year - that was the reason for her holding the ball for 17mins when her team is down by 5 points…but SHE was the head coach at sphs at the time?! Very strange logic in that article.

That ches team had an amazing goalie and some great players/athletes - she should have given them a shot. It was difficult to watch- I felt horrible for those ches players- knowing that they knew their coach had no faith in them. She made it all about herself. Sad.

iamm
IAMM lax is average too except for the top 8 teams of the "A" division. bottom of A and all of B and C is what i would consider average. those teams could be beat by heros and m&d's 7th and 8th grade teams

As far as public schools go, it is an issue of perspective. Everyone who reads and comments on this board, play or have kids on a high level lacrosse team. There are 163 schools listed for Girls lacrosse on the MPSSAA site, there are 144 that will field a team for the playoffs. Of those 144 maybe 14 (and that is generous) are Elite (Dulaney, Towson, Hereford, Broadneck, Severna Park, Glenelg, Marriotts Ridge, Middletown, CM Wright, Century, Manchester Valley, Westminster, Liberty, South Carroll) and there are probably 10 more schools (again being generous) that wouldn't be embarrassed by those 14 (Catonsville, Howard, Mt. Hebron, Urbana, Linganore, Bel Air, Fallston, Huntingtown, Queen Anne's, Stephen Decatur). So at the low end 14 of 144 (10%) or at the high end 24 of 144 (~17%). In actually there are probably 6 Elite teams (Glenelg, Man Val, Liberty, Towson, Severna Park, Broadneck) that would be ideal for shot clock play.

The bigger argument is unbalanced Regions in terms of numbers and talent. The fact that only one of Glenelg, Man Valley or Century comes out of a region into the final 8 of 2A when the winner of Northeast (AA) and Frederick Douglass (PG) goes to the final 8 is a joke. The same thing happens in 3A where Westminster, Marriotts Ridge, and Hebron are all together but Catonsville has to battle through Poly, Mervo and Woodlawn to get to the final 8. This state is not that big, have play in games down to 32 (or even 16), seed 1 to 32 (16), and play it out. Teams should not be punished for being in proximity to other good teams. If we want a competitive final 4 and championship, have the best teams advance, not kill each other in the region.

New coach can’t fill the shoes of her predecessor. Lots of girls have quit over the last year, and recruiting has dropped off.

So true and its a very good point

The state is plenty wide. Imagine stephen Decatur travelling to Century and linganore with 1 day off. I think the geographic regions make sense for the first bit. You can change them around a bit no need for Mont Co to all be in 1 region. I think they are aligned with other sports for the most part so to have an alignment just for 1 sport or each one individually each year is too much for the MPSSA. I am sure I could do a pretty good job for lacrosse but what about softball/ baseball etc. It used to be just 2 divisions not that long ago in lacrosse. I think the idea was that it would give more teams a chance to win. The real problem is that the lacrosse instruction for youth is extremely uneven in the state and getting worse.

Times have changed.
Century is not good. Hereford is average. Broadneck is ok.
Glenelg , Towson and SP are top 3. MV is next level but hasn’t beat anyone good yet. Marriotts ridge is solid. Liberty wins by stall ball. They would struggle vs teams with the shot clock.
I definitely agree on getting rid of regions and seeding. The final four will be lucky to have 2 really good teams there.

…onto the next round.

The Elite list was year over year, so there is definitely ebbs and flows. Century has won 9 titles, including an undefeated season last year, and has only been playing varsity lacrosse since 2004. I agree they aren't elite this season, but I doubt the talent has dried up in Sykesville/Eldersburg. They'll be back.

I just looked at Man Val schedule and with the exception of Franklin, every team they played had a winning record against quality opponents. But yes, they did not schedule any IAAM. They have to go through Glenelg in the 2A region, so we will see what they are made of.


1A champ will be the winner of South Carroll/Liberty and play Fallston
2A champ will be the winner of Glenelg/Man Val and play Hereford or Middletown
3A final will be good with SP, Towson, and Westminster/Marriotts Ridge Winner. I say SP.
4A Champ will be Broadneck and they'll play Dualney

Another year, another year of the same teams. It was refreshing 2 years ago when Queen Anne's and Middletown broke through. Don't see that happening this season.

True but 90% of the teams are between Frederick and Easton and they already do neutral site for the final 8 and lower. I am sure they can make a rule that allows teams to play halfway for the 1 or 2 games that are longer than an hour ride. MPSSAA already assigns classes to schools who don't correspond to their main class. (i.e. drops bottom half 2A teams in the 1A bracket, drops bottom half 3A teams in the 2A bracket), so having an exception for lacrosse is not unheard of.

Or maybe a simpler solution is to not bucket the geographic regions before the season starts, wait to see who fields a team for the playoffs and then divide the number of teams by the 8 regions. That way you could have 8 regions of 5, geographically aligned. instead of 7 teams in one region and 2 in another.

GCS with a scare, but take the Dub. Good smack in the face to get ready for McD!

THe GCS result was a surpise. Congrats for sending them back to PG County.

Heard there is a looming shake up at Maryvale.

GCS-MV final. Both programs going out with a bang

looked at Man Val schedule and with the exception of Franklin, every team they played had a winning record against quality opponents. But yes, they did not schedule any IAAM. They have to go through Glenelg in the 2A region, so we will see what they are made of.

manchester valley lot to towson and had a close game with hereford but beat westminster pretty bad. they play good teams

Don’t just leave us all hanging in suspense, what’s the shake up?

Apparently Geography is not a strong suit for GCS parents… PG County??

Odds of an upset by either GCS or MP on Tuesday?

I’ll go to Vegas picking Maryvale over SPSG

1000-1

Manchester Valley lost to Towson in a scrimmage by 1 and beat Hereford in a scrimmage 15-3.

This is funny! honor is not a bad thing.

I am intrigued by the shakeup rumor!

I would be in on this one! BR defending the Alamo.

BR has not won an A conference semi final before.

BOTH programs going out with a bang? Seems like the implication is that BR is going somewhere. But why would that be the case? He just got there. His kid is there. The team has been rising in the ranks and the school seems proud of it. And they've been heavily recruiting for the future.

All it takes is someone to drop one sentence in an anonymous forum for the sheep to run with it.