US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2028 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

Team Money hung tough today. Close at the half. Hawks are not invincible. FCA made NL look better than they are. DCE could surprise them next week. Madlax flyins were not enough.

Lots. So what?

It’s getting pretty clear how this seasons going to go. Crabs, Hawks, and FCA will be in the playoffs. Team Money, DCE, and 91 won’t get any wins except against each other. MadLax vs Next Level this Saturday will decide the final playoff spot. And you can bet that MadLax will have all its fly ins, the student goalie will be on, and MadLax will get it done. Bring it on baby!!

It would be interesting to know since you don’t know what team you’re facing week to week, similar to true last year.

Thanks Madlax Goalie Dad. When was the last time Madlax won a game? Dukes Elite B team in the fall?

Team Money had a bunch of freedom kids for the Hawks game. They make that team better to watch.

Hung tough? Didn’t they lose by 10?

Hawks and Crabs are the only sure thing at this point. Couple pivotal games this weekend: DCE Vs FCA and Madlax Vs Next Level. Those outcomes will determine last 2 spots.

While we’re on the subject here are this week’s early predictions based on what we’ve seen through 3:

DCE 8, FCA 6
NL 5, Madlax 4 in OT
Hawks 11, Team 91 3
Crabs 13, Money 7

Has DCE righted the ship with an easy win over 91? Hard to say. FCA winning, but not decisively. They’re at risk against DCE.

NL is hearing the air come out of their balloon after the week 1 win. Blown out by Crabs, and couldn’t handle FCA in a swing game. Madlax showing signs of life with good FOGO, but an 0-2 start with Hawks on the horizon next week, this game is a must or they’re headed for 0-4 start and the flyins might cancel their travel plans last couple weeks.

Hawks will roll. But 91 has two very good goalies that can keep them in games. Maybe tighter outcome than some expect.

Crabs will win, but Money will keep it close till late. Crabs have some offensive firepower, particularly the left attackman, but average at some key positions. Someone could sneak up on them. Is it Money? Probably not, but they could lose a couple games before playoffs.

My guy, it's 8th grade, which means next year is 9th grade. You are going to need to get onboard with the fact that if your son's team is anywhere near the top 50 nationally (or plays teams who are), that "new players" who never played for the club in 3rd-8th grades, and who never attend a single team workout in 9th grade, are going to magically appear at tournaments. Why does 91MD have boarding school players from New Hampshire? Because Crabs brings in players from FL and Madlax brings in kids from OH and TX, because 2-Way and Hawks don't care where the kids are from.

I know you were told that if you paid your son's club on time every year, that he would have this magical elite journey through high school club ball, where everything would be "fair" and "we never cut hard workers" etc. Well you'll see when you get the "practice team" email in May 2025, that it was all untrue. Sorry.

Are the Freedom kids really not there??

Team Money is a great group of kids on their own, and the 6-7 or so truly elite players from the squad are pretty special and well known. Enough to beat any team in AA (as they did last year in tournaments) and probably beat the brakes off of the AAA "why are you even here" teams like FCA White, Cannons and ProSlash.

With another 6-8 kids from Freedom it was enough for Money to cruise through AAA last year, even. But they'd need another half dozen difference makers (a full second line) to win Hoco elite games. I don't think they'd beat anybody except 91 with last year's Freedom players.

6-7 players who are elite and “pretty well known…” to whom, those spinning their wheels on Instagram Reels? They’re driving down i95 to get their doors blown off every Sat.

3 freedom kids play with money. They play with Money when they can throughout the year. A couple money kids played for freedom in the World Series last year. Many kids for multiple teams it’s not a new concept.

Money is so incredibly overrated…..facts- AAA last year they had to “beat the breaks off,” the “why are you even here FCA White” 6-5 in semi, just to make it to the AAA final.

Very detailed analysis… It’s 8th grade lacrosse, not the World Series.
It sounds like you sit around and watch every game which is odd, otherwise you’re just talking out of your a… pick one.

Some (most?) of the kids have already turned our focus to HS.

So Money is the new Red Hots?

yeah I really dislike it when people come on to youth lacrosse boards and, um, talk about youth lacrosse

Money lost to Predators just last summer....come on!

Why wasn't there a play-in game with Clippers for last Elite spot?

Haaaa.

The Talk of Baltimore!!!

Do they do that?

- 91 will win every face off, so I don't see how DCE, the worst D in the league, will hold them to 2 goals. I will take the six here.[/quote]

I'm the guy who said "Ha I could take your money," but I gotta admit your lines were pretty darn good. For Hawks/Money, you set a 10 goal spread and Hawks won by 9. You predicted that FCA/NL would be close, and it was, and wise bettors know to go against NL in the close ones. Crabs v. MadLax was closer than you predicted (a three goal margin when the line was 9) but everyone knows MadLax has one of the top 2 2028 goalies in the country, and MadLax has more juice than anyone expected. And DCE v. Team 91 you hit right on the nose, a 6 goal spread. For the record, I would have won two of my three bets, and pushed the other, but well done! If you wish, go ahead and set some lines for this weekend please.

What did happen to Preds? It seemed like they were making some progress at the end of last summer but now they're struggling in AA - did players switch teams?

Beginning to think the Mad lax fly in guy is also the Clippers super fan. I’d rather hear everyone complain about holdbacks than talk about fly ins and how the Clippers are going to dominant the lacrosse world.

Clippers better hope they win AAA first

I'm the guy who said "Ha I could take your money," but I gotta admit your lines were pretty darn good. For Hawks/Money, you set a 10 goal spread and Hawks won by 9. You predicted that FCA/NL would be close, and it was, and wise bettors know to go against NL in the close ones. Crabs v. MadLax was closer than you predicted (a three goal margin when the line was 9) but everyone knows MadLax has one of the top 2 2028 goalies in the country, and MadLax has more juice than anyone expected. And DCE v. Team 91 you hit right on the nose, a 6 goal spread. For the record, I would have won two of my three bets, and pushed the other, but well done! If you wish, go ahead and set some lines for this weekend please.[/quote]

I'm the guy who said "Ha I could take your money," but I gotta admit your lines were pretty darn good. For Hawks/Money, you set a 10 goal spread and Hawks won by 9. You predicted that FCA/NL would be close, and it was, and wise bettors know to go against NL in the close ones. Crabs v. MadLax was closer than you predicted (a three goal margin when the line was 9) but everyone knows MadLax has one of the top 2 2028 goalies in the country, and MadLax has more juice than anyone expected. And DCE v. Team 91 you hit right on the nose, a 6 goal spread. For the record, I would have won two of my three bets, and pushed the other, but well done! If you wish, go ahead and set some lines for this weekend please.[/quote]

Haaaa. Lines will be up on Draft Kings by Wednesday

MD Predators seems to be a stopping spot for kids looking to move up to higher level teams. They build some momentum then lose a handful of starters. Not sure why.

Dear MadLax Goalie Dad ... You really just have to stop at this point. It's not a good look. Your son is an above average goalie; he's very good. But just off the top of my head, there are two goalies in GA, two in NY, two in PA, one in TX, one in CA, one in OH, and at least two in HoCo better than he is.

Saturday will tell the story for MadLax. If they win, they are a playoff team, if they lose they are an 0-3 team whose fly ins will probably stop coming.

If they do win— they’ll be 1-3 next weekend. Tough climb to make playoffs from that point.

Clarifying week for the playoff picture:

Crabs v Team Money: Crabs win this, go to 4-0, Money drops to 0-3. Team Money scored more goals than expected vs Hawks so we'll see if they can do the same to Crabs.
Hawks v Team 91: Hawks take this, join Crabs at top at 4-0. Team 91 drops to 1-3.

Now it gets interesting:
DCE vs FCA: FCA likely edges DCE here, goes to 3-1, DCE drops to 1-3.
NL vs ML: Ahhhh, too close to call for me. It seems like a different NL team shows up every week. I think NL takes it in a close one and goes to 2-2, ML drops to 0-3.

Standings (remaining games)

Top two playoff spots locked up:
Crabs 4-0 (DCE, FCA, Hawks)
Hawks 4-0 (ML, NL, Crabs)

Crabs still have some tough games left to play. Hawks likely edge them for the #1 seed. Hawks v Crabs on final day of the season is likely a championship preview.

Middle Tier:
FCA 3-1 (Team 91, Crabs, Team Money)
NL 2-2 (Team Money, Team 91, Hawks)

FCA set up nicely, could grab the #2 seed. NL v ML is must win for NL, if they drop to 1-3 this weekend most realistic W/L will be 3-4 and out of the playoffs.

Also Rans:
DCE 1-3 (Crabs, Team Money, Madlax)
Team 91 1-3 (FCA, Madlax, NL)
Madlax 0-3 (Team Money, Hawks, Team 91, DCE)
Team Money (Madlax, NL, DCE, FCA)

It gets pretty interesting down here. A DCE loss to FCA this weekend would effectively knock them out and they'd likely finish 3-4. Cage match versus Madlax on the last day of the season, regardless of records that one should be intense. If DCE wins vs FCA this weekend, 4-3 and a playoff spot are still on the table.

Team 91 and Team Money have pretty brutal games remaining and can likely only play spoiler for the rest of the season. I haven't seen Money play but 91 isn't bad, but there's no room for error in Elite and they've paid the price for not having enough depth.

If Madlax can pull the upset versus NL this weekend they'll be at 1-2 with winnable games versus Money and 91. Madlax vs DCE on last day of the season could potentially be two 3-3 teams battling for the last playoff spot.

it will be close Clippers - Express Orange in AAA or Clippers Team Maryland. One of those three teams, will come out on top. this weekend Express Orange looked good but couldn't stop 11 on Clippers. should be good battle in AAA

It was a bummer how that game ended. Express Defender came in to stop an Clippers Attack and the Attack slipped and the Defender hit his helmet. Then Clippers won with a man down. But sometimes that is just the way it goes. Express Orange was definitely a different team from the prior week.

It was a good, competitive game. Would look forward to playing them again.

You only have half of the equation. If they win, and if FCA beats DCE— they have a chance. But they’ll be 1-3 after next weekend should they upset NL this weekend. Would need to win out.

Greater likelihood is what someone else suggested. they go to 0-4 next Sat and the flyins stay home

Wait, is there still time to change team names for this HOCO season? Asking for a friend.

Well played.

Haaaaaaaa. Burrito Supreme, Moniments, and Capital have already been used. Will need to get more imaginative.

Lost 18 of 29 players. Only a few of last year's players even showed up for tryouts. The rest were given their roster spots back. 2027 and 2029 Preds teams have a better culture and more invested coaches. That's the cleanest explanation.

One of the loudest Preds families went to 91 last summer but recently went back to Preds. I'm sure Dad will be here soon to tell us all about it.

So it looks like the playoff picture will come down to two games, MadLax vs. Next Level this Saturday, and Madlax vs DCE on the last day. One of those three will get the last playoff spot. I don't see a scenario where Crabs, Hawks, and FCA do not make the playoffs, nor do I see a path where 91 or Team Money do make it. I expect there will be movement among those teams this summer as teams get set for HS, so how those teams perform against each other is big. Madlax families buy your plane tickets and book your hotels!