you will never guess that 17 out of the 22 girls on the upper class team were from YJ. Almost 80%. Then you throw in 1 each basically from TG, Liberty, Title 9 and 2 from Elevate. Trust me there are some exceptional girls on this team no matter what travel program they play for but seriously...
The girls selected are a very talented group. There are others who are just as deserving. Some didn't bother with the tryout because UA on LI isn't a real tryout with the teams being selected based on performance during the 2 days. Way too much weight is given to who you play for and your reputation.
There are 18 high schools represented on the Highlight (17 & 18) Team. I have watched my daughters HS team play against many of the teams represented and the girls selected to this team were (in most cases) the best players on their high school teams.
To complain that there is a YJ Bias is not really accurate. The large majority of top players do in fact play for the Yellow Jackets. There are some really strong girls playing for other clubs but the YJ's do have many of the strongest players on The Island.
20 of the 22 players are committed to play college lacrosse at the top lacrosse programs in the country. Many of the girls were all heavily recruited by most of the top college programs.
One of the best indicators of where a player stands in relation to other players is to look at what colleges made offers. The top programs go after the same players. Many of the girls on this team had offers from several top 10 programs.
Here is the list:
Boston College - 4 Florida - 3 Syracuse - 2 Penn State -2 Maryland -2 Penn -2 Princeton - 1 North Carolina - 1 Notre Dame - 1 USC - 1 Northwestern - 1
The schools listed above recruit players who they believe will help them win. They do not recruit a player because they play for the Yellow Jackets.
Congratulations to all of the players who earned a spot on the team.
Can I buy the rosie colored glasses you wear? Girls are good players no doubt but the argument has been made that lots of other girls passed over or don't event try out because of the bias and illegitimacy of the tryouts. Again devalues the whole process. Agree with one poster who stated should bring in evaluators from outside the region to each regions tryout. Would love to see the outcome then but.... then again people find ways. Guess it will never be legit.
