WSYL has the South qualifier taking place this weekend. There are a whopping 4 teams total vying for a trip to Denver. I’ve heard of Sweetlax Florida and Stealth South Florida but never heard of the other 2 teams (Carolina Gold, Valor LC). This is the challenge with WSYL, for better or worse, crowning a “true” 13U champion (not grade based), means you don’t get the same competition as, say, an NLF tourney. After all, grade-based competition is all your son will see after the WSYL - I understand it’s a nice experience but it isn’t close to the best overall competition at the 2025 level.
Carolina Gold is decent at the older ages. But it’s evident that the tourney is losing its luster. The fact is most teams from around the country have no interest in flying to Denver to play in a lacrosse tournament that has been one by a club from LI every year. Outside of the LI clubs, there are very few competitive teams at this event. I went with my 2023. I’ve seen it. The competition is mediocre at best and terrible at its worst. Go back and look at some of the scores. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that many clubs have holdbacks. Honestly, I’m fine with holdbacks. Those are the kids that our boys will be competing against when they get to recruiting age, so why not play them now? But I don’t want to get into that right now. My point is, when you take out Maryland, Boston, Philli, etc... you dilute the talent pool so much that it kind of bring the whole experience down.
