US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NEW JERSEY LACROSSE NEW JERSEY MAIN FORUM WSYL Feedback

Hello what is the likelihood of this happening. My son is considering joining a team that is going for this.
Any advice appreciated.

The qualifiers for New Jersey are much easier than Long Island so if the team is strong you will have a shot at going. No doubt - the winner will be a team from Long Island. Personally, I would save the $10,000 it will cost to go out to Denver and put it toward the first year of private high school or private training. If you are looking for a fun vacation enjoy.

You have to say the team. For the 2026 team, BBL, Tribal, and Towermen have a chance to qualify from Jersey, depending on the PA and Maryland teams. To join a team like Tri-State at the 2026 level solely on the fact they go to the qualifier is probably not worth it as they will likely no qualify at the 2026 level.

Take it from someone who actually went to one and not from these fly by night shops who has never gone before and making up stuff here. 1) It's only worth it if the team you're bringing is competitive which means having decent chance of making the playoff. 2) Your family is not strapped financially and can make a vacation out of it. If you don't have those 2 things covered, then you most likely be disappointed.

Due to the fact teams can not use older kids / hold backs the qualifier competition is not as strong as you would think, especially when you have to face the Maryland teams. Its actually quite refreshing to see kids that are of normal size and/or normal maturity during this particular time of growth. This is coming from family who had positive WSYL experience.

Going into, I was not so excited due to expense, never ending opportunities for lacrosse to take your money, and comments from what I have learned are just negative people. However, it turned out to be a great entire family experience. It was well run. Everything about it was just well done - from activities to the venue. It served as family vacation with lacrosse. My one son who doesn't even play lacrosse absolutely loved the experience. Actually made stronger connection with brother who played and the team in general. Just book airfare early and stay at convenient hotel! Expensive,yes, but so are any nice vacations!

Ok thanks! Any team has to qualify. We are making a decision on training first and foremost.

Did your family enjoy it?

Don't sleep on United in NJ.. they have a very solid team. Rumor is LE is thinking about sending their 2026 & 2025s.

can an out of state town team go to long island qualifier?

WYSL has a distance rule on how far you live from the club's HQ. A kid from Philly area made LI Express in the last WYSL bec he lived within that radius.

This is the reason clubs like Annapolis Hawks and Madlax will never go to WSYL. If it wasn't age based, they probably would dominate it every year. This is why LI is king. I believe NJ will have a shot at winning it all in the near future.

No sleeping on any team necessary. Just qualify and compete and have fun while there. All of NJ lax community would celebrate a club that wins it all.

I think I read your question wrong. WSYL splits up the qualifiers by a set of regions. North region where NY(LI) is in incl CT as an example. CT cannot choose to qualify in the East Region nor can a NJ team try to qualify in the North Region.

LE has the NLF championships which are comparable!

Apples and oranges. NLF is not age based. Your kid can be competing against HS aged kids. And teams with most holdbacks are almost impossible to beat. Something LE is all too familiar with.

Holdbacks at this age are an enormous advantage. Most kids get their growth spurt at 14 which 8th grade for on age kids. That’s the year when most go from little boy to “man” where 6” in height and 35-40 lbs in weight in one year is commonplace. So quite literally, these holdback teams are “men” playing little boys. Holdbacks are mostly the product of boarding/prep schools. Long Island has very few holdbacks, relative to most other areas, most notably MD, simply because LI doesn’t have any real prep schools. MD, CT, MA are all loaded with them. That’s why when your sons on age LI team plays a MD team, that MD team likely has 80% of the starting lineup as holdbacks. I’m familiar with one 2024 MD team that played only one on age player, which, you guessed it, was the coaches son.

The funny thing is, even though the holdback advantage At this particular age is nothing short of flat out cheating. These MD, CT, NY, NJ teams need that “man” advantage just to be able to compete with on age “boys” from LI. Case in point: The 2024 91 Wolfpack team had one team, in 2019 when they went undefeated in the WSYL and crushed Legacy in the championship. That same on age team played all the holdback teams of the NLF and NAL that year, without a single holdback, and went undefeated that entire year. So don’t tell me the holdback teams are impossible to beat. They are inferior teams, with inferior players, from inferior regions that need to cheat by competing against boys, with teams of “men”, just to be able to compete with LI “AA” teams.

If you’re from out of state, you do not want to go to the north qualifier which is by far the most stacked region. Go to the NJ/PA qualifier. Far easier. Many extremely good teams that were in the north qualifier last go round, didn’t make it, when they easily would have, had they gone to a different qualifier.

Really?? “Dominate it every year”?? Better fact check that, because the 2024 91 Wolfpack team went undefeated through the WSYL and all NLF and NAL tourneys. With ZERO holdbacks.

wrong!! Madlax won NLF. not 91. fact is 91 left the tournament early when they failed to make the cut. They ‘wolfpackupandleave’. Madlax will dominate nlf and nal for years to come. get your facts straight next time you post here and stop the lies.

From a WSYL veteran as well, this is spot on. The team's finish in the qualifier dictates your ranking in Denver. So even if you make the WSYL, if you finished 4th or 5th in the qualifier, you will have a brutal schedule in Denver with little chance of advancing. Perfect example is the 2023 BBL team, they finished 4th at the qualifier and had rough time in Denver. You really need a team comparable to BBL 2024

Agree 100% with this but will add the Covid impact. I cannot keep up with all the kids I know, multiple ages, that have "reclassed" due to current school enviornment and yes, Sports!

Not all are lacrosse players but some are. I honestly think this will change the youth sports landscape for quite some time. Maybe give the incentive to table the idea of birth year for the youth laxers coming up. All the birth year sports (hockey, soccer,etc.) will see huge disparity of kids on teams but different school grade. Much greater disparity than now

Much like 91 Bandits that went through WSYL undefeated, they cannot run with the NLF teams, same with LE despite the fact that they play the reclass game.

91 Wolfpack are the reigning WSYL champs and they were great in that tournament. No one can ever take that away from them. But they need to learn how to accept defeat with a little bit of grace and humility. Losing games here and there (like this year when they lost to Express North and Eclipse) does not demean the team's accomplishments. It simply means good competition exists and that's good for everyone. Walking away from the NLF championship may not matter much to them. But it matters to the teams that would have loved the chance to play against the best. Even with no expectations of winning. You can't blame the players. That rests with the coaches and parents who missed out on a great teaching moment. Good luck next season. Hope all sports resume normally. We all need it.

It's insanity that LI and NJ teams even waste their time playing in NLF. They can't compete against the big NLF teams. Leading Edge is an absolute joke at NLF. If you don't believe this, wait for the results next year and see for yourself.

"The funny thing is, even though the holdback advantage At this particular age is nothing short of flat out cheating. These MD, CT, NY, NJ teams need that “man” advantage just to be able to compete with on age “boys” from LI"

Was there a tissue shortage on LI long before the COVID situation. When I look on this forum from top to bottom all you see is crying moms from long Island talking about holdbacks.

My son has beaten Express with 4 different teams, I guess it must have been luck and holdbacks. The reality is you are spoon fed that you are great when you stroke that huge check when in reality you aren't and then need something as an excuse for why little Vinny Jr is getting destroyed. He's not good.

any idea when the East and North schedules will be released for World series.

Why has your son been on 4 different teams? That is suspect, just like your weak post.

I am not sure where this reply is going to land because sometimes they fall within the post and other times it goes on the end of the whole thread (tell me what I am doing wrong)

Anyway, I agree with the 2024 Wolfpack competitive comparison, but they are one of the few who could battle.... although I think their well known stud attackman should be a sophomore right now...could be wrong though. Also agree with the post where they need more dignity and respect...that was a bad look when they left....good luck to everyone in the qualifiers! Hopefully a bunch of teams go through.

Wasn't the Wolfpack the team that left the NLF tourney early because they didn't even make the playoffs? They lost

Can someone explain what I am doing wrong here...when I click reply it never goes into the tread...it always starts a different thread....please help

Get ready for the weather this weekend in Delaware. Beautiful on Saturday, thunderstorms on Sunday.

BBL 2025 was the cream of the crop this weekend. They looked a lot bigger than most teams and were very vocal.

BBL was legit. 3-4 solid offensive players, a couple of solid poles as well. The coach and 3-5 Dads should seek some therapy.

Yeah buddy that's what I like the hear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BBL BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My boy just got picked up on waivers, LOL. Glad to be aboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did he play in the qualifier, I thought that there are no roster changes permitted

This aged well. I would check the qualifier for the 2026 East region. It's hard to go 0-2, yet here we are, nice job.

I could be incorrect, but I do not believe that the WSYL was age-based when it started, that is why a lot of the teams that initially participated do not attend.

It is still age based and holdbacks were not allowed.

I know that it is age-based now, and for the last couple of years, but I think that it was by graduating class the first year.

New to middle school lax, what happened at the event?

6th place team from West Qualifier was just invited to WSYL. Not sure if 5th place team invited or was invited and declined. I assume this means that at least one of the Canadian teams is out, leaving at most 1 (and maybe zero) international teams.