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When was the last time St. Paul was relevant in ANY sport??

SJC would have beat them handily even with the Zag's best player at full strength. My point was the margin would have been significantly lower. More settled possessions equals less opportunities to score. I do believe SJC would be susceptible to a close game (maybe even a loss) if they had to play a full MIAA A Conference schedule. There's no question they're the best team in the region and probably the country. That being said, its tough to go undefeated in a tough and relatively balanced league, where you can have 3-4 quality opponents in a row after a harrowing out of conference schedule. Like the SEC in collegiate football, its just different. That being said the MIAA is having a down year relative to other years.

All they had last year and the MIAA teams couldn’t figure out how to stop him. Still haven’t.

Did they play yesterday? Don’t see their normal highlight video and picture dump. What was the score?

St. John’s wouldn’t have an issue with any MIAA team. Team controls every facet of the game. If they were in the league their opponents would have a similarly tough schedule as you say. Best teams right now look like BL and STM. Already beat BL and based on yesterdays CH score they wouldn’t have an issue scoring on STM and winning.

McDonogh 9-7

McDonogh was up 9-5 early in the 4th.

Controlled the game

Dude!! Get a life! with
you should be embarrassed

CH will bounce back- good coaching
MCD bouncing back - good coaching
These 2 teams are so deep and well coached they both might run the table.
Good win for STM but poor coaching will catch up as it always does
Severn out the gate fast -coaches will be tested soon
STP faultering and may not bounce back - untested coaching
LB bounce back win - coaching suspect
BL rolling right along- good coaching
ABS stumble vs legit squad- who's the coach?
JC/MSJ playing competitive with what they got - solid coaching

This is the nonsense that just has to stop. Having a gauntlet of a schedule isn't some rarity that's unique to the MIAA. There are teams inside and outside of the MIAA that have 5-6 games in a row against quality opposition. SJC themselves have already played 3-4 quality opponents in a row twice. They opened with GP, BL, and CH back-to-back-to-back and handled all with ease. They just played Hill Academy, Paul VI, and Gonzaga back-to-back-to-back and the only one that was remotely close was the first game of the three.

Yeah, but the rarity is the quality of opponents. What you’re missing is the rigors of facing good opponents— 10 in a row, midweeks, that know your team, tendencies and have a full scout on you. And they are teams that are built to specifically combat your tendencies, and exploit your weaknesses, just like teams in the same NFL divisions. The early-season and OOC lax games just don’t replicate that level of in-conference intensity.

LB - bounce won’t happen. They have talent but the coaching (especially from the assistant side) is very poor

10 in a row? 😂

Next games aren’t competitive for the better MIAA teams. Should be in their bench in the 4th.

Spaulding vs John Carroll - Spalding by a lot
McDonogh vs Severn - McDonough be a lot
STM vs Mt St. Joes - STM by a lot
Blakefield vs St. Paul’s - Both stink so who knows
Calvert Hall vs Mt. St. Joes - CH by a lot
BL vs Gilman - BL by a lot

These “quality” MIAA opponents, 10 in a row or whatever— SJC has already pounded a couple of them, Calvert H and BL. So, on a relative basis, your point is proven wrong. They would run through the MIAA like a buzz saw, just as they did the first two.

Only a scrimmage but St Mary’s did SJC for what it’s worth. Both teams missing players

Baltimore folks delusional STM beat 4 top 20 teams according to Xander Loyola Landon Georgetown Prep and Calvert Hall. The league is Down only when the Baltimore teams lose????? Spalding and St Mary’s run the league now.

STP has Coach Broc back. That is the one bright spot in that toxic school.

SJC is the best team in the country & the only team that might give them a game for the rest of the year is St Anthony. I predict they win that game by 6 + and they should be given the mythological National champs trophy that day. They are a great group of kids that deserve this recognition & they beat CH & BL (cream of the MIAA) so on this forum they already beat the best top 2 teams in the best conference in the universe. Cheers SJC!

Only a scrimmage but when SJC had starters in for the half it was 4-1. SJC doesn’t play to win scrimmages like the MIAA.

Classic. Spalding isn’t running anything except for pizza day.

The SJC crowd has some sort of inferiority complex. We get it, you have a good team. No one in Baltimore even knew where St. John’s was before last year. Good luck vs. Ryken and DeMatha.

Broc was the reason many parents chose Predators over other clubs. Class act. Great coach.

No ever mentions Gilman which I guess is good for Gilman.
Gilman lost to Don Bosco, ranked in the top 20 nationally, 9-8 today in Jersey. Gilman hanging tough despite a lousy offense.it seems like their weaker players are handling the ball and taking a majority of the shots, If offense is adjusted this team could beat LB, Severn,STM,StP,MtStJ and Spaulding.

I don't agree. While I will concede that the league as a whole is deeper than most, I don't believe for a second that a run of MIAA games is more difficult than the mix of quality league and OOC games that other top teams deal with as their schedules ramp up.

MIAA league is CH,BL ,Spalding , St Marys and McDonogh are the strong teams the rest are ok . Some schools play a national schedule that is harder then the MIAA just saying .

Right…. MIAA teams don’t play any OOC games. And the ones that do play cupcakes.

What the contingent from SJC doesn't understand is most MIAA ADs require film exchange and lots of in person scouting from their lacrosse coaching staffs. This is in contrast to an OCC opponent's staff who may or may not watch the available film (usually these games are played earlier in the season when less film is available) and definitely aren't in town every Tuesday and Friday to watch an opponent live. Why does this matter? Long term in person and film analysis of an opponent (sometimes this function is outsourced to outside consultants (ie retired or in transition former top collegiate coaches)) allows a team to better exploit an opponent's schematic and personnel weaknesses. Assuming a team has the personnel to exploit these weaknesses, a lesser team can upset a superior one via better game planning/in game adjustments. In conclusion, SJC may have a great 3-4 year run regionally but they haven't faced the twice a week hurdle of being in a deep and well coached Conference. Let's look at the facts on the ground: Until CHC recently, no one has won the MIAA A Conference three years in a row in the last fifty years. Very few A Conference championship teams have gone undefeated in the League. In contrast, doing that in the WCAC has been and will be lot easier given that League's relative lack of depth.

I didn't that say they didn't. My point was that there are plenty of other elite leagues in the mid-atlantic and north east. Most may not have quite the depth of the MIAA, but the top teams in these leagues face just as much of a gauntlet because they supplement their league schedule with quality OOC games mixed in between. Look at Darien; they're playing Brunswick and St. Anthony's back-to-back near the end of the season, with games against Manhasset, Chaminade, and Yorktown sprinkled in amongst their league schedule as well.

As for the MIAA and OOC games, I'm not sure that supports your argument these days. This year in particular has shown that the top teams in the MIAA are no longer the gold standard on the national landscape. I can't think of a single MIAA champion in recent years that has gone through their OOC slate unscathed save for that legendary 2014 BL team.

Severn's program knows what they are - a small school with shallow depth. They put the best team they can on the field. The boys just show up and play. They might lose. But they also might win - if they can put all the pieces together on a given day. Nobody cares except maybe STP, but Friday's win was big for Severn's young team. Severn different players scored to come-from-behind after being down early. All without their leading scorer, who went out with injury. Their Defense held STP to only two goals in the second half. McDonogh on Tuesday will be a big challenge.

They generally play Haverford, Malvern, Culver, IMG, Don Bosco Prep.

Your “ MIAA don’t play any OCC games” is laughable. These are just a few of The OCC games MIAA teams played this year Culver, Hill Academy,Don Bosco, SJC, Lawerenceville, Gonzaga, IMG so in addition to the MIAA grind they play the best of the best so please do a little research before making a statement that obviously is incorrect.

Argument is dense. All hypothetical.

If your school has NEVER won the league who cares if you feel it’s the toughest. So your a lost in the toughest league? Good for you. Gets some rings made and hit the wall.

You don't seem to understand what I'm saying. I explicitly said that you were mistaken in thinking that I was trying to denigrate the OOC scheduling. What I'm trying to get across is that the MIAA teams play tough schedules -- some of the toughest out there by virtue of the fact that it's a deeper league than any other in the country -- but not uniquely tough, because the top of the league is not nearly as strong as it used to be relative to the national landscape. In fact it's clear from my post that I do think that they play good teams OOC; they just lose to them more than they win.

My point is that other teams from top leagues face a similar gauntlet by positioning big OOC tests within the confines of their league schedule. Compare that to the MIAA, who does not play anybody OOC after the MIAA season starts. If you want to say that when you factor in the entire schedule (OOC + MIAA), that the MIAA teams play the toughest in the country? There's an argument to be had, although there are plenty of teams further north that could credibly refute that. But I don't want to hear that nobody has to grind through a gauntlet like the Tuesday/Friday MIAA weeks when I just pointed out a CT public school who is playing two of the top three teams in the country in a span of two days. This same team plays in a top 5 league nationally, and has a six game stretch that features Manhasset, Chaminade, and Yorktown spaced among contests against its three biggest league challengers; three of those six opponents are in the current IL top 25, and I predict one of the other three will make it into the rankings fairly soon. And don't get me started on the slate that a team like Brunswick up in NEW-1 has assembled.

Not a SJC fan by any means. I'm not even from the DMV. But I don't believe for a second that any of these teams don't look at whatever film/scout material they can find on a difficult opponent, regardless of whether it's in league or OOC. This soundbite MIAA coaches keep pedaling after their OOC losses, where they call is "preseason" is transparent for what it is; an attempt to downplay a loss by making it seem like they didn't give it their all.

The depth of scouting may be less thorough for OOC foes from lack of year-to-year familiarity and because those games typically happen earlier in the season for MIAA teams, but they are not going in blind. And teams up in NJ/NY/CT definitely have a good scout on their OOC foes because they play those games not just at the start of the season, but also in the middle and the end of their regular season schedule when more film and information on opponents is available.

Shame many of the MIAA schools don’t play the best kids, but rather those that have money, family legacy, kiss up to coach, etc. Let the best kids play. If someone beats out my kid, he will need to work harder. Are there any MIAA schools that have a true system in place that rewards kids based on their performance?

10-4 I know understand your point…. you completely take back your original claim that MIAA teams don’t play a really good occ schedule but they do and they should have more than 4 teams ranked in the top 20. I agree & thanks for your clarification.

Sour grapes…..work harder! That’s my advice to your son.

Does everyone get a trophy in the MIAA at the end of the season for participating in the “toughest” league with the toughest schedule? A bunch of league cheerleaders, cheering on BL and CH.

Less cheerleading and more “hitting the wall” please.

MIAA doesn’t know WCAC power? Ok. Kevin Plank says hi. As lax gets more popular in the “DMV”, the DC area teams will only widen the gap. GZ easily handled a few teams too.

Great week of lax for opening up the miaa conference play. Who is for real and who are pretenders this year?