US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NEW JERSEY LACROSSE NEW JERSEY FORUM Top Boy's Club Teams in New Jersey

LE will not allow any other NJ teams in NLF. They have denied plenty of NJ teams from playing in it. I think it is a great tournament and helps LE but it is not end all be all.

When was the last time a LE team play a team form NJ? They always request not to play any teams from NJ.

Not playing other NJ teams is not mutually exclusive to LE...but the truth is, its pretty frustrating to drive to a tournament in Delaware and Maryland, spend the money on gas, food and hotels, and then end up playing NJ and PA teams who are within 30 minutes to an hour drive from home.

So I kinda agree to this and more so for pool play. Would love to see them play in the playoffs and stuff during the tourneys. Would also like to see LE, Tri State, BBL, Riot, Blue Star and Patriot do some type of round robin play day where they all played each other with no championship game, just 5 head to head games or find another team and go 3 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Blue Star has basically played all of these teams the past two seasons and Tri State played BBL and BBL played LE like two summers ago. Just go for it.

Funny if you think Ivy athletics get money from the endowment.

BBL 2024 class continues to impress. Another commitment today. The LSM chose Yale.

They’ve lost to Tristate the last few times at the 2023 level. They typically only play NJ teams in the playoffs brackets but they always try to get out of it. They seem afraid which is weird because they claim they play the best competition.

If this recruiting cycle is not proof enough, the current state of the NJ club lacrosse scene is nothing short of all out war. The competition for talent has seemingly increased year after year, with the clubs now using any sort of advantage to gain an upper hand in the battle. Geography no longer matters like it once did; NJ teams have players from LI, CT, NY and even apparently Boulder, while NJ players are also playing for out of state clubs, 91 LI, 91 MD, and Primetime just to name a few. One factor that I think is not discussed enough however is the role of social media and social capital in this equation.

First just look at the equipment, when my son was playing in the mid 2000's , you would get a reversible pinnie and a pair of shorts. Now I'm seeing every club with fully customized jerseys, helmets, and more. Let's just say I truly feel for you Dads today. BBL and LE in my opinion have best capitalized off of the associated notoriety and exposure of the WSYL and NLF respectively. BBL's model is clearly more youth focused and allows them to assemble an all-star team for WSYL, of course a televised game on ESPN is no small consolation for the finalists. LE on the other hand waits for the dust to settle a bit more, but has clearly been successful in attracting top players once high school rolls around. There has been a lot of talk about "poaching" between the two clubs, but this unfortunately comes with the territory when you want the very best. It is an impossible task to keep everyone happy on a roster and players will move around in search of more playing time or better competition on the college level as well. What concerns me is more is the "highlightification" of the sport that can be seen front and center on instagram.

A lot of recruiting has moved online and now the clubs have resorted to shamelessly one-up each other in the form of custom commitment post edits, highlight clips, and posts highlighting their college alumni. It has gotten to the point that this cycle I have seen commitment posts from different clubs about the same kid, Riot players who moved to BBL and recently committed to Maryland and Bucknell. How do the BBL parents feel about that sort of poaching? The elite camps, tournaments, and high schools have all bought into the social media craze as well, all helping fuel the highlight machine. And I'm know coaches at all levels are watching, I am the only one who finds it bizarre that high school coaches are commenting on the posts of 8th graders? I say tread lightly, the goal should be to win and not to get the best 10 second clip for instagram. At the end of the day, the scoreboard for every club are the college placements, so here's what we've seen so far has been:

BBL: Yale, Bucknell, UVA, UMD, Princeton, Lafayette, AF, Navy
LE: Nova(2), BU, Dartmouth, UVA, Harvard, Cornell

Based on these results, I can see why top players are moving to these clubs, but at the same time there have also been commitments from a number of other clubs. The club team you choose is important but just one of many factors. Connections are another factor that should not be overlooked, for example it certainly does not hurt to have Tom Schreiber advocating on your behalf to the Princeton staff. It's the same for high schools, a former Delbarton/Villanova player is now on staff at Nova so it's no coincidence that they recruit Delbarton players year after year. Not to mention the number of players who will have an uncle, dad, older brother, etc who played somewhere. The point is the recruiting process overall is not an even playing ground, so it pays to leverage every possible advantage.

While I agree with much of what you have said, I do disagree with the idea of "recruiting" having moved online. The online portion is not really recruiting, it is club marketing. I do not think that most college coaches are focusing on a club's online content, and they are getting a lot of this media sent to them directly from potential recruits anyway. As far as connections, I do agree that it is helpful to have somebody on the inside, but there is only so much that can do for you, especially now that recruiting has expanded exponentially on a national level. Yes, schools like Delbarton have fared well in past years in the recruiting process, but you just have to look at the list of commits for the 2023 class to see how many kids are coming out of Florida, Texas, California, Colorado, etc.

I have a 2023 and they only played LE once and as a parent of the 2023. No one cares.

Except you clearly do.

No, I don't, and you will not care either once you are done with travel. The "this club" is better than "that club" means nothing. Find the place that works for you and stop crying and hope that when your son doesn't quit or leave a school like Penn State for Tampa.
This constant complaining is why people outside the lacrosse world make fun of lacrosse. Spoiled rich dads, with a lot of kids that really aren't that athletic.

What a d***!

I have to laugh at this as I prepare my son's lacrosse highlight package. He does not have one for football but needs one for lacrosse. The sport of lacrosse is mildly full of itself. My sons love it so I keep their love going with $s. Yes, lacrosse is like fencing and crew a place where fewer kids play and parents hope for college. And a place where dollars, clubs and overpriced boarding private schools that are only really known for lacrosse and maybe hockey thrive. Hockey is another sport in this arena of fewer kids can do the sport and has a cost of entry barrier but the NHL pro leagues is legit. I mean the NHL, NBA , NFL, MLB, WNBA, MSL, all could buy the PLL for like under .01% of their revenues. It is a college entrance sport like fencing, crew, hockey. Fewer kids play these sports and they have barriers to entrance like $s or availability which yields fewer players to choose from. I want to get my son into college anyway I can and if it is via lacrosse great.

I have to laugh at this as I prepare my son's lacrosse highlight package. He does not have one for football but needs one for lacrosse. The sport of lacrosse is mildly full of itself. My sons love it so I keep their love going with $s. Yes, lacrosse is like fencing and crew a place where fewer kids play and parents hope for college. And a place where dollars, clubs and overpriced boarding private schools that are only really known for lacrosse and maybe hockey thrive. Hockey is another sport in this arena of fewer kids can do the sport and has a cost of entry barrier but the NHL pro leagues is legit. I mean the NHL, NBA , NFL, MLB, WNBA, MSL, all could buy the PLL for like under .01% of their revenues. It is a college entrance sport like fencing, crew, hockey. Fewer kids play these sports and they have barriers to entrance like $s or availability which yields fewer players to choose from. I want to get my son into college anyway I can and if it is via lacrosse great.[/quote]

Much of what you said is true, and looking at lacrosse for any purpose other than college admission is extremely short sighted. The sad part is how many kids are sold on the D1 lax dream and end up leaving the sport in college because it is such a grind. Staying motivated to play a D1 is very difficult when there is no future in your sport. Of course, there are definitely those lax rats out there that simply thrive on being part of the sport regardless of whether they ever see meaningful playing time in college, but I suspect that those kids a few and far between. Also, for those that think that D1 or D2 is the answer from a financial perspective, what gets continually overlooked is the fact that D3 provides equal, if not better, financial support. Unfortunately, since most D3 schools recruit later in the process, the financial advantages become more apparent later in the recruiting period, and if you kid gets a D1 offer late in the recruiting period, there typically is little scholarship money left in the pool.

Much of what you said is true, and looking at lacrosse for any purpose other than college admission is extremely short sighted. The sad part is how many kids are sold on the D1 lax dream and end up leaving the sport in college because it is such a grind. Staying motivated to play a D1 is very difficult when there is no future in your sport. Of course, there are definitely those lax rats out there that simply thrive on being part of the sport regardless of whether they ever see meaningful playing time in college, but I suspect that those kids a few and far between. Also, for those that think that D1 or D2 is the answer from a financial perspective, what gets continually overlooked is the fact that D3 provides equal, if not better, financial support. Unfortunately, since most D3 schools recruit later in the process, the financial advantages become more apparent later in the recruiting period, and if you kid gets a D1 offer late in the recruiting period, there typically is little scholarship money left in the pool.[/quote]

Great post! ^^^^^^^

Much of what you said is true, and looking at lacrosse for any purpose other than college admission is extremely short sighted. The sad part is how many kids are sold on the D1 lax dream and end up leaving the sport in college because it is such a grind. Staying motivated to play a D1 is very difficult when there is no future in your sport. Of course, there are definitely those lax rats out there that simply thrive on being part of the sport regardless of whether they ever see meaningful playing time in college, but I suspect that those kids a few and far between. Also, for those that think that D1 or D2 is the answer from a financial perspective, what gets continually overlooked is the fact that D3 provides equal, if not better, financial support. Unfortunately, since most D3 schools recruit later in the process, the financial advantages become more apparent later in the recruiting period, and if you kid gets a D1 offer late in the recruiting period, there typically is little scholarship money left in the pool.[/quote]

There is very little scholarship money in lacrosse. If parents of the 2024's thru the 2026's have not learned this yet then someone did them a disservice. Likewise, lacrosse does have a large percentage of wealthy parents. Look at all the Ivy and Patriot League kids who committed already for the 2024's. Most of those families are Doctors, Engineers, Bond Traders, Tech and private business owners and whatever else you can think of. They don't care about the $75,000.00 price tag for college and their kids are getting half off for academics anyway. Lacrosse can assist you a little bit in getting into a school you might not have if you did not play a sport.

There is very little scholarship money in lacrosse. If parents of the 2024's thru the 2026's have not learned this yet then someone did them a disservice. Likewise, lacrosse does have a large percentage of wealthy parents. Look at all the Ivy and Patriot League kids who committed already for the 2024's. Most of those families are Doctors, Engineers, Bond Traders, Tech and private business owners and whatever else you can think of. They don't care about the $75,000.00 price tag for college and their kids are getting half off for academics anyway. Lacrosse can assist you a little bit in getting into a school you might not have if you did not play a sport.[/quote]



I agree with posts above with the exception of thinking its difficult to stay motivated when there is no future in lacrosse. There is really no future for any other sport given the odds. For any other sport the chances of making it to the next level (NBA, MLB, NFL) is less than 1% chance. D1 lacrosse (even D2, D3) serves as the pinnacle and provides great opportunities once kids graduate due to networks they build and proving they have ability to balance school and sport and competitive level. They also get to play a competitive sport traveling to different schools and environments which can add to their college experience. If they don't like it they can always stop playing.

I agree with posts above with the exception of thinking its difficult to stay motivated when there is no future in lacrosse. There is really no future for any other sport given the odds. For any other sport the chances of making it to the next level (NBA, MLB, NFL) is less than 1% chance. D1 lacrosse (even D2, D3) serves as the pinnacle and provides great opportunities once kids graduate due to networks they build and proving they have ability to balance school and sport at a competitive level. They also get to play a competitive sport traveling to different schools and environments which can add to their college experience. If they don't like it they can always stop playing.[/quote]


I would like to also add lacrosse can assist kids tremendously get into a school they might not have been able to get into (especially the Ivy's) given they are true top 100 to 125 player (not just based on these published rankings) and achieve high level grades.

Then there is the waiting game for most others and given patience and perseverance your son / daughter can still get into a very good school D1, D2, D3. Another reality is physical size definitely helps tip the scales.

I agree with posts above with the exception of thinking its difficult to stay motivated when there is no future in lacrosse. There is really no future for any other sport given the odds. For any other sport the chances of making it to the next level (NBA, MLB, NFL) is less than 1% chance. D1 lacrosse (even D2, D3) serves as the pinnacle and provides great opportunities once kids graduate due to networks they build and proving they have ability to balance school and sport and competitive level. They also get to play a competitive sport traveling to different schools and environments which can add to their college experience. If they don't like it they can always stop playing.[/quote]

I appreciate the reply, and the odds of success, but my point was simply that most kids going to play high level D1 basketball, baseball, football or hockey are trying to go pro, not so much with the majority lacrosse players. Either way, as most have noted, the future connections and opportunities outside of the sport are invaluable.

Kind of fun to revisit this post...congrats to the RBR kid

Congratulations to you and your son. RBR has 3 D1 players, hopefully, they can make it to out of the first round of the SCT.
Very impressive that both LE and TriState didn't lose a game last weekend. The 2024 seem to be doing better than the 2022 & 2023, who on this list is still on the board?

Not my kid, but thanks, and I'm sure that the RBR kids truly appreciate your support. You are obviously clueless about the challenges that the team faces, things like a historically unsupportive administration and the loss of athletes to local privates take a toll. As far as fall ball, it is a great opportunity for the 2024's to get in front of college coaches before the next wave of recruiting, tournaments like NAL are usually pretty packed with coaches.

2024 class is strong across the board in NJ. There is a major fall off in terms of depth from 2024 to 2025.

Everyone losses kids to CBA; stop crying. Look around the Shore, there are maybe three or four schools with real lacrosse coaches. The CBA coach is not good, and not sure if the Wall guy can even catch and throw.

This is to the guy who said congratulations. Why are you such a troll and why do you think this person is from RBR. Your obviously disgruntled against that high school for whatever reason. I am guessing your from the Shore. You deflected into the whole High School comparison because you were obviously wrong with what you were trying to insinuate a few weeks ago. I am a 24 parent and am familiar with almost every person on that list and it is a good group, with that in mind, the post looks to be made for fun from an earlier prodding post, asking a question of "who people thought would go early." The poster was pretty darn accurate with one big miss being the LSM from BBL who is a student and off the board. Also, this poster seems to be Pro LE based on what he initially said and then his follow up post about the Westfield defenseman going to Cornell and the DB defenseman, who I know has a few offers on the table being "slightly" better than the kid from Rumson.

Everyone losses kids to CBA; stop crying. Look around the Shore, there are maybe three or four schools with real lacrosse coaches. The CBA coach is not good, and not sure if the Wall guy can even catch and throw.[/quote]

Not just CBA, you are also losing great athletes to RBC to pursue football. What you also need to appreciate is that lacrosse is relatively new to the shore compared to the traditional NJ lacrosse powers. In fact, you will find that much of the support for lacrosse in the shore area is the result of kids raised with lacrosse in northern NJ and elsewhere relocating to the shore and raising families. Also, it is not as easy as you may think to find a real lacrosse coach. Either way, I suspect that your animosity towards the shore, or any of the shore lacrosse kids or programs, comes from a much more personal space, so we can leave the conversation at that.

This is to the guy who said congratulations. Why are you such a troll and why do you think this person is from RBR. Your obviously disgruntled against that high school for whatever reason. I am guessing your from the Shore. You deflected into the whole High School comparison because you were obviously wrong with what you were trying to insinuate a few weeks ago. I am a 24 parent and am familiar with almost every person on that list and it is a good group, with that in mind, the post looks to be made for fun from an earlier prodding post, asking a question of "who people thought would go early." The poster was pretty darn accurate with one big miss being the LSM from BBL who is a student and off the board. Also, this poster seems to be Pro LE based on what he initially said and then his follow up post about the Westfield defenseman going to Cornell and the DB defenseman, who I know has a few offers on the table being "slightly" better than the kid from Rumson.[/quote]

I wonder if his kid is one of the early 2024 commits (and therefore an obnoxious troll living vicariously through his kid)....or is he just bitter that this supposed inferior lacrosse program has three D1 commits. Either way, its a pretty good example why club is so important for kids that come from high schools with less prominent programs.

I wonder if his kid is one of the early 2024 commits (and therefore an obnoxious troll living vicariously through his kid)....or is he just bitter that this supposed inferior lacrosse program has three D1 commits. Either way, its a pretty good example why club is so important for kids that come from high schools with less prominent programs.[/quote]

Westfield has some talent, sounds like they will be fun to watch. Could they have more comments than any other public school?

Westfield has some talent, sounds like they will be fun to watch. Could they have more comments than any other public school?[/quote]

Not disagreeing, and not sure of the total numbers, but RFH (if you count the kid that left for prep school) and Wall have quite a few as well

Westfield has some talent, sounds like they will be fun to watch. Could they have more comments than any other public school?[/quote]
Slow Friday Morning.. below pulled from ISL includes (D1, D2, and D3).. only looked at public schools in top 20 from last year. Yes, really don't want to work today.

Bridgewater-Raritan - 7
Ridgewood - 6
Westfield - 5
RFH - 5
Hunterdon Central - 4
Wall - 4
Sparta - 4
Manasquan - 3

Slow Friday Morning.. below pulled from ISL includes (D1, D2, and D3).. only looked at public schools in top 20 from last year. Yes, really don't want to work today.

Bridgewater-Raritan - 7
Ridgewood - 6
Westfield - 5
RFH - 5
Hunterdon Central - 4
Wall - 4
Sparta - 4
Manasquan - 3[/quote]

Honest question, how are Summit and ML not on this list...ML dismantled RFH in the TOC last year, just cannot understand why they are not stacked with commits

Honest question, how are Summit and ML not on this list...ML dismantled RFH in the TOC last year, just cannot understand why they are not stacked with commits[/quote]

Good question. I'm thinking that they just have superior coaching that allows them to extract more wins from less talent?

I notice that many of their kids play for Laker Futures or Steps instead of Leading Edge/BBL/Tri-State. Do their HS coaches push them there? I'm wondering if the lack of elite club visibility impacts where they end up.

Good question. I'm thinking that they just have superior coaching that allows them to extract more wins from less talent?

I notice that many of their kids play for Laker Futures or Steps instead of Leading Edge/BBL/Tri-State. Do their HS coaches push them there? I'm wondering if the lack of elite club visibility impacts where they end up.[/quote]

Summit runs a system offense and zone defense that doesn’t highlight individual players so they rarely generate superstars. That said, they do fairly well with commits yo high academic d1 and d2, especially Patriot league and NESCACs.

Good question. I'm thinking that they just have superior coaching that allows them to extract more wins from less talent?

I notice that many of their kids play for Laker Futures or Steps instead of Leading Edge/BBL/Tri-State. Do their HS coaches push them there? I'm wondering if the lack of elite club visibility impacts where they end up.[/quote]

Took a few minutes to check out IL, they show at least 5 2023 commits for ML, 2 D1 and 3 D3, so looks like they were omitted in error.

Summit runs a system offense and zone defense that doesn’t highlight individual players so they rarely generate superstars. That said, they do fairly well with commits yo high academic d1 and d2, especially Patriot league and NESCACs.[/quote]

Typo: d1 and d3

It is unreal that the don't let kids play in a NLF. I think all the NJ teams should have a tournament to play each other. LE most likely wont enter it cause they do not play NJ teams.

Unfortunately, however ridiculous, that is the world of lacrosse. Either way, although the NLF has some very competitive tournaments with excellent teams, the competition is equally as good, if not better, at NAL, Crab Feast and Naptown

LE dodges other top NJ teams every chance they get. Especially at the 2026 level. They also play kids down. Last season there were two 2026 kids playing for their 2027 team. Not holdbacks in school, just lacrosse. So weak.

They remain in same grade with the excuse that they are going to do a PG year, been going on for years, you just don't see it as much in NJ, but when you do, mostly with LE kids, but not necessarily exclusive to LE

Same thing at the 2024 grade for LE. They had a least 3, maybe 5 kids playing for 2024 that are seniors this year.