US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2026 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

Can we please stop using the Hawks and elite in same sentence. They are at best a decent local team . They can expect these scores the rest of the year and into summer. Big Mouth will think he is elite and get hammered.

Now that fall seasons are for the most part over, are there any higher level teams(AAAA and elite) who will be holding supplemental tryouts before summer? I don’t feel good about my son’s team making it to see summer season.

They have most. Both teams missing 1-2 impact players on middies lines.

That's incorrect. They are in the next tier with the other top teams that trail Express at the moment. They can beat any of the other teams in that tier. -Express Dad.

So you're saying that DCE is now top and Hawks, MadLax, VLC, and NextLevel are all about the same? The teams are all look pretty close to me. DCE lost in HoCo to the Hawks by 4 and to VLC by 3. On any given day any one of these five teams could beat the others.

Sorry, Signed - Long Island Express Dad.....I was saying that the Hawks are still good enough to beat any of the next tier. They could also lose to many of them. I agree with you. I was replying to the person who called them a decent local team at best.

DCE is behind Hawks, 91MD, Crabs, probably VLC. But DCE better than defunct Looneys, maybe.

NL is not in any conversation.

LOL! 91MD? Where you been hiding 91 dad? Wasn’t sure you made it through tryouts!

Haven’t seen 91MD in any of the Fall tournaments. Does the team still exists?

Says Hawks dad who's team got skull drug by DCE last time they played....

Sorry DCE dad. Crabs skull dragged DCE the very next day.

Is it drug or dragged?

dragged. Crabs dad not only used it correctly, but put DCE dad in his place.

Not a DCE dad....and yes Crabs handled DCE in the 4th quarter.

Same goal differential as you/DCE beating the Hawks in the skull drug.

Not a DCE dad....But you know details of the Crabs DCE game from HOCO finals?

Ha, my son plays on what I would consider a decent local team that is so far behind the Hawks. I think you are a bitter Ex Hawk parent.

I was there with my son who had friends that were playing. There were others there with no Crabs or DCE affiliation.

DCE is average at best if you take away the goalie. He’s the only reason they’re in most of the games against elite competition.

Yes they are. NL picked up some new players, plus they have developed their longer term players better than other programs have done. NL played a 2 goal game against VLC this past weekend, and VLC tied the Hawks the week before, and also beat both MadLax and DCE last spring in HoCo. All five of these teams are within 3-4 goals of each other on any given day. (yes, I know that DCE crushed Hawks by 7 or 8 in their HoCo playoff game, but I think that score was an outlier). We can stipulate that ALL teams were missing a certain number of players in the fall, and there are plenty of other excuses for spring. All these teams would struggle to come within 6-8 goals of the elite national teams like CoachC. But on a local level, it is hard to say that any of these teams do not belong in the conversation with the others.

Be humble dad

MSJ Hawks goalie looked pretty darn good when my kid’s team played them. And for the record, it’s not easy being a goalie so maybe your kid should step into the goal sometime and then have people bash him. Give the kid a break. It takes a certain type of kid to step into goal. I had mad respect for any goalie at this level.

SO funny. that Dad is a trip and a half.

How do you know what HS a Hawks plays goes to when you live 6-8 hours away?

Thx photo mom.

Played him at NAL and Futures

USCL rankings are not to be taken seriously. Sure, the top 25 teams are all pretty good, but whatever team they list as number 1 or 7 or 15 is not in any way indicative of which team would beat the other.

While the local higher-level Baltimore and DC teams that play around the area (HoCO league as an example) are obviously good, there are several teams from LI and upstate NY/Conn that would consistently win against all of them, Crabs included. Beat them all every time? No...but they would win a high percentage of games. Problem is, they don't get to play each other enough.

There seems to be a difference between Balt/DC lacrosse and NY lacrosse.

IMO, the difference between the Baltimore/DC area cubs and the LI/Upstate NY area clubs is the team-hopping that seems to happen more around Baltimore and DC. I don't believe that happens as much up North.

The kids from up North play as if they have been playing together since elementary school, which many of them have. They seems to play more effectively as a team - I see more of them playing for each other and for their team, not to stand out and shine individually. In general, the coaching seems to be superior as well, at least at the youth level. Again, just my observations.

You can coach a lot of things, but familiarity, intuition, and trust only come with time spent playing together. Seems like that doesn't happen in Baltimore/DC to the degree it does up North.

There are many reasons behind the team-hopping in the Baltimore area, the most obvious one being the prevalence of for-profit clubs and the "flavor of the month" approach to filling their rosters. Annual cuts and replacements of boys who are growing and whose bodies are changing (and because of that, may play better or worse season-to-season) mean that rosters are always in flux year-to-year. Kids learn to play "not to fail and get cut" rather than to play for the joy of the game and for their team and buddies. When they hit a growth sport, lose a little speed and/or agility, bam - they are cut.

Another reason is the seemingly annual "yet another club went under or got sold" issues in Baltimore. This past year it was especially bad, with Looney's breaking up, Hardshells being kicked to the curb, Koopers being sold, Kelly Post/True, etc. Lots of kids displaced. New teams and clubs picked up some of these boys, but the teams will be new and the boys unfamiliar with each other on the field. Even the elite teams have shuffled players, dropping some longer-term stalwarts in favor of some of the players from the defunct clubs perceived as a "bigger better deal".

I'm looking at you FCA.

All this club-shuffling is not helpful to these teams, and is especially not helpful to the players. Some will argue that it makes them tougher - that playing for a new coach will help them learn new skills. Maybe. I don't think it helps them to become better players or better teammates.

I believe the bigger issue is the atmosphere it creates. Like a toxic work environment that keeps employees from achieving their best performance (better to just get by than to try new things and risk failure), a toxic club environment (I'm looking at you Team '91) keeps kids from developing confidence, trying new things, and in general holds them back from achieving their potential. Research into resiliency and mental health shows that kids who are supported and valued in a healthy environment are far more resilient than kids who are raised in a hostile environment in which they live in fear of failure.

When former players started using youth lacrosse clubs to make a living instead of teaching the game, things started going downhill. Winning became more important than teaching the game and building players and teams over the long term. Free agency has hit youth sports, and it isn't doing our kids any good.

Just one guy's rant and observations on the state of our game these days.

Haters - fire away!

Anyone who holds club rankings to heart doesn’t follow lacrosse.

Great Post. You could apply everything you said for Balto/DC vs Long Island clubs and it would be just as accurate for local girls' clubs. I don't see an easy answer to fix it. There is also a lot of arrogance in the local coaching community because there are so many local ex-D1 players coaching that think that anything that comes out of their mouth is gold. In addition to some of the downsides of the profit factor, the lack of any sort of standardized process at clubs for making sure players learn certain fundamentals by certain ages (think soccer coaching certifications) is starting to hurt some of the local kids. We could see other newer lacrosse hotbeds overtake us if it doesn't start soon.

i generally agree that the USCL rankings aren't great, but they're as good as any other sports rankings, including college and pros. Absent an alternative, they're the best method you have to figure out what you're competition's level is. I'd like to see them get rid of fall rankings or at least reduce their weighting once summer starts, but otherwise, no issue with them.

No you didnt.

Lots of good points. Another is the fact that Long Island has a greater population than the entire state of Maryland. That condensed population is certainly an advantage. Weirdly there is no competition on the Island for Express.

Ahhh, it was only a matter of time. Photo mom here! While it’s clear someone wants you to think it was me, I didn’t make the post. But I appreciate the person who did. Hard position to play much less watch when it’s your kid. My son is very happy where he is and he’s working hard to earn his time. Love taking pictures of the kids! Have a great day!

Hit the wall.

By high school all of this shakes out. The best players are on the field. The kids who are average (which is the VAST MAJORITY) can find themselves caught up in the slurry.
The weaker players are cut.

It’s life. It’s the world. That’s how it is.

Parents have weird unreasonable expectations that clubs are to “develop” their average player into a an A conference starter. That and many parents aren’t realistic with how good - or not good - their children are.

Hit the wall again on your way out.

Great post but they don’t want to hear this, they want someone to blame for their sons lack of ability/skill/work ethic/size, etc. So they will keep coming here until they are forced to focus their life on something else other than D1 dreams for their son.

One more pass-best motto in travel lacrosse. I love assists.

Parents think because they pay thousands of dollars to play club, that they are paying for the club to turn their player into a D1 player. Lose that expectation and your years in club lacrosse will be much more enjoyable.

If you live in the Maryland/VA area and play for Crabs, Hawks, DCE, VLC or NL, you are in a good spot. Coaches will be watching your teams play all the time when the time comes. If you are on any other team in this said area, you may need to rely on individual showcases a game film a little more.

If you are a starter on an MIAA, WCAC, IAC High School team you are good to go. Go to NHSLS tomorrow. See how many D1 Coaches are there. See why Ty Zander says these are the best recruiting tournaments.

These same kids play on those clubs by default. If you are not getting significant playing time on these clubs listed above, leave.

Agree