US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2028 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

When you combine the two teams there are probably about 15 holdbacks, so they should be the best teams in Elite. Next year that will probably grow to 20. Same with Crabs. Look for teams like FCA White, True Chesapeake, Predators, Prostart, Sidewinders to gain some solid impact players right away from these teams. The competition will start to level out with a lot of teams.

some families have more than one child.

Buddy, this is a next level event. They run it. He can schedule whoever they want to play. Bottom line is, they did not schedule Madlax. Use your imagination or just ignore the obvious. But I certainly don’t blame Madlax for ducking anybody by playing the cannons. They’re also playing leading edge, freedom red, and red hots.

Buddy, Madlax scheduled Leading Edge for a private scrimmage at their practice field with their refs so it wouldn't count against their 'ranking.' Lame.

Buddy, Madlax scheduled Leading Edge for a private scrimmage at their practice field with their refs so it wouldn't count against their 'ranking.' Lame.[/quote

Which part of scheduling scrimmages in March is lame? You clearly have no clue whatsoever.

Why didn’t NL schedule a game with Madlax in their own event? Is there a reason? If so, what is it?

Perhaps because ML 2028-Monuments-Winter wasn't available. They only wanted to play ML 2028 - Potomac - Spring.

NL ducking

NL and ML are playing this weekend at the 2031 age group...which Dave Mitchell also coaches...so I don't think these back and forth accusations of ducking, etc., are quite accurate. And what does NL 2028 have to duck? it has dominated the series of late.

ML 28 wants to hold onto their players as long as possible, following the 26 departure, it's probably a safe bet.

31s playing allows plenty of time to scout future poaching opportunities.

There are far more opps for ML players than NL. Such a silly conversation. You are also mistaken that they would leave to play for DM. It's been discussed from time to time, to be totally honest. And the general consensus.....why leave CM for DM? Same-same. The fact NL coaches constantly reach out to the ML 28 players (and have been for years) is bizarre. The NL parents should be upset because they'd all be replaced except for your FO and goalie. See 26s for reference. That's the more interesting story from my perspective.

I like cannons in the upset.

What happened in the 26 class is not a good look for either program, and both teams are going to have a difficult time, albeit for different reasons. I am happy not to have a son on either of those teams.

[quote=Anonymous]There are far more opps for ML players than NL. Such a silly conversation. You are also mistaken that they would leave to play for DM. It's been discussed from time to time, to be totally honest. And the general consensus.....why leave CM for DM? Same-same. The fact NL coaches constantly reach out to the ML 28 players (and have been for years) is bizarre. The NL parents should be upset because they'd all be replaced except for your FO and goalie. See 26s for reference. That's the more interesting story from my perspective.[/quote

what’s bizarre is this statement. While Madlax used to dominate NL in 3-4th grades, I think NL has won 4 of the last 5 or something like that. So to think the Madlax kids would all just swoop in and take the NL roster spots if CM ultimately drives them all away is probably a bit “bizarre.” Their Attack are 3 feet tall. Their D is good. But other than 47, not a single standout.

Burn!

You ok dad? You sound really sad. No dog in this fight, but knowing both clubs it doesn't sound like you are being truly honest with yourself.

You should ask your own players, NL dad. They would disagree with your statement .

Full length game, real refs in real uniforms, four 12 minute quarters with real timeouts. Madlax won 7-5.
Leading Edge a very big and physical team. Attackmen are their biggest players. Suspect they will do well on Sunday.

Warrior?

Full length game, real refs in real uniforms, four 12 minute quarters with real timeouts. Madlax won 7-5.
Leading Edge a very big and physical team. Attackmen are their biggest players. Suspect they will do well on Sunday.[/quoteq]

Anybody who has scrimmage ML with their refs knows it’s a big advantage.

Madlax 0-2 today, at least what's on record.

Next Level with a couple of losses today also.

Good competition though I guess will be the excuses?


Crabs and Hawks both undefeated out in Delaware.
Crabs beat a Jersey Express team only 7-6, whereas the Hawks played JE 13-3. Does that say anything? Maybe. Maybe not.

One thing for sure is that the "on age" World Series teams are terrible and getting eaten alive by the "holdback" teams.

I heard that the good MadLax player was at the March Kickoff today but he played for a national all star team instead of MadLax. Is that true, and if so, when did players start doing that? I thought the national teams were not supposed to interfere with real teams.

The World Series teams around here aren't very good because they don't actually attract top on-age players. All the best on-age kids in MD-DC-VA play in HoCo instead of the World Series because YLWS is a shell of what WSYL was. WSYL had cosponsors and qualifiers that didn't interfere with HoCo. Yes, HoCo teams definitely have some holdbacks and the 3 with the most - FCA, Hawks, Madlax - will be top teams this year.

If true, that's 100% on the parents, who either plan for their kid to leave ML, or who think Lil Breydon's talent is above the fray and ML can't do anything to him.

I say that because there's two things the national teams want to do in regards to MD-DC-Philly kids:

1) Make piles of money
2) Avoid scrutiny by the witches' coven of local MD/DC club coaches, because the "national team product" in most cases is really not amazing in terms of athlete development, exposure etc for MD/DC players. And so far, most of the local club directors have ignored the minimal conflicts caused.

I would take this another full step. Based purely on snide comments from national team assistant coaches (2 teams, comments a full year apart), they don't even want the heat of dealing with Mid-Atlantic kids and their parents. We are for the most part pretty well-informed customers who tend to be knee-donk in what we have kids attend and not attend. That's not what they are looking for, they are looking for giant standout kids from non-lax areas whose parents will gladly throw money at ANY opportunity, playing in Cali the week before Christmas, Florida 2 days after Christmas, random skills camp in Boston in July.

However the fact remains that there is a ton of talent in our area, and we are happy to spend money on youth lax, and so they will take our money too.

I think Madlax will lose to FCA, Hawks, Crabs, and still be the 4th playoff team. I think NL could be in trouble. Their big attack man is killing what once was a good thing.

‘I would take this another full step. Based purely on snide comments from national team assistant coaches (2 teams, comments a full year apart), they don't even want the heat of dealing with Mid-Atlantic kids and their parents. We are for the most part pretty well-informed customers who tend to be knee-donk in what we have kids attend and not attend. That's not what they are looking for, they are looking for giant standout kids from non-lax areas whose parents will gladly throw money at ANY opportunity, playing in Cali the week before Christmas, Florida 2 days after Christmas, random skills camp in Boston in July.”

Can not get more accurate than this on BOTC

If I'm a coach and my player chooses to play with his national team over my team during a tournament, he would find himself on the bench, regardless of talent/skill. Congrats to Red Hots and Nationals for playing against regular club teams and spending $500-$600 for your son to play a few games.

NL beat Leading Edge, tied Philly Freedom, and lost to Red Hots. They will be competitive in HoCo but definitely lag in terms of physical body development (eye test) vs. several of the top teams. This stuff will even out, of course. But the big attackman is exactly the kind of physical presence they need. Silly comment to say he's a liability to the offense. Quite the opposite. He was one of the only offensive players making plays vs. Red Hots this weekend. Nice try tho stiring up trouble.

Madlax isn’t losing to Crabs.

Can we stop using the word “team” to define a pick up roster full of all-stars developed and coached at other clubs with real coaches intended to bring its own original local program back from the brink. Looking at you,Hots.

A 60+ player pool that includes several 15-year-old "7th graders" certainly isn't a team. Welcome rebuttals, but ranking this "team" would be absurd.

this aged well

Random observations from watching games at March Kickoff:

1) True Chesapeake, Bethesda, and NL looked small.
2) NL sideline was suprisingly chill. In the close games, the coaches never got amped up.
3) Redhots were not necessarily big, just super skilled. Recognized a coup attackmen from WCS (safe travels).
4) ML plays the most aggressive defense possible. If the team playing ML can handle their press, they will score frequently.
5) 91 has some fool parents.
6) 91 will win a game or two in Elite.
7) Bethesda got better and will hang with top teams. If you take them lightly, you could get upset.
8) The big ML kid was not a Rockburn Park (definitely didn’t play on Redhots).
9) Yes, ML lost twice, but don’t fool yourself, they are still very good. With their big kid, they can beat any team in HOCO. I’m NOT saying they will, but they’re capable.
10) True Chesapeake is gone have a long season. They have one midfielder who can score and a couple small/quick attackmen. That’s the list.

National teams playing in events with regular club teams will create lots of problems for clubs. How to coaches/directors handle players that don't attend all the events or play with a national team against their regular club? Anyway it's handled likely will result in some players/families being upset and having a negative impact on team culture. Coaches/directors have enough issues managing egos, playing time, and expectations that I wouldn't be surprised if event operators block out national teams from regular club events - isn't this why The Circuit was created?

The Circuit was created to make money (hence it allows age exemptions and plans to be an 'on age' event by 2026). But who cares about national teams vs. local clubs? Shouldn't local DMV clubs have enough talent and the advantage of playing together in a system? Some parents get upset that Johnny isn't winning a t-shirt at tournaments. But playing against bigger, faster, older national teams is a great test for kids and prepares them for higher level of competition. You should be thanking these kids/parents from national teams for paying extra money and flying in or driving for hours to help your son and his team get better.

Overall agree with this. Red Hots did in fact have a few large guys as did Leading Edge. RH are pretty good. 91 beating True was a surprise IMO. BLC defense looks miles ahead of where they were last season and will be tough. NL didn't look small overall to me but their attack looks undersized IMO and struggled against bigger D.

Based on the Elite teams that were there it's looking like ML and NL are still slightly ahead of the rest of the pack but the gap is tightening. FCA and Hawks will prob be top of the division. I haven't seen Crabs play so who knows about them.

That's certainly one way to look at it. The actual 2028s will be playing in high school in a couple years, so it probably is good experience (if they don't get killed) to start playing against the high school kids that are on some of these teams now. If you can handle a kid that's 6 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than you as an average sized 13 year old, you will indeed be ready as a Freshman.

After the weekend:

FCA (only team not bothering to play anyone it appears)
Hawks (still loaded with talent)
NL (the big goalie…)
ML (without 47 they struggle a lot. Not much offensive depth)
BLC (their 1-1-1 was more impressive than crabs 2-0)
Crabs (were smoked by LE. BLC played them very tough)
91 (will win 1-2 games which should be counted a success)
True Chesapeake (have some nice players but a long way to go)

You really shouldn't call out just one kid for NL's lack of offense. What I saw in the game I watched was 3-4 kids putting their heads down and driving into double and triple teams while their teammates stood there wide open, even on man up. Maybe they're not showing their offense until HoCo? If they don't move the ball better and get more going than isos and poor shots, it could be a long season for the defending HoCo champs.