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

Yet both of you are posting on a message board about said topic.

Go to sleep.

That would be spectacular!

yeah because all comments about youth lacrosse are the same substance, same tone, same words eve!. You're, like, smart!

HoCo schedule has this game being played at Georgetown University stadium. If that’s accurate, pretty cool experience for these kids…. Wonder if HoCo could ever get the Championship games played in Navy Stadium.

You know nothing, clown!

There is that better?

Weekend predictions and final standings:

Sat 5/13:
Hawks 12-3 Team 91
True 6-3 BLC (assuming out-of-staters aren't at this game, if they are then margin will be larger)
Madlax 8-4 Crabs
FCA 10-5 NL

Sun 5/14
Hawks 11-5 Crabs
Madlax 6-3 True
NL 8-3 BLC

Final Standings:

1. Hawks 7-0
2. FCA 6-1
3. Madlax 5-2
4. True 3-4
5. Next Level 3-4
6. Crabs 2-5
7. BLC 1-6
8. Team 91 1-6

Playoffs: Hawks vs True; FCA vs Madlax

True finishes with the same record as NL but gets the last playoff spot due to head-to-head versus NL. If True beats Madlax they would jump to third place and Madlax would drop to fourth. No way NL makes the playoffs unless they pull the upset versus FCA. FCA likely looking forward to getting revenge on the team that beat them in the championship last year. Anything can happen in the playoffs but looks like we're heading for an FCA vs Hawks championship game and if I'm betting my money is on Hawks.

End of season observations:

-Hawks: Continues playoff streak and will likely win it all. May add/drop players at the margins but this is a strong squad. This club continues to set the standard in the DMV at multiple grad years.
-FCA: Offense hitting on all cylinders but leaky in the back and it will likely cost them versus Hawks. Will look to strengthen defense.
-Madlax: Strong defense but punchless at attack. Limited use of bench means more players will be looking to move on to greener pastures. Difficult to recruit attacking talent given the team atmosphere/culture.
-True: Don't know what to write here. What is the actual composition of this team? Is flying in out-of-towners every weekend for HOCO spring games a sustainable model? Will local Maryland players head for the exits? If everything plays out as predicted they'll make the playoffs so will be able to claim success regardless of what other disgruntled parents say.
-Next Level: Big fall for the defending champs and parents need to looking at the coaching--did last summer's new players actually strengthen the team? Why is the offense so anemic? Why isn't the offense sharing the ball? How come dense penalties continue to hurt the team? No coach gets less results out of more talent than DM.
-Crabs: The usual Crabs model of flooding the zone with giant holdbacks either didn't happen this year, or happened but was ineffective. Expect more reclasses next year and a playoff push.
-BLC: Win over Team 91 in OT last week ensures another year of survival in Elite. Will be looking to add unhappy players from Madlax, Next Level and True to the new DC Express team. Showed glimpses of talent all over the field but serious weakness at faceoff and clearing meant that they were playing defense nearly 95% of every game. Will be looking to win 3-4 games next year and make a playoff push.
-Team 91: Welcome to Elite--tough baptism. Similar to BLC, will be looking to upgrade from other teams' refugees. Depending on whether this season's AAA champion (Team Maryland? FCA White?) wants to play Elite, maybe facing a preseason playoff for the final 2024 Elite spot.

Congrats to everyone on this penultimate HOCO season for the 2028s. I'll miss all of you when it's over.

Using any of the 50+ roster national teams as examples, clearly anybody can call anything a "team chesapeake" and see how they fare in whatever rankings. Leagues and tournaments will happily take their money.

As has been dragged into the ground on BOTC, True MD staff are likely on their last chances to show that they can field teams that are both competitive and profitable. The True Annapolis/Chesapeake teams, bought from other clubs, have been spared no expense (fee waivers, free helmets, etc) to recruit the best talent and even pull talent (rostered or not) from other True programs - whenever needed. Yet after this huge cash infusion focused on the "true annapolis experiment," the brand is still Truly unremarkable in the GA-SC-NC-VA-MD-PA-DE-NJ-NY ecosystem. Even in FL-GA-SC Sweetlax, 3D, and 91 are eating their lunch. In MD, I'm glad they've established Glen Burnie as their HQ, but nothing else is significant about them.

Go back to Illinois, True.

Meanwhile Hawks-Crabs at the extremely scenic Howard High School.

they should've played the game before the St Marys BL game on friday night!!!

You can be interested in something without being self-delusional about the importance of it.

Lacrosse is a fun to play and watch and can teach kids valuable lessons, which is great. My son plays and I hope more boys do in the future. All great.

But let's be honest with ourselves that it's still a niche sport with high barriers to entry and that most of the country doesn't care about, which makes some of the chest-pounding on here sort of hilarious.

Actually 7th grade lacrosse does matter for the players that want to play D1. This is the start and time to start ramping it up. Better be on one of the elite teams this year. Parents and Players that are doing extra , clinics, practice, etc will be at top . The rest of the players and parents who say relax, it is not a big deal in 7th grade will be watching D1 players in future,

True is another reason why Lacrosse is going to the sewer system of sports. Not for anything except $

Best two teams in country. They deserve that place to play. Both will get better, with Crabs getting better by much more.

AAA talk... There are Freedom helmets appearing on the Team Money sideline. The two organizations already have a relationship for some pop-up tournaments like Elite Sixes and Team 18. Will we see "Free-Money" in elite next year? Perhaps Freedom finally gets sick of going 30-0 in the NXT Spring League over the last 3 years, beating up on Dukes and Jersey Express, and drives south for some real competition next spring.

English please. Who's the best two teams in the country? Might be Hawks and FCA. And who deserves what? Madlax dwarves to play at Georgetown or Hawks Crabs at Howard. Why are some people so challenged to speak the language. Also- is this a prediction that Crabs will beat the Hawks? So confusing.

Who are the 5 best “real” (not regional or national or mashups) teams in the country?

Hawks, FCA, 91 Venom, 2Way and who else?

Not previous poster, but your post is just as confusing LOL. Dwarves? Who’s (who are)??

2way is excellent but they seem to have a revolving door of players.

BBL and 3d NE are in that conversation.

Hawks
Venom
3DNE
2Way
BBL
FCA MD

Add in the national teams:

Red Hots
JM3 National
True National
Sweetlax Navy
Mad Dog West Elite
WCS

Is rhino atl as good as these teams? I’m not familiar.

Madlax maybe?

I don't care about the US Club lax rankings. These are the real top teams in the country, not in any order:

Annapolis Hawks
91 Venom
3DNE
2Way
BBL
FCA MD
Philly Freedom
Madlax
Express North
Rhino ATL
Texas Nationals
Red Hots National
JM3 National
True National
Sweetlax Navy
Mad Dog West Elite
WCS

You can throw out the National Teams. That is a joke! Some of these kids rotate between 4 of these teams when they are available.

Yea the national teams do not count in my eyes either. Neither do teams who consist of a roster of 14 year olds playing in 7th grade. It’s a joke. If you take out those I mentioned you are left with one team and one team only. 91 venom. Facts. Not disputable either.

Agreed. I look at WCS and Texas Nationals differently than Red Hots, Eighteen, Nations Best though. While the players on WCS may come from different states, they look at WCS as their PRIMARY club. Just about every kid on Red Hots, 18, JM3 etc considers a different team their PRIMARY club.

One more weekend of regular season hoco folks!

Time flys.

Like it or not, this is where youth lax is, and where it's heading. When you start eliminating the National Teams, Holdback Teams, Late-Start Kindergarten Holdback Teams, Fake Local Teams with out of state Fly-Ins/Drive-Ins, and teams whose directors intentionally jig the rankings (Maddux, Millon, Higher level Rec Clubs, others), you will see most of these teams drop away. By itself, if you counted out the New England teams whose 2027s "haven't held back yet but still playing on 2028s anyway" that's several top teams right there.

But that's not real life, or how the sport is played. So.....move along.

And good lord, get ready for 9th grade, where if the coach meets a kid better than your kid who lives 1000 miles away, guess what, the new kid gets that spot all of a sudden in February. No HoCo or MYLA to tie them down to. Move along.

From, an anti-holdback dad who has more important things to worry about.

Take your 91 [Censored] back to your own board venom dad

Not a 91 dad.
And 91 was mentioned on THIS board so I commented.
And like I stated, undeniable fact that they are the best team to meet the criteria I described.

Yes there are much more important things to worry about. I just had to point out what everyone knows. Especially since the list was written by some Maryland holdback parent or a parent of a player that shuffles around on a national team or two.

Is that list wrong??? I think not.

Thanks Madlax dad.

List isn't wrong. There's roughly 350 players amongst those teams, and I guarantee that 70 out of the top 100 recruits play for these teams.

They played Madlax one time last summer and got skull dragged down the road. 8-2. And Madlax isn’t even top team down in Md. So like the pp said, take that Long Island gum flapping back to Long Island.

I’m not a Madlax dad, but they were great last summer— won NAL and NLF tournaments, beat 2Way and 91 Venom in doing so. Handled 3D NE, BBL 1/2, Max Dog West, and Xpress Norh several times. Can’t beat the Hawks though. Did anyone else go 2-0 against 2Way and 91?

I have watched the Hawks the past 3 weekends. They are a good team with good players at all positions. The most fun thing to watch are the Hawks coaches. These guys are so dysfunctional. I am not sure who the head coach is but two of them contradict each other multiple times a game. After watching 3 full games I can say those guys are hilarious to watch. One coach says go the other says stop. The kids are so confused at points. From what I have watched they are control freaks. If hey would shut up with the talent they have those kids would be unbeatable. The one guy seems to call every single play. The other guy is always trying to sub. I hope my kids schedule overlaps again this summer so I can watch these two coaches. It’s coaches comedy hour!

Not a Hawks parent, but going into HOCO playoffs they appear to be in a top tier that is all their own.

Then your a MadLax cheerleader

Express chucks way way better than express north

Sticky socks is that you ?