US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Girls 2027 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

You must mean Hero's White girls. No girls are leaving Hero's Green to go to SW.

Agree both are great teams, but I think it is the other way around. Aces is probably the most athletic team I have ever seen especially their middies and defense. M&D is probably the most technically talented team around, with great size, depth and technical ability. As defenses get better, I expect M&D to perform even better since all 7 players offensive end can score

If M&D has a weakness it is they don't have the speed in the open field to create as many easy goals and can get caught in transition.

If Aces has a weakness it's that they need to find a 3rd scoring option besides #2 and #4. Also the quality of Aces' bench and Goalie is nowhere near what you see at Heros, M&D or YJ.

Clarification to this and an earlier thread. I'm not defensive at all about SW. I'm being pretty factual about the program and the 27s.

Noone thinks the SW27s are elite or were exposed when they lost to Aces or M&D Why? We are at all the games. We know what we are dealing with. Bottom barrel A team. Very good if not great B team. The D is pretty tough. The O needs work. The levy always breaks at some point, but it is what it is. My point was, as more agree, the season for 2023 doesn't mean much for the brand overall. They will upgrade the roster as needed. And, SW will be generally where it always is come recruiting time, with out without players from the 27 roster.

BLC just lost to Coppermine btw.

Weird day one for scores……..

MD United lost to Primetime? Looks like primetime is back?

M&D got revenge by 5 on Aces but only best BLC by 1?!?!

BLC remains up and down.

Coppermine & Skywalkers both had good days

Hope everyone had safe and healthy day, fields were pretty good considering the rain

Ah...Coppermine troll.

Not sure what you mean by back for Prime Time. They have always been a "second 10" team. So is MDU.

They are capable of beating anyone ranked over 6 and capable of losing to anyone ranked under 30. They have a good draw girl, some fast middies and are good buy not great everywhere else. This means they will be inconsistent against teams ranked around them and overwhelmed when they play a truly elite team.

Who is their best win against? Steps Navy or NXT. Good teams, but hardly elite. Like I have posted here before, there is really no meaningful difference in rankings between 10 and 30.

The heros / Skywalkers playoff game was wild, 4-3 HG

Why what happened?

Genesis takeaways

Dominate weekend for M&D black, firmly believe they are number 1.

Skywalkers over performed, still need a few pieces to take leap.

MDU and BLC remain inconsistent yet dangerous.

Coppermine continues to fly under radar for a very solid and well coached team

Quick take on your takes

M&D is rolling. They were clear best team all weekend.

Skywalkers didn't over perform. They played in an easy bracket. They should have been undefeated. Although props for giving Hero's a good game in playoffs.

MDU was a surprise. As well as they have been playing I would have expected a couple of wins. M&D absolutely mauled them. So did Hero's

BLC just can't get out of their own way. On to greeer pastures.

Coppermine beating BLC a small surprise. But they beat 2 really bad teams. Losing by 3 to Eaglestix was a good showing.

Aces had a LFTC hangover. Opening with M&D and losing, they never got into rhythm. They need more than 2 scoring options.

On to the MidAtlantic here’s the top bracket…Thoughts?

NXT 2027 Black (Pennsylvania)
Aces 2027 (New York)
Jesters 2027 Black (New York)
Eagle Stix 27 Blue (Georgia)
Florida Select 2027 (Florida)
M&D 27 Black (Maryland)
NEMS 2027 (Maryland)
BBL Elite 27 Black (New Jersey)

MDU was beating Heros at half and played Aces to 1. Inconsistent weekend but dangerous team when on.

I would say Aces and M&D are logical favorites.

Eaglestix could play spoilers if they gain draw control.

Madskilz will always be a tough out. But won't win it.

Others have zero chance

I would tend to agree with the potential final but after watching Madskillz at NGLL I could easily put them in the final as well. They beat EagleStix and had Heros against the ropes in the final.
I don’t see EagleStix in the final either.
Should be a great tournament.

BBL elite loses by 15 in every game. Don’t sleep on Florida select. Could make playoffs if they have to play both M and D and Aces.

Tryouts are always X factor for this tourney. How many teams will be short handed due to girls who are cut or leaving?

I think some of you are reading way too much into the final score in trying to determine how a game went. All these teams are in a grind right now. Its very hard to stay consistently on top each tournament, as evidenced by Hero's, YJ, Aces, etc. The early Saturday games were rough, wet fields, kids slipping all over.

Lots of these coaches are also trying to decide about next year and who is worth keeping or letting go, meaning different lineups and drops in play from 1st half to 2nd etc.


BLC is obviously not the same team they were earlier in the year, and with all due respect to Coppermine, who is a very solid team, that result is not a shock at all.

M&D is #1 right now. Aces laid an egg. Its clear to me they play elite because of draw play and a few shooters. Its also clear they have some egos and when things go south, it can go south quick there. Coaches/parents need to let some of those girls know they will be evaluated on play as well as what kind of teammate they are.

SW obviously good showing vs HG in playoffs, but they moonwalked into a playoff spot.

BLC girls are definitely distracted and rightfully so.

M&D Black is on fire and so deep with talent. Side note, very kind of their coaches to give Skywalkers a sideline tent and cheer them on during playoff game. Classy move and 90% of the girls are classmates and friends outside of lax

Face guarding nunber 2 at CES worked

Not original poster, but wild=great, but unexpected game.

The game had a lot of back and forth, and seemed more like evenly matched teams, as opposed to HG crapping the bed and SW playing out of their minds. And, unlike some of the Saturday games, the refs stayed mostly out of the way. I doubt the game would stay close if it were 44 minutes. SW didn't appear to make any substitutions, so their play quality would have likely gone down significantly as time progressed.

HG goalie is elite. HG midswere physical and fast. Anything in the center of the field was subject to HG swarming.

The SW defense looked very solid--held off a pretty tough onslaught for a large part of the game. Their O offense looked way more composed than usual.

M&D HHH was blah. I will say I have not seen a team come out and plan full 1/2 field man defense at this level in a loooong time. Talk about downright disrepectful. To M&Ds credit, they have athletes and depth to pull it off. There were hitting on all cylinders.

Coppermine is solid. I put an asterisk on their win against BLC. BLC players just looked like they were ready to disband and move on, since that was the club's last game for the 27s.

Coppermine is about to regress unless they convince their upper-level talent to stay.

Well that really cleared things up.
M&D absolutely dominant.

Not sure why they would stay, they will move to clubs that will get them recruited.

Agree.

Skywalkers has a very physical and tough Defense for sure but in a full game where they would have to sub, they would get exposed. The only subs were made at mid and maybe one at D for the playoff game.

The SW offense looked solid, they didn't rush and made some nice goals and the HG goalie saved at least 2-3 goals on free positions and made other stops, she is excellent.

More than anything, Skywalkers needs depth for subbing and a dedicated draw girl but overall they continue to improve. I think you will be one last influx of talent this summer and they'll field a really good team moving forward, that is the skywalker recipe.

Hats off to the HG goalie who is amazing, a bunch of SW parents said "great stop, nice outlet, etc", she is elite.

If Coppermine mids leave they are in trouble

What I noticed is that HG is relying too much on there middies to score. They are getting zero production from their attack players.
HG goalie won the game against SW

The nice thing about Coppermine is that they aren't overly reliant on one player. #7 would be the only big loss if she were to leave.

They have quality midfielders who have great lacrosse IQ and don't make bad mistake. However, I'm not sure any of them start right away at any "better" club they would try to leave for (M&D, Heros, MDU, SW).

Just because someone is good enough to leave doesn't mean they should.

HG gets a ton of production (assists too) from their attack. Not sure how many games you've watched.

I think some people find this out the hard way. Coppermine plays physical and I think they tend to get frustrated. If a ref is calling it tight, its a major uphill battle for them.

For being a top ranked team, the HG defense is bad. They have one solid defender, the others are terrible. Their goalie bails them out all the time. She is maybe the best goalie at this age in the nation. If they had any other goalie they would not win nearly as much as they do.

SW dad here, the HG defense is far from terrible but yes the goalie bails them out but that is part of the game.

In a full game it’s probably a 5+ goal game due to fatigue, Skywalkers played their best players entire time and got some confidence and Heros got tight. Pucker factor kicked in.

All the teams will continue to even out in next couple of years, all the girls will get to know each other and be teammates or competitors at diff high schools. Some will be teammates in college as well, just relax and enjoy the ride.

What I noticed while watching a few M&D games this weekend is: M&D is explosive because they have 7 capable players on offensive that penetrate to move the defense, move the ball effectively and they play as a unit. Also, You can't aggressively push up on them defensively it makes too many holes for them to expose. Fun to watch.

Hopefully for the sake of MID Atlantic competitiveness: Coppermine girls stay get a few pieces and same for SW. Need another Top A team since BLC is no longer.

You are fool. Have you seen some of the other defenses in this age group? They have one great one, and a very very good one on low D as well. They also have a D middie who is fantastic. They also have great size back there too.

Their goalie is great but there's others working with a lot less help.

What I noticed while watching a few M&D games this weekend is: M&D is explosive because they have 7 capable players on offensive that penetrate to move the defense, move the ball effectively and they play as a unit. Also, You can't aggressively push up on them defensively it makes too many holes for them to expose. Fun to watch.

Hopefully for the sake of MID Atlantic competitiveness: Coppermine girls stay get a few pieces and same for SW. Need another Top A team since BLC is no longer

Also, HG defense is not terrible, not sure what games you are watching.

OMG.... Gerstell Mom.... stop it. just stop it.

The nice thing about Coppermine is that they aren't overly reliant on one player. #7 would be the only big loss if she were to leave.[/quote]

[/quote]

This can’t be a Coppermine parent. What parent would post about their own child as being this important to a team? Especially for a team that doesn’t have a standout that I can see but instead a group of good players.

We have played HG quite a bit and no unit on that team is terrible. All are above average as seen with their results. Am curious as to what happens this year with the better players on mid-tier teams and lowers role players on the top teams. Do they move to be seen during the recruiting years?

This can’t be a Coppermine parent. What parent would post about their own child as being this important to a team? Especially for a team that doesn’t have a standout that I can see but instead a group of good players.[/quote]

There is not a single player on Coppermine that would make Hero's or M&D's bench. Much less get starter minutes.

Daughter on B/C level team. Got to watch most of the Coppermine game against Eagle Stix. They were tough and competitive, but Eagle Stix won every single draw that I saw…all well timed to moving wing middies or she self drew to space. Coppermine had no answer. So I have not seen them play a ton, but they must improve the circle play to step up a level.

Some coaches have no clue how to coach draw-circle play. They assume it's a 50/50 gig, and if their team is losing it, it's all the player's fault. If the coach was an attacker or defender in their playing days, they probably have no clue.

My daughter's team has played against Heros many times over the past 2 years, losing all by one of those games.

Heros is a top 3 team in the nation depending on the weak. They aren't bad or even average at anything. Anyone who thinks so isn't watching or doesn't understand lacrosse.

All that being said, here is what I see as their strengths and weaknesses COMPARED TO OTHER TOP 5 NATIONAL TEAS (M&D, YJ, Aces, ES). They are better in all areas against almost anyone else

- Depth: In my mind, their greatest strength. The talent they bring off their bench is still elite. M&D is probably the only one who is even close

- Goalie: All top 5 teams have outstanding goalies. I think YJ #1 is probably the best in the country, but Hero's goalie is close

- Defense: Work very well as a team and don't give up cheap goal. A couple of their Low defenders are weak in 1:1 matchups. Good teams try to isolate their girls and win on 1v1 matches. Hero's starting middies are probably a bit below the rest on their defense. They're clear is outstanding with great positioning. The goalie does a great job communicating to her D.

- Middies: Outstanding in terms of speed, depth, Lax IQ and decision making. Probably the best middle unit out there

- Attack: Probably middle of the pack. Lots of talented girls here, who are great in transition. Heros doesn't run their offense through attackers like M&D, ES and YJ do so a bit harder to compare. Their redefending is often inconsistent and they don't create many turnovers on clears.

- Draw: Probably the weakness of the team. They do well against lower teams, but don't have the size or athleticism on the circle that some other top 5 teams do.

- Coaching: outstanding. Everyone knows their role and they are able to make adjustments as needed