BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Boys 2027-10th Grade Fall 2024/Summer 2025

Use this thread to discuss lacrosse pertaining to 10th Grade Boys (2027 Grads) for the Fall 2024/Summer 2025 Season.

What's the deal with Hilltop? They must have over a dozen current 2026's playing on the 27 roster. Their videos and IG's don't even hide it.

Mercanary team focused on getting kids recruited. I think they had 2025 team, 2026 team and now a 2027 team. Lots of reclass players, prep school kids and I think kids from 3d upstate.

Ha every team is reclassed now go make me a hot sub troll boy.

The 2027 Hilltop team has about 12 players who are current 2026's. They don't even try to hide it on IG, Youtube or their sports profile accounts. At least other teams try to scrub it a little.

Not sure why that is a big deal. The great state of lacrosse is now that.

Lacrosse is a fringe sport that has no money, just parents who love to strut on sidelines and stands. And occasionally get into a good school to take communications.
Easier to strut when you kid is the dominate one, and holdbacks dominate .

Not going away either. Actually you might be considered somewhat lacking if you dont hold him back.

No trolling intended. Someone asked what the deal was with the team and I tried to provide some information. I think my info is accuate but I don't really know.
I'm not going to be making you that "hot sub" - sorry.

It is not a big deal. The team is really good and comprised largely of the above mentioned groups (at least the 2025 & 2026 teams). They are focused on getting players recruited - that is what club lacrosse, fall tournaments, & summer tournament are for. I'm not sure why my description is being viewed as "trolling" or making a "big deal" out of the team.

Reclasses are one thing, but it is relatively provocative that the kid who scored 3 goals in the IL Cup final for the 2027 Hilltop team (who is heralded by name on the Hilltop IG page) clearly lists himself as a 2026 player on his own IG page. I don’t know the tournament rules, but it’s a bad look either way.

Don’t tell the Next Level moms.

The 2027 team is comprised mostly of current 2026's, not reclasses.

That does not seem to be right ?

The Hilltop 2027 roster is posted on the net. Google a player and substitute 2026 for 2027 and their true on-line profiles pop up. Or, watch their videos or look at their IG's and their information is posted as being a current 2026. Some are clever and have added a 2027 edit to the first few seconds but watch for 30 seconds and the real information pops up. He uses some guest players from local tourney areas and those are the true 2027's. His entire shtick is "let's play your son at a lower class and see if he gets some interest. He can reclass later."

To pile onto Hilltop, the new rankings came out and Hilltop is undefeated and beat the teams in front of them. Does USCL know their roster stinks and are putting them down on purpose or is their algorithm this broken. Hilltop should be roster checked because of their blatant disregard for all things.

Sweetlax Upstate deserves to be #1 at this point, but there’s no reason (age aside) why Hilltop should be behind Next Level - who they have beaten twice this fall.

The algorithm may be rigged for Next Level. This #2 ranking makes even less sense their #10 ranking last summer (which made no sense). They are a fine team, but something fishy has been going on.

Hilltop shouldn't be ranked in the 2027 division. They are mostly current, not reclass, 2026's.

The algorithm isn't rigged or fishy, it's flawed. It gives too much weight to large goal differential wins up to 10 goals and detracts too heavily when a team plays a much lower ranked team.

Some surprises this weekend

NLF
Primetime takes down Laxachusetts and WCS.
What has happened to LIE and LE in this division?
91 Machine with 3 uninspiring matchups.

ALL
Sweetlax loses to BBL and Next Level.
Team 10 beatdown of BBL.

Several of Laxachussets’ 2027 players are off in college right now, so they were missing some pieces.

Express was never really a complete team at this grade until now. They righted the ship over the summer and now the Varsity Head Coaches at Chaminade and St Anthonys are running the team. So they’ll be fine in terms of recruitment and exposure. That’s all that matters now. And they still are a very very good team.

It’s the fall… kids are still playing or coming off of football season

Very simple . 91 Machine controls.the NLF, should be renamed ninety one lacrosse federation....so they out themselves up against weak competition. They also pulled out of the NAL last week because they can't control anything there and they went 0-3 last fall . Sad but true

There are so many LI Express teams, it's hard to keep them straight. In Summer of 2023 the Haugen team beat Machine to win The Gauntlet and lost to the Kings by a goal in the NLF championship game. They were at the top, and then fell off a cliff in 2024. What happened?

The old coaches left, probably built up over time for the reasoning. So that definitely hurts things. But all is well now. They have two of the most successful HS coaches in the country running the team for the next 18 months. Win/lose no matter at this point.

Thanks for the info. Wish the kids the best of luck!

91 Machine lost 11-4 to Mad Dog B team at IMLCA. Dang.

Might want to recheck those scores.

Machine beat them 11-4, but the S2S parent who wrote that clearly knows that. So yes - congrats to S2S for the win. They had a favorable draw (just like Machine), but still had to beat some good teams to win it all.

none of this matters. The only thing that matters is next summer and competing in front of coaches. You think a college coach cares what the score is. As long as your son is on a team and playing meaningful minutes, that’s what counts. It’s 10th grade and you can’t get recruited from the sideline. Team recruiting events (imho) are so much better than showcases. Showcases are full of selfish play and unbalanced talent. Been to showcases where the team didn’t have a fogo and the other team had the ball 80% of the time. Or one team is so much better than the other team and same effect. It happens. Team recruiting events, like this past weekend, the summer NLF at Stony Brook and the Alliance Championship are events to circle, again in my opinion. Other events like Naptown, NAL and Crabfest have historically been solid.

It matters. Being on a good team that plays and beats good competition matters. Those are the teams coaches want to watch. A rising tide lifts all ships.

There are only 70 D 1 schools(but 300 football d1 schools) and with smaller lacrosse rosters coming with NIL lawsuit the gap year game will only get worse going forward. You say I am willing to do a gap year play down as a 27. If you get an offer you go to D1 and you do a gap year and if not you go D3 and graduate a 2026.

You will see gap years in 2027 go to 2028 if no interest after Sept 1 recruiting period. There were like 40 re classes in the top 100 inside lacrosse 2026.I don't think their will be as many 2026s in 2027 top 100 but their might be because Hiltop, Laxachusetts, Sweetlax, Prime Time, Leading edge and 2 way...etc have a few re classes on each team. The 2026 had a ton of 25s but that was because the Covid 5 Year ended in 26 so some 25s re classed for that reason as well..

I know some players on the 2027 Hilltop team and they are all true 2027 kids playing within their class. Yes - they have all declassed previously but are currently sophomores at their high schools. I am aware of three other players who were on 2026 Hilltop last year and are re-classing at their respective high schools so they are officially joining the 2027 class. Don't think they are doing anything that other current high level clubs are doing. These teams are designed to get kids exposure and collegiate playing opportunities. The Hilltop track record for getting players committed is exceptional.

Reclass = no class

Terrible parenting.

It will be interesting to watch through reclassed kids as recruiting time approaches. The majority of them are in for a rude awakening......they're simply not that good snd despite being advised by their club directors to reclass there will be some disappointing news on the horizon .

I'm guessing that you pay big $ to be on a "brand" team and tell yourself this to justify it.

College coaches are very good at finding talent. You don't need to be on a great team to be recruited by great coaches.

If a kid is really really good, you’re right that a college coach will likely find them even if they’re not on a top 30 team. But there aren’t that many of those kids, and it’s also much easier for coaches to scout the top teams and see multiple players in one spot - at the same time

Take a look at the college commitments of the top 10 club teams from 2026 and older vs the 30-40th ranked, and it’s almost night and day.

Go look at a roster of the top ACC, Ivy and BIG schools, and they are largely comprised of kids from the best clubs teams of their graduation year.

I'm guessing you haven't done any of that research. I'm guessing you also haven't had a kid get recruited yet. My son is going to a mid-tier D1 school next year and didn't play big time club.

There are only so many teams in the ACC, Ivy, and Big 10. Those kids are going to be found no matter what. There are many roster spots in the rest of D1 (including $$$) that are available.

I love all the 5’8 dads talking about skills and clubs. When all that really matters are those things you can’t teach for those major D1 programs.
I love all 5’8 dads talking about which clubs to be on. When all that really matters for those top programs are those things you can’t teach.

Correct.
Top D1 is taking every monster athlete.
If your kid is 6'0 and under, start investigating mid-tier D1 and NESCAC schools.

Or you can look at the current #1 team in the country and see that almost half the team is under 6 foot. Do some research. The things that you can't teach is just being an athlete. THAT'S what they want.