Nobody would argue that Summit and ML have 2 of the best youth programs in the state. They lose half of their talent to prep schools, but their HS teams are still ridiculous.
The question we're trying to answer is this . . . how does Summit and ML beat SHP, Delbarton, etc with a fraction of the number of D1 recruits?
2 possible explanations that I see:
- the coaching at Summit/ML is far superior to the coaching at these private schools so they can win with far less talent
- the talent gap is not that big, but the recruiting support and visibility provided at the private schools/clubs enables similarly talented kids go to better colleges
What's your take?
They play more as a team.. look at the 2025/So class at Delbarton. Great players but parents and kids don't like each other.
That is a really interesting take on the situation. With schools like Delbarton, SHP and DB, parents are putting their kids there for lacrosse, so I suspect that the competition must be lot more heated in regards to playing time, etc.
with bigger name coaches (giarrusso, former SHP HC and calandra, former Chatham HC) moving on to smaller schools like MKA and St. Joes Metuchen respectively, why wouldn't kids want to go there and play 4 years of varsity lacrosse, potentially be more happy there and still get recruited the same amount? Kids at SHP get CUT from freshman teams - many are talented that make it and don't sniff the field til their junior/senior years. Giarrusso and Calandra have had some pretty big names recruited to the next level at prior jobs, club kids included.
