fritz44 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2019 2:15 pm
Wish I had realized there was a backup forum for laxpower earlier in the season...
Looking forward to next season to predict which teams could rise and fall the most.
Teams largest hit by graduation.
New Fairfield - There's no way around it the senior class of 19' was a very special one for New Fairfield and likely won't be replicated in the next decade or so. They lose talent at nearly every position and will be surrounded by teams hungry to avenge some beatdowns from the past 2 seasons. Not sure what to predict since I really don't know of any players from New Fairfield who were not part of this past senior class. Class M will surely be much more competitive next year as a result of the drop off experienced by the Rebels.
Wilton- The graduation of Calabrese, Schriber, Previte, and some other key senior defenders will gut the defense that was the lifeblood of this team all season. Despite graduating their top scorer in Dinnano the offense may be slightly improved next season with a lot of juniors and underclassmen who were mostly role players last year who should grow into threats that could initiate more offense next season. Reilly Sullivan emerged as a force in the playoff run and will be the leader of the offense next season. Underclassmen like Josh White, Sam & Jack Rosen, Ben Calabrese, & Will Hughes played significant minutes last season but were not putting up big numbers. If Wilton is able to overcome the loss of their defense these players and some returning juniors will have to step up and create a more potent offense than was seen this past season. Defensively John Dirocco and the freshman LSM Jake Sommer return but other than that there are question marks all over that unit and large shoes to fill in net.
Fairfield Prep- The lose of Grandolfo, Reale, Kavanaugh, Boyle, their talented sophomore pole Sean Fox, and their starting goalie leaves a lot of open positions for the Jesuits. Their offensive production will likely go down significantly and I wonder who will be able to step up and give them a chance to initiate any offense against their FCIAC and OOC opponents. They are still the clear favorites in their conference, as they almost always are but there's no getting around that they could have a big dropoff from last season.
Teams that should improve the most.
Ridgefield- Any time I watched Ridgefield this year I was always impressed by the number of freshmen who were not only seeing varsity minutes but were often some of the best players on the field. The class of 22' for Ridgefield seems like a special one that could make a lot of noise in the years to come. Replacing Parson in net will be tough but they have a lot returning on the offensive side of the field and seem to have a lot of youth ready to step up and replace any vacancies left by this departing senior class. This team will likely build towards the spring of 2022 but for the next 3 seasons, they will assuredly be in the mix for FCIAC and state titles.
Darien- Despite winning a state title in convincing fashion most would agree that this was the least impressive Darien team since 2013. However, the future looks very bright for a team that graduated some leaders but has juniors and some underclassmen poised to pick up the load left by any seniors and likely carry the team further than they went this past season. I don't predict an undefeated season mainly because of the absolute juggernaut that St.A's will be next season but Darien is again the clear favorite in state. On offense, Jackson Peters, Michael Minicus, and Holt Matheis should lead a unit that will likely improve from last season and Demopolis and Sam Craigin should also help to improve on their defense from last season. Darien always graduates a lot of seniors but they always have talent in the pipeline ready to step up and play at a high level, next season should be no different.
Don't have much insight into NC or Staples but both should remain at a similar level of play next season with the Rams returning perhaps the best fogo in the state, Liam Griffiths and Cannet and Staples having a couple of Freshmen and talented juniors making big impacts last season.
Also not as familiar with the northern programs, hopefully, someone can give some insight into Glastonbury, Simsbury, Weston, Somers, Etc.