ISL

[Laxxal22]

Seb's with two 11-goal losses to top 10 teams, but both were played in tough circumstances - especially yesterday. They should handle Dexter on Wednesday and we'll see if they can put up a performance similar to last year against Taft. I wonder if they keep going pedal to the medal with non league games next year or dial it back to the Nobles/Belmont Hill level of challenging themselves without walking into almost certain death.

I heard that Belmont Hill played Salisbury pretty evenly through three quarters of a scrimmage. If that's the case then tilt at Deerfield on Wednesday will be a good one.

[MA Lax Fan]

Not necessarily lacrosse related:

I do a lot of work at the wealthy public schools outside of Boston, the “W” towns, etc…

Recently, I visited Sebs and RL. I had never been on these campuses before.

I am a huge advocate for public school lax but the environment on these two ISL campuses was so superior to the wealthy public schools that it was mind blowing.

Sebs and RL are obviously both serious environments, the halls are quiet, the teachers wear ties and are clean cut, there is no chaos in the hallways, I was greeted by everyone who walked past me. When I looked in a classroom, the numbers are small and the students are engaged.

In contrast, when I work in some of the public schools (in very nice towns), the teachers are dressed in sweatpants and crocs, almost 100% of the students have AirPods in one ear, the students wonder the hall in packs (even when class is in session). It is always a total zoo and not a learning environment.

As much as I want to see the public’s succeed at lax, the learning environment at the public’s is just so inferior and it does not even compare.

I hate to admit it but the wealthy towns used to at least claim to be competitive with some of the ISL’s. That is no longer the case from my observations.

[Unknown Participant]

Not necessarily lacrosse related:

I do a lot of work at the wealthy public schools outside of Boston, the “W” towns, etc…

Recently, I visited Sebs and RL. I had never been on these campuses before.

I am a huge advocate for public school lax but the environment on these two ISL campuses was so superior to the wealthy public schools that it was mind blowing.

Sebs and RL are obviously both serious environments, the halls are quiet, the teachers wear ties and are clean cut, there is no chaos in the hallways, I was greeted by everyone who walked past me. When I looked in a classroom, the numbers are small and the students are engaged.

In contrast, when I work in some of the public schools (in very nice towns), the teachers are dressed in sweatpants and crocs, almost 100% of the students have AirPods in one ear, the students wonder the hall in packs (even when class is in session). It is always a total zoo and not a learning environment.

As much as I want to see the public’s succeed at lax, the learning environment at the public’s is just so inferior and it does not even compare.

I hate to admit it but the wealthy towns used to at least claim to be competitive with some of the ISL’s. That is no longer the case from my observations.

Oh Roxbury, oh Roxbury, ever dear since the days of long ago ...

[Laxxal22]

RL has probably been like that since long before the Paul Revere's Ride. Seb's has gone under a tremendous transformation under the leadership of Bill Burke over the last 30ish years to get on the level of other ISL schools. Unrelated but somewhat related, I drove by Middlesex today - that place is gorgeous.

[Can Opener]

There are some compelling games today that serve as the season opener for many ISL teams. I included a few Livestream links, but Laxxal is usually better at sniffing these out.

Belmont Hill at Deerfield – Bel Hill won this game 6-4 last season, but Ben Wood, the offensive weapon masquerading as a d pole, has changed uniforms.
https://events.locallive.tv/events/140632

Salisbury at Nobles – ‘Bury comes to Dedham ranked #13 in the nation by Inside Lacrosse. The Bulldogs are missing a need-to-slide-early attackman like Chad Palumbo or Grayson McClements. Senior middie Henry Tweedy is a two-sport captain and will need to spark his boys in this stout early season test, followed by hosting Holderness (#21 in IL national rankings) on Monday.

Exeter at Thayer – Both teams are well coached and bring a crop of ranked players to this season opener. Thayer is stronger on paper, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Exeter pull this one out thanks to the strong play of the Moore twins and Exeter’s outstanding Yale-bound goalie.

Gov’s at Loomis – Following an opening loss to Andover, the path doesn’t get much easier for Gov’s. Their next games are at Loomis, at Seb’s, at Tabor, Thayer & IMG. Hats off to the coaching staff for stout scheduling. If nothing else, they will be battle tested for the ISL playoff run when they seem to play some of their best ball.
https://www.loomischaffee.org/athletics/livestream

Dexter @ Seb’s – Last year, Seb’s prevailed 19-8, but Dexter seemed to get stronger during the year, finishing 8-7 with four 1-goal losses (three of them in OT). Should be a get-right game for Seb’s after a tough opening road trip, but Dexter has some horses and is well coached.
https://www.stsebs.org/athletics/livestream/lax

Avon Old Farms at Tabor – AOF finished 9-8 last season with a 16-11 home win over Tabor.

Rivers at Williston Northampton – Good matchup for Rivers against a team that finished 7-8 last year.

Brooks at Kimball Union – KUA always produces some great athletes, winning their division NEPSAC soccer crown in the fall and their NEPSAC hockey title this winter.

Lawrence at St. Mark’s – A good early season measuring stick for two teams that struggled for wins last year. Lawrence beat the Lions twice last season.

Milton played a scrimmage at BC High yesterday and lost 8-7 after leading 7-6 before many starters were pulled in the fourth quarter. Milton will scrimmage at Moses Brown today. Their first official game is against a very strong Exeter squad up in NH Saturday.

BB&N at New Hampton (Friday) – On paper, this should be a W for NHS, but early season games in funky weather (30 MPH gusts forecast) are hard to predict.

Roxbury Latin at Holderness (Saturday) – Should be a very stern test for RL against a team loaded with college commits. FO advantage goes to the ISL boys here, but they should trail in every other category.

Middlesex at Pingree (Saturday) – Should be a good early season contest between two well-coached programs. Pingree prevailed last year 10-9.

Barrington HS at St. George’s (Saturday) – No idea how strong Barrington will be this year, but they finished 12-5 last year with four of those losses coming to RI powers Mo Brown and Lasalle.

Groton has a scrimmage Saturday and then their first official game will be against old rival St. Paul’s next Wednesday.

[marquette]

BC High up 6-0 over Milton at half and put in JV kids and backups start of third. It was quite cold.

[Laxxal22]

Thank you CanOpener! As much as I enjoy writing about the ISL, my seceret has always been that someone else would start doing it.

Very interested to see how the ISL-West 1 match ups go today. I'd say Belmont Hill has the best shot as a lot of people seem to think the Big Green are the 5th best team in that league at this point. Tabor-AOF both have a lot of unknowns. Govs will really need to bounce back after the Andover game. I disagree on your take about the Nobles attack. What isn''t evident is who is the #3, but Kenney is committed to Notre Dame and Gilbane was just announced as a 5-star by NLF yesterday. Still, I don't see them beating Salisbury.

Seb's should roll and I look forward to watching that one as they record from much better vantage point than most teams. Nobles field unfortunately doesn't have viable wifi. Thayer traditionally hasn't streamed for whatever reason. Tabor's games will be on Bbiglive this season, which means commentary but also means it's not free. I'll keep an eye open for any streaming links.

[Laxxal22]

Apparently RL plays at Pomfret today at 3:30: https://www.pomfret.org/athletics/athletics-livestream

[Can Opener]

BC High up 6-0 over Milton at half and put in JV kids and backups start of third. It was quite cold.

It was cold.

But it wasn't 6-0 at the half and there were still mostly starters playing for both teams in the third quarter during the Milton run. To paraphrase the immortal Meatloaf, one out of three ain't bad.

[marquette]

6-0 at half. BCH also lost by one to BH (with a few pipes hit) and Thayer last week the morning after BCH and NDA formals. With one week of practice on the books.

[marquette]

And yes, backups were in in third. But peace to you

[WalmartCarc]

ISL continues to fight for respect in the national rankings, but performances like BH taking down Deerfield has to draw the attention of IL & Co. ISL teams continue to produce great talent and the depth continues to improve. Would like to see the top ISL teams continue to go at it with founders league schools and maybe even venture down to the Baltimore / DC area if the schools can find a way to make it work. My prediction is that they would raise a lot of eyebrows and out-athlete most, if not all of the teams in the MIAA…

[Laxxal22]

My prediction is that they would raise a lot of eyebrows and out-athlete most, if not all of the teams in the MIAA…

I don't know about that. A lot of the best athletes in the Baltimore area play lacrosse, and the best of those kids play at MIAA A schools. There's nothing in the water in Boston that makes for better natural athletes than in the Mid-Atlantic. The gap has closed tremendously in the past 15 years, but there's still a gap. As for Founder's League/West 1, there are a lot of crossover games at this point and West 1 still probably wins 75% of them. Again, it's way closer than it used to be but there's still a gap.

[WalmartCarc]

My prediction is that they would raise a lot of eyebrows and out-athlete most, if not all of the teams in the MIAA…

I don't know about that. A lot of the best athletes in the Baltimore area play lacrosse, and the best of those kids play at MIAA A schools. There's nothing in the water in Boston that makes for better natural athletes than in the Mid-Atlantic. The gap has closed tremendously in the past 15 years, but there's still a gap. As for Founder's League/West 1, there are a lot of crossover games at this point and West 1 still probably wins 75% of them. Again, it's way closer than it used to be but there's still a gap.

Baltimore / DC has long held onto the label of having the “slickest” players, in many ways because of the fact that a stick was placed in the cradle as a toddler. While lacrosse remains more popular down in the Mid Atlantic than it is up in New England, don’t underestimate the draw that football and basketball still have on that region… many of those top tier athletes choose that route. Hockey is probably the biggest talent poacher up North, which typically doesn’t attract the same type of athlete as football or hoops. It’s an interesting debate, but from purely an athletic standpoint, I would have to give the edge to New England.

[Laxxal22]

I think those teams are better precisely because they have the same caliber athletes who also have slicker sticks.

[Sportin' Life]

ISL continues to fight for respect in the national rankings, but performances like BH taking down Deerfield has to draw the attention of IL & Co. ISL teams continue to produce great talent and the depth continues to improve. Would like to see the top ISL teams continue to go at it with founders league schools and maybe even venture down to the Baltimore / DC area if the schools can find a way to make it work. My prediction is that they would raise a lot of eyebrows and out-athlete most, if not all of the teams in the MIAA…

It is an interesting debate. I could ceratinly see BH and Nobles raise some eyebrows by being competitive with top MIAA A and IAC schools but I don't know if they would be more athletic than most if not all. For one thing, the DC metro area from which they draw has a population of about 10MM while metro Boston I believe is 4MM and change. Second, teams such as McDonough, CH, BL, Bullis and Georgetown Prep are so deep and draw lax players from all over the DMV and, more recently, beyond. Yes, those kids all have great stick skills and lax IQs but they are also serious athletes, many of them playing multiple sports. Nevertheless, I agree that it would be great to see ISL teams travel to the DMV in the early spring to test their mettle. I would also love to see more NEW1 vs ISL tilts at all levels of both conferences (not just the top teams) as there is more parity between the leagues than in the past.

[Laxxal22]

There are some compelling games today that serve as the season opener for many ISL teams. I included a few Livestream links, but Laxxal is usually better at sniffing these out.

Belmont Hill at Deerfield – Bel Hill won this game 6-4 last season, but Ben Wood, the offensive weapon masquerading as a d pole, has changed uniforms.
https://events.locallive.tv/events/140632

Salisbury at Nobles – ‘Bury comes to Dedham ranked #13 in the nation by Inside Lacrosse. The Bulldogs are missing a need-to-slide-early attackman like Chad Palumbo or Grayson McClements. Senior middie Henry Tweedy is a two-sport captain and will need to spark his boys in this stout early season test, followed by hosting Holderness (#21 in IL national rankings) on Monday.

Exeter at Thayer – Both teams are well coached and bring a crop of ranked players to this season opener. Thayer is stronger on paper, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Exeter pull this one out thanks to the strong play of the Moore twins and Exeter’s outstanding Yale-bound goalie.

Gov’s at Loomis – Following an opening loss to Andover, the path doesn’t get much easier for Gov’s. Their next games are at Loomis, at Seb’s, at Tabor, Thayer & IMG. Hats off to the coaching staff for stout scheduling. If nothing else, they will be battle tested for the ISL playoff run when they seem to play some of their best ball.
https://www.loomischaffee.org/athletics/livestream

Dexter @ Seb’s – Last year, Seb’s prevailed 19-8, but Dexter seemed to get stronger during the year, finishing 8-7 with four 1-goal losses (three of them in OT). Should be a get-right game for Seb’s after a tough opening road trip, but Dexter has some horses and is well coached.
https://www.stsebs.org/athletics/livestream/lax

Avon Old Farms at Tabor – AOF finished 9-8 last season with a 16-11 home win over Tabor.

Rivers at Williston Northampton – Good matchup for Rivers against a team that finished 7-8 last year.

Brooks at Kimball Union – KUA always produces some great athletes, winning their division NEPSAC soccer crown in the fall and their NEPSAC hockey title this winter.

Lawrence at St. Mark’s – A good early season measuring stick for two teams that struggled for wins last year. Lawrence beat the Lions twice last season.

Milton played a scrimmage at BC High yesterday and lost 8-7 after leading 7-6 before many starters were pulled in the fourth quarter. Milton will scrimmage at Moses Brown today. Their first official game is against a very strong Exeter squad up in NH Saturday.

BB&N at New Hampton (Friday) – On paper, this should be a W for NHS, but early season games in funky weather (30 MPH gusts forecast) are hard to predict.

Roxbury Latin at Holderness (Saturday) – Should be a very stern test for RL against a team loaded with college commits. FO advantage goes to the ISL boys here, but they should trail in every other category.

Middlesex at Pingree (Saturday) – Should be a good early season contest between two well-coached programs. Pingree prevailed last year 10-9.

Barrington HS at St. George’s (Saturday) – No idea how strong Barrington will be this year, but they finished 12-5 last year with four of those losses coming to RI powers Mo Brown and Lasalle.

Groton has a scrimmage Saturday and then their first official game will be against old rival St. Paul’s next Wednesday.

From scanning around it looks like Seb's, RL, Rivers, St. Mark's (over Tilton, not LA) all won big today. Govs and Nobles lost in decently contested games. Big OT win for BH, and a 3-goal win for Thayer.

Avon - Tabor is on Saturday.

[OFOSHO]

BC High up 6-0 over Milton at half and put in JV kids and backups start of third. It was quite cold.

Tough road ahead for BCH when the dads have to start the “excuse machine” for a scrimmage.

[Laxxal22]

Stream for Westminster at Belmont Hill at 4:45 this afternoon: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/ma/belmont/org ... MWE1OWI%3D

[Laxxal22]

Stream for Westminster at Belmont Hill at 4:45 this afternoon: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/ma/belmont/org ... MWE1OWI%3D

This one's a rout. 8-0 after the first quarter, 9-1 at the half. Noticeable gap in talent, visible even on the Belmont Hill stream which leaves a lot to be desired in terms of vantage point and camera work. Pcowlax will be happy to know that BH is playing a much more entertaining brand of ball this spring - a lot of goals in transition and early offense. The attack, especially DiBatista are fun to watch.

It's getting pretty chippy already. BH seems to bring that out of teams and they're typically more than happy to return the favor. This lead to Westminster scoring their first goal on a 4 vs. 3 extra man, which I don't think I've ever seen before. Apparently penalties are what let Deerfield back into the game on Wednesday, so this something they'll need to clean up as the season goes along.

Edit
13-7 final. Never in doubt but it didn't become the blowout it was shaping up to be after the first quarter.