IL/US Mag HS rankings

[B10KeepsGrowing]

Two quick questions if anyone knows.
1. When do they traditionally come out as the season is nearing arrival?
2. Are they doing 2 rankings this year? Public and Private? I feel like I saw at the end of the year last year a final top 15 public school ranking but no private school ranking from IL and/or a combined final ranking?

If anyone has the final rankings to share that would be great.

[pcowlax]

Two quick questions if anyone knows.
1. When do they traditionally come out as the season is nearing arrival?
2. Are they doing 2 rankings this year? Public and Private? I feel like I saw at the end of the year last year a final top 15 public school ranking but no private school ranking from IL and/or a combined final ranking?

If anyone has the final rankings to share that would be great.

For what it is worth, here is IL's final Top 15 Public School and Overall Top 25 rankings. They said they were going to do just at top private school but I don't see this. As a close observer of CT lax, Staples, always a very strong but not absolute top program, had probably their best team ever and did indeed shockingly stomp Darien in the state finals but #1 public in the country is really a stretch (and consider that in rankings from the same magazine Darien is higher than Staples in the overall top 25). It is true, looking at the lower end of the public top 15, that the divide between private (lumping boarding and day) and publics really has gotten very large. The, say, 10-15th best privates would cream the 10-15th best publics. Of course this is not unexpected given all of the recruiting, reclassifying, geographic, etc advantages but rather is just a statement of fact.

1. Staples (Conn.), 19-3
A strong argument could be made that the Wreckers' stunning 12-3 victory over Connecticut powerhouse Darien in the Class L state championship game was high school lacrosse's biggest story in June. Scoring the game's first eight goals to take a 9-1 lead into halftime, Will Koshansky's squad played smart, methodical lacrosse en route to a commanding win over a Blue Wave squad that spent much of the season in the national Top 10. This spring, the Wreckers picked up six victories over teams from the computer ratings Top 100, topping Massachusetts state champ St. John's Prep, as well as Fairfield County foes Greenwich, Wilton, New Canaan, Ridgefield and Darien. Dropping an overtime contest to Iona Prep (N.Y.) in April, Staples split with both the Blue Wave and Class M state champ Wilton. Of course, the nine-goal victory over Darien in the state championship stands above all of the Wreckers' previous accomplishments this season, and now, Staples finishes as IL's No. 1 public school program to end 2022.


Henry Dodge, a Vermont-bound senior face-off man, allowed Staples to win 15-of-18 at the X in the championship and was recently named CT Player of the Year. On the offensive end, Charlie Howard (Boston U) and Ryan Thompson (Richmond) earned All-American honors and led the Wreckers' highly capable core of seniors. In the '23 class, Gavin Rothenberg posted four goals in the state title game, Tyler Clark (Army) buried the game-winner against Ridgefield and defenseman Michael Nealon picked up All-State recognition.

A young nucleus returns, so expect to hear even more about Westport's finest going forward.



2. Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.), 18-1
The computers may not be too kind to a program in New York's Class D, a relatively new classification, but it doesn't matter when your marquee wins are that impressive. Although the Seahawks weren't as consistently tested as much as a pair of fellow Nassau County dynamos and 2022 state champs, Class C's Manhasset and Class B's Garden City (and CSH beat them both this spring), the film backs up Cold Spring Harbor's ranking even if its SOS doesn't, especially since that's largely uncontrollable. Dennis Bonn's program went 7-0 in games decided by two goals or less, including a narrow win over Briarcliff in New York's downstate finals, and would have finished undefeated if not for a 7-3 loss to another Section I program, Rye, five days after they beat GC. Two months later, Cold Spring Harbor defeated Chenango Forks in a complete mismatch of a state final, 17-1.

Co-Nassau County Defender of the Year Patrick Pisano, a Yale-bound senior, was lights out all year for CSH's defense, with the unit boosted by Amherst recruit Spencer Will in goal. Classmate Max Hawkinson (Rutgers) was an asset as an old school face-off middie all year, winning 13-of-14 draws and adding a hat trick against Port Jefferson in the Long Island Championship. Michigan commit CJ Reilly, IL's No. 36 junior, returns as a top middie on Long Island in 2023.




3. Darien (Conn.), 20-3
No public school had a stronger strength-of-schedule and body of work than Darien. The Blue Wave picked up 11 wins over teams that finished in the Top 100 of IL's computer ratings, namely Long Island's St. Anthony's, Chaminade and Manhasset.

During the first month of the season, Darien dealt with a lot of off-the-field adversity and, as a result, showed some inconsistencies and had off-days. Even then, no one could have possibly anticipated a state championship loss as one-sided as it was. It's rare enough to see a local opponent frustrate a Darien team from start to finish, so a nine-goal margin of victory is nearly incomprehensible. Still, the FCIAC champions (the Blue Wave beat Wilton in the final, 12-6) deserve a ton of credit for their accomplishments in 2022, and Darien doesn't fall too far despite a rough ending to an otherwise excellent year.

This spring, Under Armour All-American lefty attackman Matthew Minicus (Loyola) was the headliner for Darien's senior class, racking up an impressive 54 goals and 54 assists. Midfielders Christian Alliegro (Navy) and Joe Cesare (Georgetown), longpole Jeremiah Stafford (Salisbury) and Villanova-bound defenseman David Evanchick also earned first team All-FCIAC recognition. Moving forward, sophomore Brady Pokorny looks poised to step into an even bigger role after dazzling the last two years, and there's plenty more talent in the pipeline, too.




4. Manhasset (N.Y.), 17-4
After falling to Darien, Garden City in overtime, Cold Spring Harbor and Chaminade (a shocking 17-8 loss) during a three-week stretch in the middle of the year, things looked rather iffy for one of the sport's most tradition-rich programs. The Indians entered the playoffs with just a single win over a Top 100 team, a 17-11 win over Ridgefield (Conn.) on April 14. Nearly two months later in the Long Island Championship against Mount Sinai — the same program that knocked off 'Set in overtime in last year's Long Island championship — Keith Cromwell's group refused to lose and emerged with a massive 12-7 win. After playing its best lacrosse in its biggest game of the season up to that point, Manhasset went on to top Burnt Hills, 16-5, in the downstate finals and then Westhill in the state championship, 13-5.

Five-star senior Joey Terenzi, a midfielder signed with Virginia, boosted the Indians with his veteran play and leadership, as did classmate Matt Perfetto, a Cornell commit. Juniors Liam Connor (Colgate) and Jack Petersen (Harvard) also excelled on offense, while face-off man Cal Girard (Duke) was pivotal in helping Manhasset maintain possession. With a loaded Class of 2023 leading the way, Manhasset will look to go back-to-back after capturing the program's first state title since 2010.



5. Mount Sinai (N.Y.), 18-1
Headlined by Syracuse signee and IL's No. 1 recruit Joey Spallina, who is now Long Island's all-time leader with 507 points (even without a sophomore season), the 2022 Mustangs were 18-0 before Manhasset pulled the upset in the LIC. Among those wins, seven came against teams that finished in IL's Top 100 computer ratings. This spring, Mount Sinai picked up a hard-fought 8-5 win over Garden City in a neutral site contest that was televised on ESPNU, in addition to a pair of victories over Suffolk 'C' rival Shoreham-Wading River, thumping the nationally-ranked Wildcats 16-5 in the county final. Against Manhasset, Spallina brought the Mustangs within 8-7 early in the fourth quarter, but the Indians were able to keep the ball away from Mount Sinai for nearly nine straight minutes, adding a few empty-netters to clinch it. It was a bitter ending for a team that had its sights set on that elusive state championship, however, the future still looks bright.

Of course, Harold Drumm's program will sorely miss Spallina, as well as star longstick midfielder and fellow Under Armour All-American senior Dylan Sageder (Syracuse) and the rest of an excellent senior class, but plenty of contributors are set to return. Younger Spallina twins Brett and Jake, versatile Orange commits at LSM/D and FO/M, are back, and promising attack prospect Lucas LaForge is coming off of a tremendous sophomore season.
—Ty Xanders


6. Garden City (N.Y.), 19-2
7. Radnor (Pa.), 24-2
8. Mountain Lakes (N.J.), 22-1
9. Wilton (Conn.), 19-4
10. Baldwinsville (N.Y.), 19-1
11. Ridgefield (Conn.), 15-5
12. Upper Arlington (Ohio), 22-1
13. Northport (N.Y.), 20-2
14. Corona del Mar (Calif.), 19-3
15. Rumson-Fair Haven (N.J.), 22-5


Overall Final Top 25



1 Brunswick School (CT) 15 1 99.90
2 St Johns DC (DC) 19 0 98.44
3 Culver Academy Prep (IN) 19 2 98.11
4 Taft School (CT) 16 3 97.42
5 Boys' Latin (MD) 12 4 97.26
6 Malvern Prep (PA) 20 3 96.85
7 Calvert Hall (MD) 15 5 96.82
8 Lawrenceville (NJ) 15 4 96.77
9 McDonogh (MD) 13 6 96.73
10 St Mary's Annapolis (MD) 16 3 96.36
11 Salisbury School (CT) 13 4 96.29
12 Mount Sinai (NY) 18 1 96.13
13 Deerfield (MA) 12 3 95.86
14 Archbishop Spalding (MD) 12 6 95.56
15 Manhasset (NY) 17 4 95.45
16 Haverford School (PA) 14 6 95.35
17 Darien (CT) 20 3 95.19
18 Hotchkiss (CT) 10 6 95.10
19 Georgetown Prep (MD) 14 6 94.75
20 St Anthony's (NY) 14 2 94.64
21 Chaminade (NY) 12 5 94.62
22 Staples-Westport (CT) 19 3 94.51
23 Baldwinsville (NY) 19 1 94.39
24 Hill Academy (ON) 6 6 94.35
25 Avon Old Farms (CT) 10 9 94.34

[random observer]

That top 25 is IL's computer rankings, not their official top 25; IL themselves still treat the computer rankings as more of a beta test experiment than something of substantial authority. The fact that 10-6 Hotchkiss is in their top 20 without any marquee wins should tell you that there are some kinks to still be worked out in the algorithm. If IL had ever gotten around to releasing their final top 25, St. John's would have been their #1 team, and Staples would assuredly have been above Darien.

As for Staples finishing as their #1 public, I honestly don't think there's really even an argument that it could be anyone else based on merit. Darien had unquestionably the best resume of any public, but Staples thrashed them in the state title so it can't be them.

For the LI trio of champions, it has to go CSH > GC and Manhasset based on head-to-head, and CSH's resume does not stack up to Staples's resume (nor do Manhasset's or GC's IMO). Outside of those rivalry wins, CSH really just had a one goal win over Briarcliff, and comfortable wins over down Syosset, Huntington and Yorktown teams. Staples's beatdown of Darien was one of the top 5 most impressive wins any team had nationally all year, and was bolstered by wins over Wilton, New Canaan, Greenwich, and Ridgefield (point of reference: CSH beat Briarcliff 8-7 and lost to Rye 7-3, while Ridgefield beat them 19-7 and 15-4 respectively), and thorough beatings of OOC foes Bronxville (similar caliber to Briarcliff), St. John's Prep (MA D1 camp) and Bishop Guertin (NH D1 champ). They have two more losses than CSH, but none of them are worse than CSH's loss, and the wins more than outweigh those extra losses.

[pcowlax]

Granted it is weird to rank a team ahead of one they lost convincingly to at the end of the season, but I would have Darien ahead of Staples. I guess I just put more stock in the whole season as opposed to one game. As you say, they have unquestionably the best resume and significantly better wins than Staples. While Staples win over Darien was certainly the most shocking and impressive score of the year, if Staples in #1, then Darien's win over #1 must also be extremely impressive. And while a 5 goal margin is not 9, it isn't OT either. If those teams play 50 times Staples will win a good number of them but I can't imagine ever again by such a margin, that was a one off.

As for Staples big CT wins: Wilton, who was massacred by Chaminade 17-5 (Darien beat Chaminade), Ridgefield, lost to Manhasset 17-11 (Darien beat Manhasset), lost to Staples in OT and to Darien by 6, Greenwich, good win for Staples, Darien beat them 3 times, and New Canaan, where the numbers certainly favor Staples as they pounded them and Darien lost but that is such a rivalry game NC just plays different vs them than anyone else.

Darien's wins over Chaminade and St. A are significantly better than anything other than the Darien win on Staples resume (and I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss GC and Set either, I doubt Staples sweeps those two) while Staples loss to Iona Prep is far and away worse than any loss of Darien's. That isn't a bad team but outside of Staples who is their best win? Glastonbury?

Again, weird to put a team ahead of a team that smacked them in the last game of the season but it is supposed to be an end-of-season ranking, meaning ranking their results across the teams' whole seasons' schedules and on that Darien should be clearly ahead of Staples. With Darien likely down significantly (for them) this year, I do expect someone else to take not only top public in the country but also CT.

[random observer]

Granted it is weird to rank a team ahead of one they lost convincingly to at the end of the season, but I would have Darien ahead of Staples. I guess I just put more stock in the whole season as opposed to one game. As you say, they have unquestionably the best resume and significantly better wins than Staples. While Staples win over Darien was certainly the most shocking and impressive score of the year, if Staples in #1, then Darien's win over #1 must also be extremely impressive. And while a 5 goal margin is not 9, it isn't OT either. If those teams play 50 times Staples will win a good number of them but I can't imagine ever again by such a margin, that was a one off.

As for Staples big CT wins: Wilton, who was massacred by Chaminade 17-5 (Darien beat Chaminade), Ridgefield, lost to Manhasset 17-11 (Darien beat Manhasset), lost to Staples in OT and to Darien by 6, Greenwich, good win for Staples, Darien beat them 3 times, and New Canaan, where the numbers certainly favor Staples as they pounded them and Darien lost but that is such a rivalry game NC just plays different vs them than anyone else.

Darien's wins over Chaminade and St. A are significantly better than anything other than the Darien win on Staples resume (and I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss GC and Set either, I doubt Staples sweeps those two) while Staples loss to Iona Prep is far and away worse than any loss of Darien's. That isn't a bad team but outside of Staples who is their best win? Glastonbury?

Again, weird to put a team ahead of a team that smacked them in the last game of the season but it is supposed to be an end-of-season ranking, meaning ranking their results across the teams' whole seasons' schedules and on that Darien should be clearly ahead of Staples. With Darien likely down significantly (for them) this year, I do expect someone else to take not only top public in the country but also CT.

If it had been a close game, maybe I'd be on board with it, but I just can't justify ranking Darien above Staples after the Wreckers completely dismantled them in the biggest and latest game of the season; it felt like Staples could have won it by much more if they had wanted to, which Brameier himself noted. Granted, that was a really bad day for Darien that probably would not happen again if they played the game 20 times, but it did. You also have to factor the changes that Staples made after the first matchup, namely inserting the freshman Josh Marcus in goal. That 15-11 loss was MUCH closer than the score; Darien did bring it's A game in the first matchup, and Staples was still up 9-7 late in the third quarter on the road. Then their goalie (who only had 2-3 saves on the day) scored a freak own goal down 10-9 that completely took the wind out of their sails.

I also think you're doing a disservice to Staples resume. Wilton's loss to Chaminade was a complete aberration based on the rest of their body of work (in fact, as crazy as it is to say, I'm not sure I'd have Chaminade as much of a favorite had they rematched later in the season); they played Darien extremely tough during the regular season, and although the FCIAC final looked like a one-sided affair based on the final score, it was a 6-6 game with about 10 minutes left before Darien pulled away. They were a really good team. Ridgefield was without half its starting lineup (no Winkler, no Degrasse, missing three starting poles) when it had definitive losses to Manhasset and Darien, whilst they were at full strength against Staples. And Iona Prep wasn't an elite team, but they were very good (they lost to Chaminade and Seton Hall Prep by one goal each); I watched that game and although Staples really should have put it away, Iona Prep played extremely well in their comeback. An OT loss on the road against a solid team when looking ahead to Darien is the kind of thing that happens quite often (Darien almost fell victim to it twice in OT against teams that were equivalent or worse than Iona IMO). Getting vaporized in the biggest game of the season doesn't usually happen unless there are serious injury complications.

[10stone5]

The Academy of the New Church (PA)
upsets last year’s national champion St Johns DC
who had earlier beaten Boys Latin,
10-9 in overtime.

[Laxxal22]

It is true, looking at the lower end of the public top 15, that the divide between private (lumping boarding and day) and publics really has gotten very large. The, say, 10-15th best privates would cream the 10-15th best publics. Of course this is not unexpected given all of the recruiting, reclassifying, geographic, etc advantages but rather is just a statement of fact.

I wonder if we're close to reaching peak prep school lacrosse. Granted most private schools offer a lot more than just lacrosse, but these teams are almost too good. The top schools probably have 10+ kids per class looking to play college lacrosse of some variety, but in a competitive game I'd guess 20-22 max guys really get to see the field. The talent logjam must be pretty intense, and the idea of high D3/mid D1 commits waiting until senior year to be role players is bonkers to me. Will the perceived juice continue to be worth the squeeze or will a lot of kids start to/already do attend for a year and then transfer out.

[FC_YAK]

re: the prep school thing. You have to be willing to hold your kid back and have them reclass for the majority of the prep schools. That same factor has a ton to do with their spots at the top of the rankings. Let's not kid ourselves, it's a PG year just taken on the front end so that you are playing HS sports as 19 year old your senior year.

[10stone5]

Hill Academy takes out Calvert Hall 11-7.
Willem Firth, Cornell commit with 4 goals.

[fordmaddoxford]

St. Anthony’s 14
Culver 10

[pcowlax]

Huge win for BL over Lawrenceville and for St. A over Culver. For what it is worth, the St. A vs Culver game had about 40 kids combined already committed to D1.

[fordmaddoxford]

St. Anthony’s 12
Chaminade 10

[Matnum PI]

NIKE/USA LACROSSE HIGH SCHOOL
BOYS’ NATIONAL TOP 25

1 Brunswick (Conn.)
2 McDonogh (Md.)
3 St. Anthony's (N.Y.)
4 Culver Academy (Ind.)
5 St. Mary's (Md.)
6 Academy of the New Church (Pa.)
7 St. John's (D.C.)
8 Chaminade (N.Y.)
9 Manhasset (N.Y.)
10 Boys' Latin (Md.)
11 Darien (Conn.)
12 Malvern Prep (Pa.)
13 Baldwinsville (N.Y.)
14 Northport (N.Y.)
15 Haverford (Pa.)
16 Georgetown Prep (Md.)
17 Shoreham-Wading River (N.Y.)
18 Bullis (Md.)
19 Mount Sinai (N.Y.)
20 Garden City (N.Y.)
21 Loyola-Blakefield (Md.)
22 Calvert Hall (Md.)
23 Fairfield Prep (Conn.)
24 Paul VI (Va.)
25 Don Bosco (N.J.)

Also considered (alphabetical order): Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.), Delbarton (N.J.), Fairfield Prep (Conn.), Gonzaga (D.C.), Massapequa (N.Y.), Mountain Lakes (N.J.), Radnor (Pa.), Salesianum (Del.), St. Andrew’s (Fla.), St. Ignatius Prep (Calif.), Seton Hall Prep (N.J.), Severn (Md.), Staples (Conn.)

[Laxxal22]

This is always a weird poll for me. They exclude PG boarding schools but turn a blind eye to the trend of the past 10-12 years of kids repeating when enrolling at a private day school. Brunswick has a lot more in common with its West 1 brethren than the publics on the list. And I think that's true for the Balti, DC, Philly, Boston, etc. privates as well. Probably time to move to separate public and prep rankings like IL experimented with last year.

[Matnum PI]

US Lacrosse Magazine Rankings never make sense to me.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE HIGH SCHOOL
BOYS’ NATIONAL TOP 25

1
St. Anthony's (N.Y.)

7-0

2

2
Culver Academy (Ind.)

12-1

4

3
Manhasset (N.Y.)

6-0

6

4
Brunswick (Conn.)

6-2

3

5
Haverford (Pa.)

7-2

7

6
Loyola-Blakefield (Md.)

7-3

9

7
McDonogh (Md.)

9-1

1

8
Georgetown Prep (Md.)

10-2

8

9
Fairfield Prep (Conn.)

4-1

22

10
St. Mary's (Md.)

9-2

11

11
Chaminade (N.Y.)

6-2

5

12
St. John's (D.C.)

8-3

12

13
Northport (N.Y.)

7-0

13

14
Boys' Latin (Md.)

6-3

14

15
Mount Sinai (N.Y.)

6-0

15

16
Staples (Conn.)

5-0

23

17
Radnor (Pa.)

6-2

18

18
Academy of the New Church (Pa.)

9-1

19

19
Pleasantville (N.Y.)

5-0

21

20
Malvern Prep (Pa.)

5-5

20

21
Calvert Hall (Md.)

4-4

24

22
Bayport-Blue Point (N.Y.)

7-0

25

23
Darien (Conn.)

3-3

10

24
Seton Hall Prep (N.J.)

5-0

NR

25
New Canaan (Conn.)

6-0

NR

Also considered (alphabetical order): Archbishop Stepanic (N.Y.), Bullis (Md.), Delbarton (N.J.), DeMatha (Md.), Don Bosco (N.J.), Gonzaga (D.C.), Lake Mary (Fla.), Landon (Md.), Mountain Lakes (N.J.), Paul VI (Va.), Rumson Fair-Haven (N.J.), Salesianum (Del.), St. Albans (D.C.), St. Ignatius Prep (Calif.), St. Paul's (Md.), Seton Hall Prep (N.J.), Severn (Md.), Severna Park (Md.), Shoreham-Wading River (N.Y.), Springside Chestnut Hill (Pa.), Victor (N.Y.)

[10stone5]

Fords take down St Anthony's 16-15.

[JoeMauer89]

Fords take down St Anthony's 16-15.

WOW!

Joe

[CTlaxer12]

One goal loss for St A. They should still be #1 in the country as no one has played a tougher schedule than the friars, especially road games.

[10stone5]

Maybe - or they go with Lawrenceville who beat Hill Academy.

[oldbartman]

I know this is a team ranking thread. That said, would someone please explain how @Insidelacrosse rates individual players? For the longest time, Bronxville's Chris Patterson was a zero star recruit for @Hobartlacrosse. Yet a few days after being named a U.S. Lacrosse AA, he suddenly becomes a a 4 star recruit?? I'm not sayin he wasn't to begin with. From what I've heard, he should have been all along. Hobart has 3 U.S. Lacrosse AAs for their incoming class from NY section 5 for 2023. Yet, none are even rated ANY stars. Could someone please explain to me how 3 U.S. Lacrosse AAs do not warrant any rating by IL? From what I can tell it is the school they've committed to. If it's not a top 20 team, it will be a tough time getting any rating. @TYXanders can't evaluate every player. But it certainly seems skewed to the lasted poll...........