2023 National Rankings

[Matnum PI]

IL Top 25 Preseason Rankings:
St. Paul's School for Girls (Md.)
Darien (Conn.)
New Canaan (Conn.)
McDonogh (Md.)
Georgetown Visitation (D.C.)
St. Anthony's (N.Y.)
Glenelg Country Day (Md.)
Bayport Blue Point (N.Y.)
Stone Ridge (Md.)
Archbishop Spalding (Md.)
Baldwinsville (N.Y.)
Bryn Mawr (Md.)
Canandaigua Academy (N.Y.)
Manhasset (N.Y.)
Episcopal Academy (Pa.)
Summit (N.J.)
Wilton (Conn.)
Glenelg (Md.)
Conestoga (Pa.)
Rush Henrietta (N.Y.)
Bronxville (N.Y.)
Sacred Heart Greenwich (Conn.)
Westhampton Beach (N.Y.)
American Heritage (Fla.)
Suffern (N.Y.)

[njbill]

Interesting that Episcopal Academy, which won the National indoor tournament in January, one sponsor of which is inside lacrosse, is only ranked 15.

[Matnum PI]

Interesting that Episcopal Academy, which won the National indoor tournament in January, one sponsor of which is inside lacrosse, is only ranked 15.

Preseason...

[njbill]

Not sure what your comment means.

Mine means that it seems odd that the team that won probably the premier national high school tournament two months ago is only ranked 15 while other teams in the same tournament are ranked higher.

I haven’t looked at the schedules of any high school teams outside of New Jersey yet. Hopefully we will be beginning to see a return to some amount of interregional competition. (There was some last year, but not a lot.) It is really tough to do national rankings without the top teams engaging in interregional play.

I also haven’t seen the schedule for the Gains for Brains yet. In the past, that tournament has provided some good interregional competition among teams in New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut.

I’m hoping there will be some games between Maryland and Long Island teams, but even in the best years you are lucky if there are a handful of games.

It’s always tough to get Maryland teams to leave their state. Unfortunate, but a long time reality. SPSG has been ranked number one the past couple of years, but it’s tough to really know if that ranking is accurate if Maryland schools don’t play out-of-state teams. SPSG is one of the few Maryland schools that has traveled out of state, to New Jersey and even up to the Island, but they haven’t done that in recent years.

I’ve never been a real fan of IL’s high school rankings. Some years they are off-the-wall bad. Back when I used to do end of year rankings, I could say that with a high degree of confidence. Last year’s final rankings weren’t too bad, however.

Just eyeballing IL’s preseason list, some of the names belong there, some don’t. C’est la vie.

[Dr. Tact]

Not sure what your comment means.

Mine means that it seems odd that the team that won probably the premier national high school tournament two months ago is only ranked 15 while other teams in the same tournament are ranked higher.

I think the indoor 7s (correct?) tourney results shouldn't affect their full field lists. I agree with you on IL's rankings - IMO mostly based on pedigree.

[Matnum PI]

Not sure what your comment means.

Preseason Rankings are like giving Oscars when you haven't seen the films. I'm not a big fan...

[njbill]

Doc, I hear you, and would agree that indoor results shouldn’t impact in-season or postseason rankings. I never included them when I used to do rankings. Nor did I include scrimmage results. I only counted in season games.

But this is a preseason list. I think for that you should be able to use any scraps of information available. Preseason high school rankings are next to impossible to get right. Much more so than college rankings.

Episcopal is a very good team that plays in a very good league, albeit one that doesn’t get much national attention. I saw them a couple of times last year outdoors and also once at the indoor in January 2022. I was just surprised they were ranked where they were given that they won the indoor.

No doubt there is a difference between the indoor and outdoor formats. My rough rule of thumb is that a team that’s good in indoor is usually good outdoors. If you have two really strong attackers and a good goalie, your team can be good indoors. But then that’s a pretty good prescription for having a good outdoor team as well. A team that isn’t that good indoors may, however, be good outside.

[njbill]

Not sure what your comment means.

Preseason Rankings are like giving Oscars when you haven't seen the films. I'm not a big fan...

Ah, OK. Thanks. I agree 100%.

[Dr. Tact]

Doc, I hear you, and would agree that indoor results shouldn’t impact in-season or postseason rankings. I never included them when I used to do rankings. Nor did I include scrimmage results. I only counted in season games.

But this is a preseason list. I think for that you should be able to use any scraps of information available. Preseason high school rankings are next to impossible to get right.

Well said.

So glad that the fam is out of the HS silliness. Liked Spooky Nook, but the whole thing felt a little weird. Forced mania...

[njbill]

Forced mania. Truer words were never spoke.

Doc, I’m going to steal that line. In fact, I’m going to make a note of it right now and put it in my folder for next year’s indoor.

[Dr. Tact]

Forced mania. Truer words were never spoke.

Doc, I’m going to steal that line. In fact, I’m going to make a note of it right now and put it in my folder for next year’s indoor.

Forced mania, Rickyfied, I am on a roll

[ProudPapa]

Interesting that Episcopal Academy, which won the National indoor tournament in January, one sponsor of which is inside lacrosse, is only ranked 15.

Lots of the top players don’t play in this event due to winter sports. It’s a fun event but not very telling.

[njbill]

Some don’t. That’s true. I wouldn’t say “lots.” I would say most of the top players on the teams that are attending actually do play in the event, though probably not all. A notable omission this year from the Darien team was Chloe Humphrey. That certainly was significant.

It’s also true that not all of the top teams attend. But they get a pretty darn good collection of them. Certainly much better than the two postseason high school tournaments that have been held in recent years.

One of the very nice things about this event is that full rosters are available so you can tell who is missing.

I don’t know which team you are referring to. Perhaps the team you follow was missing a lot of players.

In any event, the point of my initial post was that I thought it was odd that the winner of the tournament was ranked so far down the list. Several of the past winners have ended up national number one (e.g., McDonogh, SPSG). Without checking, I’m not sure where the other winners ended up, but they included teams with players who are superstars in college right now (Tyrells, Choma) so I suspect their HS teams were really good.

[JoeMauer89]

Not sure what your comment means.

Mine means that it seems odd that the team that won probably the premier national high school tournament two months ago is only ranked 15 while other teams in the same tournament are ranked higher.

I haven’t looked at the schedules of any high school teams outside of New Jersey yet. Hopefully we will be beginning to see a return to some amount of interregional competition. (There was some last year, but not a lot.) It is really tough to do national rankings without the top teams engaging in interregional play.

I also haven’t seen the schedule for the Gains for Brains yet. In the past, that tournament has provided some good interregional competition among teams in New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut.

I’m hoping there will be some games between Maryland and Long Island teams, but even in the best years you are lucky if there are a handful of games.

It’s always tough to get Maryland teams to leave their state. Unfortunate, but a long time reality. SPSG has been ranked number one the past couple of years, but it’s tough to really know if that ranking is accurate if Maryland schools don’t play out-of-state teams. SPSG is one of the few Maryland schools that has traveled out of state, to New Jersey and even up to the Island, but they haven’t done that in recent years.

I’ve never been a real fan of IL’s high school rankings. Some years they are off-the-wall bad. Back when I used to do end of year rankings, I could say that with a high degree of confidence. Last year’s final rankings weren’t too bad, however.

Just eyeballing IL’s preseason list, some of the names belong there, some don’t. C’est la vie.

NjBill,

Here is the 2023 Gains For Brains Schedule: All Games are at Cold Spring Harbor Upper and Lower Fields on 4/29/2023

11:00AM Northport (NY) VS Suffern (NY)
12:00PM Massapequa (NY) VS Sacred Heart (NY)
1:00PM Garden City (NY) VS New Canaan (CT)
2:00PM Greenwich Academy (CT) VS West Babylon (NY)
3:00PM Darien (CT) VS St Anthony's (NY)
4:00PM Eastport-South Manor (NY) VS Morristown Central (NJ)
5:00PM Manhasset (NY) VS Bronxville (NY) - This is Manhasset's first involvement in this event, I believe.
6:00PM Bayport-Blue Point (NY) VS Summit Academy Charter (NJ) - Know anything about this program?
7:00PM Cold Spring Harbor (NY) VS John Jay-Cross River (NY)

Joe

[njbill]

Thanks.

I think you are right that this is Manhasset’s first time at this event. That’s great news.

I’m almost positive “Summit Academy Charter” is actually Summit High School in New Jersey. Summit HS’s website shows a game against BBP at Cold Spring Harbor on April 29. Also, Summit is a logical team to go to this event which they have done in the past. Summit won the New Jersey TOC last year and was the best team in the state in 2022. I suspect they will be the best team in the state again in 2023.

I’ll be seeing New Canaan, Morristown, and Summit in preseason scrimmages. I expect all will be very good teams this year.

Looks like some very good games on tap at this year‘s event.

I’m a little disappointed only two New Jersey teams are attending. I know Moorestown didn’t get invited. Is Raff still running the event?

How are the Indians looking this year?

[JoeMauer89]

Thanks.

I think you are right that this is Manhasset’s first time at this event. That’s great news.

I’m almost positive “Summit Academy Charter” is actually Summit High School in New Jersey. Summit HS’s website shows a game against BBP at Cold Spring Harbor on April 29. Also, Summit is a logical team to go to this event which they have done in the past. Summit won the New Jersey TOC last year and was the best team in the state in 2022. I suspect they will be the best team in the state again in 2023.

I’ll be seeing New Canaan, Morristown, and Summit in preseason scrimmages. I expect all will be very good teams this year.

Looks like some very good games on tap at this year‘s event.

I’m a little disappointed only two New Jersey teams are attending. I know Moorestown didn’t get invited. Is Raff still running the event?

How are the Indians looking this year?

I believe Raff is still in charge of it. Manhasset is loaded, especially in the 2024 class. Strong chance of a repeat this year. We shall see.

Also, on 4/15/23 at US Lacrosse Facility, St. Paul's plays Darien.

Joe

[njbill]

The Bronxville Manhasset game should be a real good one. I may have to charter a helicopter that day to get up to Cold Spring.

Boy, Darien sure drew the short end of that travel stick. Not exactly a neutral site. Frankly, if you’re going to go down there, it would be quicker to get to SPSG. Hopefully this game will be streamed. In any event, it will be a real good game to help set the national rankings.

Don’t blame Lisa for pushing her chips all in this year since this is her last year with a Humphrey.

Summit also has a really good schedule this year. In addition to their game at the GfB, they are playing Darien and Episcopal Academy.

[totc]

Here's my preseason Top 10 published nearly three weeks ago:

1. Darien (Conn.) 20-1
2. Glenelg (Md.) Country School 17-2
3. Sykesville Century (Md.) 19-0
4. South Huntington St. Anthony (N.Y.) 15-2
5. Westwood (Mass.) 25-0
6. Brooklandville St. Paul’s (Md.) 17-1
7. Annapolis Broadneck (Md.) 17-3
8. Victor (N.Y.) 21-1
9. New Canaan (Conn.) 21-2
10. Manhasset (N.Y.) 16-2

I think Glenelg Country School will be a lot better than people give them credit for within the IAAM. I think they're better on defense and they have players they can always mix and match in the attack end.

A lot of folks outside the Baltimore Beltway may wind up giving me static for not ranking McDonogh in the Top 10, but I need to see what this team has on the attack end (we'll see tomorrow at the McD Invitational).

A lot of Long Islanders will also look askance for not ranking Northport. But they have plenty of time to climb the ladder.

[njbill]

Interesting list.

Darien will undoubtedly be strong. They only lose three field player starters plus their goalie. They return a boatload of talent, including, of course, Chloe Humphrey. I saw last year's back up goalie who I presume will start this year a few times last year. She's good.

Will Darien be able to get past New Canaan? NC has beaten them five of the seven times they played in the last two years. I'll get to see NC next week.

Two IAAM teams on the list seems about right. Don't get to see the IAAM anymore which is a bummer.

Darien vs. St. Paul's in April is a very interesting game. Might have chosen a more travel neutral site. To my knowledge, Darien has never gone down to Md. and St. Paul's has never played a CT team.

Two Md. publics? Yeah, maybe.

I might put Manhasset a bit further up the list. St. A's always seems to find a way to disappoint.

Ah, I don't know about a MA team in the top 10. They play pretty good HS ball in Mass, but it's below LI, Upstate, Jersey, SE Pa., and Md.

Also not sure about Victor. They lost some real talent, including a once in a generation player in Eva Pronti.

Don't sleep on Episcopal Academy. The win at Spooky Nook was not meaningless.

Where's the Jersey love? Summit might sneak into the top 10 by the end of the year. They have put together a schedule such that if they run the table, they might be in the top 5. Big "if" though.

I hope to get up to the Gains for Brains which has their usual awesome roster of teams.

[wlaxphan20]

Interesting list.

Darien will undoubtedly be strong. They only lose three field player starters plus their goalie. They return a boatload of talent, including, of course, Chloe Humphrey. I saw last year's back up goalie who I presume will start this year a few times last year. She's good.

Will Darien be able to get past New Canaan? NC has beaten them five of the seven times they played in the last two years. I'll get to see NC next week.

Two IAAM teams on the list seems about right. Don't get to see the IAAM anymore which is a bummer.

Darien vs. St. Paul's in April is a very interesting game. Might have chosen a more travel neutral site. To my knowledge, Darien has never gone down to Md. and St. Paul's has never played a CT team.

Two Md. publics? Yeah, maybe.

I might put Manhasset a bit further up the list. St. A's always seems to find a way to disappoint.

Ah, I don't know about a MA team in the top 10. They play pretty good HS ball in Mass, but it's below LI, Upstate, Jersey, SE Pa., and Md.

Also not sure about Victor. They lost some real talent, including a once in a generation player in Eva Pronti.

Don't sleep on Episcopal Academy. The win at Spooky Nook was not meaningless.

Where's the Jersey love? Summit might sneak into the top 10 by the end of the year. They have put together a schedule such that if they run the table, they might be in the top 5. Big "if" though.

I hope to get up to the Gains for Brains which has their usual awesome roster of teams.

Good matchup today for EA