2023 New York State Tournaments

[Kismet]

Utilizing LaxNumbers power ratings here are some “for amusement purposes only” lines:

A
Baldwinsville-Pittsford (+4)
Farmingdale-Scarsdale (+2)

B
Victor-West Genesee (+5)
Garden City-Niskayuna (+1)

C
Jamesville-DeWitt-Honeyoye Falls-Lima (+5) in the All Hyphen Game
Manhasset-Rye (+7)

D
Marcellus-Penn Yan (+4)
Pleasantville-Cold Spring Harbor Pick-‘em

These ratings were accurate predictors of the winners of every semi for which a pick was made. Here’s how they look for the finals:

A
Farmingdale-Baldwinsville (+1)

B
Garden City-Victor (Pick-‘em)

C
Manhasset-Jamesville-DeWitt (+8)

D
Cold Spring Harbor-Marcellus (+4)

Pretty good. They nailed 6/7 finalists in CT state tournament

[wahoomurf]

Final GC 12-Niskayuna 6

Very impressive win by Garden City. Niskayuna was being overrated imo (gaudy record plus name brand, didn't do much outside of the section B'ville win aside) but beating them by six is still impressive. Nisky came out fired up and got some early goals and Garden City was shooting themselves in the foot (turnovers and false starts on faceoffs) but they adjusted very well afterwards and completely shut Niskayuna down after the first. Also the Niskayuna goalie seemed tiny... lots of goal to shoot at. Wonder if that was the reason for a goal or two.

I think the brutal schedules that Garden City and Cold Spring Harbor play throughout the year really helped them both today.

Agree 100%. There are MANY folks that wrote this year's GC team off. IMHO the 4 one goal losses they experienced as well as the 5 one goal wins were object lessons in bouncing back and at the same time,taking nothing for granted.

GC and Victor have met twice in the State finals. Should be an interesting rematch.

[b1w7o9y7h]

That streaming service NYS high school sports organization has contracted with must be owned by one of their kids or something. Holy mediocrity, Batman.

[b1w7o9y7h]

Final GC 12-Niskayuna 6

Very impressive win by Garden City. Niskayuna was being overrated imo (gaudy record plus name brand, didn't do much outside of the section B'ville win aside) but beating them by six is still impressive. Nisky came out fired up and got some early goals and Garden City was shooting themselves in the foot (turnovers and false starts on faceoffs) but they adjusted very well afterwards and completely shut Niskayuna down after the first. Also the Niskayuna goalie seemed tiny... lots of goal to shoot at. Wonder if that was the reason for a goal or two.

I think the brutal schedules that Garden City and Cold Spring Harbor play throughout the year really helped them both today.

Agree 100%. There are MANY folks that wrote this year's GC team off. IMHO the 4 one goal losses they experienced as well as the 5 one goal wins were object lessons in bouncing back and at the same time,taking nothing for granted.

GC and Victor have met twice in the State finals. Should be an interesting rematch.

Twice? I thought only once.

[wahoomurf]

Final GC 12-Niskayuna 6

Very impressive win by Garden City. Niskayuna was being overrated imo (gaudy record plus name brand, didn't do much outside of the section B'ville win aside) but beating them by six is still impressive. Nisky came out fired up and got some early goals and Garden City was shooting themselves in the foot (turnovers and false starts on faceoffs) but they adjusted very well afterwards and completely shut Niskayuna down after the first. Also the Niskayuna goalie seemed tiny... lots of goal to shoot at. Wonder if that was the reason for a goal or two.

I think the brutal schedules that Garden City and Cold Spring Harbor play throughout the year really helped them both today.

Agree 100%. There are MANY folks that wrote this year's GC team off. IMHO the 4 one goal losses they experienced as well as the 5 one goal wins were object lessons in bouncing back and at the same time,taking nothing for granted.

GC and Victor have met twice in the State finals. Should be an interesting rematch.

Twice? I thought only once.

I stand corrected. They've played once.

[kr522]

Final GC 12-Niskayuna 6

Very impressive win by Garden City. Niskayuna was being overrated imo (gaudy record plus name brand, didn't do much outside of the section B'ville win aside) but beating them by six is still impressive. Nisky came out fired up and got some early goals and Garden City was shooting themselves in the foot (turnovers and false starts on faceoffs) but they adjusted very well afterwards and completely shut Niskayuna down after the first. Also the Niskayuna goalie seemed tiny... lots of goal to shoot at. Wonder if that was the reason for a goal or two.

I think the brutal schedules that Garden City and Cold Spring Harbor play throughout the year really helped them both today.

Agree 100%. There are MANY folks that wrote this year's GC team off. IMHO the 4 one goal losses they experienced as well as the 5 one goal wins were object lessons in bouncing back and at the same time,taking nothing for granted.

GC and Victor have met twice in the State finals. Should be an interesting rematch.

Murf, I’m definitely one person who called it a down year for them (though I don’t know that I wrote them off). They’ve proven me wrong with the way their season has come together….now it’s one more win for the promised land. Good luck!

[Nigel]

That streaming service NYS high school sports organization has contracted with must be owned by one of their kids or something. Holy mediocrity, Batman.

It's like a BOCES production. Having replay would be nice. But happy to have at least something available for us non-traveling fans.

[tech37]

Love seeing the LI vs CNY match up at every level!

Sadly, tomorrow will be the last all day lax binge of the year for this fan. Oh and... GO BEES!

It’s hard to go from a peak day like tomorrow to nothing after, but it is the best day when your team is still going. How do you feel about the matchup with Farmingdale? They have a very deep team with good defense and a great goalie

Btw the guys here did a very good job with predictions on the last round. Two got 6 of 8 games right and Nigel got 7 of 8. I could see a wide range of outcomes, and I think CSH is most likely to win their game…..i don’t know much about Marcellus but did watch some of the game vs PY. I think CSH handles them

I’d say Manhasset should be the next biggest favorite, but having watched a little of JD yesterday they are better than their record and have a bunch of talented kids who can score….they seem to be peaking and i think that’s a tough game.

Class A is a toss up to me, i think 50-50….both teams with great seasons. B’Ville with experience as the reigning champs, but Farmingdale is well rounded and gaining steam

Class B my sense is Victor should be favorites, but I think this is a marginal distinction. GC is playing in their backyard and I’ve seen that program so much over the years. Their teams just get it, how to play winning lacrosse when it matters. Their only weakness has been at face offs

kr522... I don't know

Farmingdale is a fine team with depth. Call me crazy but I wonder if having such an excellent goalie all year has the close D playing overconfident? The Bville sharpshooters will need to be at their best to take advantage. FDale's goalie is future SU star... and I'm already sold on him.

Bville's D and goalie have played well, and if I'm not mistaken, have given up only 16 goals in last three games vs solid comp.

GO BEES!

[flyerfan17]

Nassau will win at least 3 of 4 and a good possibility they win all 4. In order of preference
CSH
Manhasset
Farmingdale
GC

[Nigel]

When the three year run of NYS Finals left St John Fisher College (2017-2019), I posted a top 5 games list (old LaxPower) from all twelve games played (yes I sat thru each game, each year). Without a doubt, the hands down top of the list was the 2017 Ward Melville stunner over Pittsford. It was simply unbelievable. The #2 game on my list was the 2018 Victor-Garden City game.

Victor came into that game after winning the 2015 B Final (shut up the entire confident Manhasset community w a dominant performance), then winning the 2016 Class A Final (took down mighty Ward Melville with another outstanding performance), and then winning the 2017 Class B Final again (rolled over Yorktown). Three years in a row, three straight state titles, and back in the finals in 2018.

Huge crowd on hand by game time and a beautiful day for lacrosse. This was the third game of the day and the preceding warm up band was WM putting a woodshed beatdown on West Genny, sending Coach Mike Messere into retirement. I remembered Garden City had beaten JD a few years back so I figured they'd be good. After the 15-2 WM blowout, and the early Class D clunker (Pleasantville 16-2 over Penn Yan), I was hoping for a good game to watch. Turns out, it was a spectacular game!

GC relied on their FO guy, their long possessions, and their ability to NOT get intimidated by everything Victor. Victor, to their credit, played some stout defense themselves. Pretty sure nobody scored in the second quarter. One key to the game was GC flipping from man to zone and back a few times. This froze some of the Blue Devil shooters. GC built up a couple goal lead in the fourth but Victor had a history of last minute wins and sure enough they did make a comeback. But TD Ierlan was gone and GC won on a FO smokeshow and a fast break goal that followed. It was an amazing win in the backyard of Victor.

See for yourself. (two different videos 3m & 14M)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF-pISXRz-g

https://www.proudlacrosse.com/videos/v/ ... sxhadehext

[Nigel]

Picks

Bville repeats. Very close game.

Victor gets pay back as they have a strong FO guy this time.

Manhasset repeats. Expect offense.

CSH repeats. Closer than last year.

[thedisciple516]

B'ville vs. Farmingdale - B'ville by 2 - Toss up but picking B'ville as an upstate homer. B'ville seems like the slightly better team but Farmingdale will have the emotional advantage trying to win their first title in since 2011 in front of the hometown crowd. Neither teams' semi performance stood out as something from a team that is an obvious front runner.

Victor vs. Garden City - Victor by 2 - Victor, St. Anthony's and Manhasset are the 3 best teams in the state and Victor has extra motivation after last year's embarrassing early exit. That being said GC has been improving as the season went on and looked great against Niskayuna. No one should be surprised if they win it in front of the hometown crowd. How cool is it that Long Island finally gets a first hand look at the Victor juggernaut?

Manhasset vs. JD - Manhasset by 5 - Manhasset has been on of the top teams in the state all year. JD has some head scraching losses on their resume but looked good in the semis. Their coach, who doesn't pull punches about his team and has criticized them in the past... says they haven't come close to playing their best game yet. Still Manhasset will probably be too much.

Cold Spring Harbor vs. Marcellus -CSH by 5 - Marcellus is very young and could get overwhelmed by the moment. They also looked better in the first half of the year. CSH looked gret in the Semis. Regardless of how Marcellus does keep in mind they are graduating only 3 seniors (only one of whom was in their top 6 scorers) for future reference.

[kr522]

Slightly different memory of 2015 but I don't want to let that get in the way of a good story. I think today's games will be closer

[ardilla secreta]

I pretty much on board with the picks by Nigel and disciple.

Class A looks to be a low scoring, defensive game. A close, tense game with edge to Baldwinsville

In Class B, Victor won’t let a lead dissolve like Niskayuna did. I believe they’ll persevere in a close, well played game.

It strikes me that Manhasset and CSH should be playing up in higher classes. Both should gain their titles with without much drama.

With todays season finale, it will be the first time I failed to make it to any high school lax game in 23 years. There’s always next year.
Hope NFHS does a good job.

[LI13]

Enjoy the games today! I'm in Indianapolis for a kids thing so I will not be able to watch. My picks:

Baldwinsville
Victor
Manhasset
CSH

[akawgp]

Slightly different memory of 2015 but I don't want to let that get in the way of a good story. I think today's games will be closer

Agree

[kr522]

Hey Tech37, your bees look great

[tech37]

Hey Tech37, your bees look great

Anyone's game at this point kr522!

[tech37]

Congratulations Baldwinsville players, coaches, fans... outstanding!

[Nigel]

Congratulations Baldwinsville players, coaches, fans... outstanding!

Nassau sweep just a pipe dream! Bees go b2b and must like playing at Hofstra!