New England West 2024

[PhishFall97]

4/17/24 Schedule:

Choate @ (-3) AOF:
(-3.5 )Berkshire @ Hotchkiss
(-2.5) Cushing @ NMH
(-4.5) Brunswick @ Taft
Westy @ (-6) Sailsbury
Kent @ (-6.5) Loomis
TP @ (-4.5) Deerfield

[3rdPersonPlural]

Taft will probably livestream their 'wick game.

Here is the link:

https://www.taftschool.org/athletics/livestream

I can't penetrate beyond that link, but one of the more clever posters will provide what to do to see the game...?

[grelch]

Salisbury up 9-1 with 6 mins left in the 2nd qtr. There's a substantial gulf between them this season. Salisbury have begun to rotate their starters out.

EDIT: Game ended 14-9. Westminster rallied against Sarum's second team and beat them 7-5. Credit to the martlets for making a game out of it.

[3rdPersonPlural]

Taft v 'wick:
https://events.locallive.tv/events/139547

[Sportin' Life]

Brunswick 8, Taft 4. The Rhinos led 3 - 0 at the end of 1Q and 4 - 3 at the half. The Bruins led 6 - 4 at the end of 3Q. Taft showed a lot of fight and poise but came up short in the end.

Kent forfeited to LC. I'm not one to encourage any school to drop out of NEW1 but if Kent can't show up for the games it committed to play maybe it should. Forfeiting is never a good look and hard to excuse unless they had some sort of health issue sideline a significant percentage of the team.

[Laxfan88]

Kent lost their last two games 26-3 to TP and 20-1 to Albany Academy. Maybe they’re in free fall and just didn’t want another lopsided loss. Not an excuse - just some context.

[bloboll123]

Anyone have insight on Taft v DA? Expecting it to be a fun one.

[justanotherperson]

Brunswick 8, Taft 4. The Rhinos led 3 - 0 at the end of 1Q and 4 - 3 at the half. The Bruins led 6 - 4 at the end of 3Q. Taft showed a lot of fight and poise but came up short in the end.

Kent forfeited to LC. I'm not one to encourage any school to drop out of NEW1 but if Kent can't show up for the games it committed to play maybe it should. Forfeiting is never a good look and hard to excuse unless they had some sort of health issue sideline a significant percentage of the team.

Im in agreement SL. I know they lost their last 2 games bad against 1 NEW1 team and 1 "NEW2" but should finish the season out. There is a Founders team in "NEW2.5" which is Kingswood Oxford so there is precedent in dropping down

Thanks to the color on Westy v Salisbury Grelch. At first glance the score was close than it looked but with S'bury 2nd squad in, that makes sense. What I cant make sense of is Westy: lose to Deerfield 0-17 but play Choate and Salisbury close and easily beat NMH and "Kiss. Are they trending up with the new coach?

PhishFall97 - not to bad with the spreads as you were spot on on most of them

bloboll123 - i dont have color but I have Deerfield trending up (Maybe #2 NEW1) and taft trying to find their footing. Deerfield 12 - Taft 9

[Newestfan324]

Anyone have insight on Taft v DA? Expecting it to be a fun one.

Looked like UPENN commit Quinn Whipple got hurt in the 4th against Brunswick. Interesting to see how a banged up Taft Squad can play against a Deerfield team that's been rolling.

[Sportin' Life]

The report on Whipple is that he sustained an ACL injury and he may be done for the season.

[3rdPersonPlural]

The report on Whipple is that he sustained an ACL injury and he may be done for the season.

Ouch! And there's only a month left to the season. ACL repair is way faster and cleaner than it was even a decade ago, but.....I suspect that his next game will be in a UPenn uniform.

As the Rhino Rooter on this board, I am heartbroken!

[grelch]

Brunswick 8, Taft 4. The Rhinos led 3 - 0 at the end of 1Q and 4 - 3 at the half. The Bruins led 6 - 4 at the end of 3Q. Taft showed a lot of fight and poise but came up short in the end.

Kent forfeited to LC. I'm not one to encourage any school to drop out of NEW1 but if Kent can't show up for the games it committed to play maybe it should. Forfeiting is never a good look and hard to excuse unless they had some sort of health issue sideline a significant percentage of the team.

Im in agreement SL. I know they lost their last 2 games bad against 1 NEW1 team and 1 "NEW2" but should finish the season out. There is a Founders team in "NEW2.5" which is Kingswood Oxford so there is precedent in dropping down

Thanks to the color on Westy v Salisbury Grelch. At first glance the score was close than it looked but with S'bury 2nd squad in, that makes sense. What I cant make sense of is Westy: lose to Deerfield 0-17 but play Choate and Salisbury close and easily beat NMH and "Kiss. Are they trending up with the new coach?

PhishFall97 - not to bad with the spreads as you were spot on on most of them

bloboll123 - i dont have color but I have Deerfield trending up (Maybe #2 NEW1) and taft trying to find their footing. Deerfield 12 - Taft 9

[grelch]

Brunswick 8, Taft 4. The Rhinos led 3 - 0 at the end of 1Q and 4 - 3 at the half. The Bruins led 6 - 4 at the end of 3Q. Taft showed a lot of fight and poise but came up short in the end.

Kent forfeited to LC. I'm not one to encourage any school to drop out of NEW1 but if Kent can't show up for the games it committed to play maybe it should. Forfeiting is never a good look and hard to excuse unless they had some sort of health issue sideline a significant percentage of the team.

Im in agreement SL. I know they lost their last 2 games bad against 1 NEW1 team and 1 "NEW2" but should finish the season out. There is a Founders team in "NEW2.5" which is Kingswood Oxford so there is precedent in dropping down

Thanks to the color on Westy v Salisbury Grelch. At first glance the score was close than it looked but with S'bury 2nd squad in, that makes sense. What I cant make sense of is Westy: lose to Deerfield 0-17 but play Choate and Salisbury close and easily beat NMH and "Kiss. Are they trending up with the new coach?

PhishFall97 - not to bad with the spreads as you were spot on on most of them

bloboll123 - i dont have color but I have Deerfield trending up (Maybe #2 NEW1) and taft trying to find their footing. Deerfield 12 - Taft 9

It wasn't close at full strength. It was a hot knife through soft butter. Salisbury pulled most of their players with 6 minutes to go in the 2nd qtr. There was a big drop off between the Salisbury starters and their bench though. That depth might rear its head in the coming weeks against the heavy end of their schedule. Speaking of which, I wonder why Salisbury is at Lawrenceville this weekend. Maybe I'm recalling this incorrectly but I'm fairly certain these two played in New Jersey last year too.

As for Kent, I had a look at their schedule and it really doesn't get easier for them so I wonder what they'll do.

[pcowlax]

This has been an issue for over a decade with Kent (and with NMH for much of that period though not quite as bad). There is definitely precedent for dropping from West-1 to West-2, Canterbury did it some years ago, around the same time Berkshire moved up from 2 to 1. It’s not like there isn’t crossover play between the teams, as evidenced by 10 years of Kent getting completely trounced by West-2 teams (and Millbrook more than holding their own against the bottom of West-1). It’s not like it has to be for all sports. I don’t get it with Kent and haven’t for years. It must be utterly miserable and disheartening for the players. There is no real path forward. To compete with the big dogs you need a very large number of strong players, those players are never going to go to a school with such horrific results. Drop to 2 and they are maybe the 3rd or 4th best team (some years lower) but would be competitive in most games. Most years are’t as bad as this one, I wonder with the forfeit what their numbers are, they never previously were bad enough to lose to a team like Albany by 20. I am sure the rest of the West-1 teams would also be delighted to free up a slot for a real game. They really aren’t anyone’s big rival either, not like asking Deerfield not to play Choate. Baffling and sad.

[justanotherperson]

This has been an issue for over a decade with Kent (and with NMH for much of that period though not quite as bad). There is definitely precedent for dropping from West-1 to West-2, Canterbury did it some years ago, around the same time Berkshire moved up from 2 to 1. It’s not like there isn’t crossover play between the teams, as evidenced by 10 years of Kent getting completely trounced by West-2 teams (and Millbrook more than holding their own against the bottom of West-1). It’s not like it has to be for all sports. I don’t get it with Kent and haven’t for years. It must be utterly miserable and disheartening for the players. There is no real path forward. To compete with the big dogs you need a very large number of strong players, those players are never going to go to a school with such horrific results. Drop to 2 and they are maybe the 3rd or 4th best team (some years lower) but would be competitive in most games. Most years are’t as bad as this one, I wonder with the forfeit what their numbers are, they never previously were bad enough to lose to a team like Albany by 20. I am sure the rest of the West-1 teams would also be delighted to free up a slot for a real game. They really aren’t anyone’s big rival either, not like asking Deerfield not to play Choate. Baffling and sad.

Based on canterbury play this year, it is good for them to be in NEW2

Thanks for the insight with Kent. I dont have any insight but I think (and I may remembering fuzzy) in past forums, that maybe sports has become much less of a focus (except maybe hockey). But, you are correct: this path is not the way but I will say a forfeit is still worse than competing with a loss against a scheduled opponent (Loomis). Lets hope they are more competitive - pomfret having a bad year so there is hope there and there is the aformentioned Canterbury as the finale. As for numbers they have 23 players on Varsity with 7 graduating this year. They have 27 JV/3rds players so the forfeit probably not numbers. Maybe transportation issues?

NMH seems to have worked around this by scheduling ISL / Lakes / Massachusetts / NEW2 opponents mostly as they have conveniently skipped avon, berkshire, brunswick, deerfield, hotchkiss, loomis, salisbury, taft, TP. They only have choate, kent on their schedule this year but they too may have seen the writing on the wall and scheduled more appropriately.

Salisbury L'ville
Taft Deerfield
Westy TP
....seem like the best games to watch manana. Good luck to those with a vested interest

[PhishFall97]

4/20 Schedule/Projections:

NMH(-3.5) @ Worcester Academy
Berkshire(-10.5) @ Kent
Sailsbury @ Lawrenceville (-3.5)
Westy(-2) @ Trinity-Pawling
Hotchkiss @ Brunswick (-7.5)
Loomis(-3.5) @ Avon Old Farms
Taft @ Deerfield (-3)
Choate @ Phillips Andover (-2.5)

[SlingtheRock7]

Here to provide way more insight than is necessary on the state of Kent lacrosse!

Kent athletics really began to take a hit in the mid-2010s. The school continues to place an emphasis on hockey and rowing. Unfortunately, historically strong sports teams at the school have really fallen off. This is particularly the case with football, which used to regularly compete for Founders League Championships but can also be seen when looking at soccer and basketball. Just this past year, Kent football went 0-8. Todd Marble is a pretty legendary football coach in the Founders League community and served as the head football coach/AD at Kent for around 20 years. He had relatively free reign to recruit the players he wanted, and admissions played ball with him. Marble's defensive coordinator throughout his tenure was Randy Hobbs, who also served as the head men's lacrosse coach. Marble and Hobbs were out of their coaching positions by around 2017.

As many posters have noted, Kent has never been at the top of the Founders League for lacrosse. However, in the 2000s and up until around 2016, they were at least competitive. The most recent example of this would be the 2013 Kent team, which had all-time Navy face-off win leader Brady Dove on the roster, along with commits going to UNC, Lehigh, Providence, Bates, and Tufts. In 2013, Kent beat Loomis and Hotchkiss while losing to Brunswick, TP, Westy, and Avon each by 1 goal. Kent had back-to-back wins over TP in 14/15 and even beat Taft in 2015. Was Kent winning the league in those years? Not even close, but games were competitive, and they had a puncher's chance if the traditional powerhouses were off their game. The 2000's were even better for Kent with players like 6'6 Bobby Eilers, who would go on to be a captain at Syracuse, playing at the school.

Kent lacrosse was never given much of a recruiting budget, particularly compared to what I'd imagine other Founder's League schools work with. A few players got in as lacrosse-only recruits each year, but the team was largely constructed of football/hockey players who happened to play lacrosse as well. Marble often recruited football players who played lacrosse and encouraged them to play in the Spring for his DC, Randy Hobbs.

For whatever reason, starting around 2013, Kent attempted to go through a cultural change to try and increase its academic prestige. Admissions placed a much greater emphasis on academic profiles and drastically decreased the leeway that coaches were given to recruit. This led to Marble stepping down as the football coach a few years later. The men's basketball coach would then step down, and Hobbs would follow in 2018. Hobbs was not innocent in the downfall of the program, and he certainly could have put more effort into recruiting in my opinion. However, I don't believe he was ever given considerable support from the school, and this was only heightened once Kent decided to change its admissions focus.

Mike Kruger was brought in to lead the program in 2019, which I believe was a phenomenal hire. He had college coaching experience and had been heavily involved in the 3d program out in California. He was motivated to recruit and was well-known in club lacrosse circuits. In his first year there in 2019, they only had 2 wins (Westy and Milbrook), but the groundwork for rebuilding the program had been put down, and he managed to begin getting some recruits in the door. Getting recruits did result in him bumping heads with those in administration/admissions who weren't accustomed to having a coach go to bat for lacrosse players.

Unfortunately, Covid halted the small momentum the program had going for it. 2020 was the last year headmaster Richard Schell ran the school. He had never placed an emphasis on the lacrosse program, so his departure on paper wouldn't hurt Kent lacrosse. What quickly became apparent was that the new headmaster and Coach Kruger did not see eye-to-eye.  Kruger could maybe have been a bit more politically savvy in how he approached getting support for the program, but I won't critique the man for fighting to get players in the door.

Ultimately, Kruger would leave the school after the 2021 season, with the new AD and headmaster telling alums that they support the lacrosse program, but that Kruger was just not the right fit. I believe Kruger saw the writing on the wall during that 2020-21 year and halted any major efforts to bring players into the school (can't blame him).

Kruger's departure resulted in multiple players leaving, such as goalie Harry Laferriere (Brown), who switched to Avon. Kent would bring in Tyler White to coach towards the end of the summer of 2021, which gave him no opportunity to bring in any new players. This marked the first year of bringing in basically 0 recruits, which unsurprisingly resulted in a winless 2022 year.

After a winless 2021 and 2022, what respectable player would want to go to Kent or have faith that things would change? In 2023, the team went 1-17, somehow beating Canterbury. Noticeably, the Kent team had 0 commits listed on inside lacrosse. Any positives about the team winning its first game since 2019 were heavily outweighed by the announcement that Coach White was leaving at the end of the season.

I'm not sure if Coach White had managed to get any recruits for the '24 season prior to his departure in the early summer, but there certainly was not anyone recruiting for the program during the summer of 2023. How do I know this? Well, that is because the school did not move quickly to hire a new coach and instead have had Wayne Clarke running the team as an interim coach since last summer. There has been no news as to when the position will be filled, and the only commit on the team is an attackman going to the University of Indianapolis.  

I see two options for Kent at this point. The first is to allocate significant financial resources to providing lacrosse players with scholarships to attend the school. That's the only way you could incentivize players to come to Kent at this point. Will Kent do this? No. At least not on the scale required to compete with the rest of the league.

As many other commentators have noted, the second and most logical option is to move down a division. I know multiple alums who would be saddened by this, but I don't think there is another realistic option. Kent is currently wasting its own players and other schools' time playing these games. I cannot imagine being a kid on that current roster, knowing you're going to get humiliated on the field every game. I don't know what's holding them back from this, considering they haven't truly backed the program or cared about lacrosse in the past 25 years.

[Sportin' Life]

Wow, thanks for the exhaustive background Sling the Rock. The demise of Kent lacrosse and its athletics in general aside from rowing and hockey is truly a sad story. Randy Hobbs was a product of Longmeadow HS and a two-time All-Ivy (HM and 1st team) player at Dartmouth in the late 80s.

[justanotherperson]

Here to provide way more insight than is necessary on the state of Kent lacrosse!

Kent athletics really began to take a hit in the mid-2010s. The school continues to place an emphasis on hockey and rowing. Unfortunately, historically strong sports teams at the school have really fallen off. This is particularly the case with football, which used to regularly compete for Founders League Championships but can also be seen when looking at soccer and basketball. Just this past year, Kent football went 0-8. Todd Marble is a pretty legendary football coach in the Founders League community and served as the head football coach/AD at Kent for around 20 years. He had relatively free reign to recruit the players he wanted, and admissions played ball with him. Marble's defensive coordinator throughout his tenure was Randy Hobbs, who also served as the head men's lacrosse coach. Marble and Hobbs were out of their coaching positions by around 2017.

As many posters have noted, Kent has never been at the top of the Founders League for lacrosse. However, in the 2000s and up until around 2016, they were at least competitive. The most recent example of this would be the 2013 Kent team, which had all-time Navy face-off win leader Brady Dove on the roster, along with commits going to UNC, Lehigh, Providence, Bates, and Tufts. In 2013, Kent beat Loomis and Hotchkiss while losing to Brunswick, TP, Westy, and Avon each by 1 goal. Kent had back-to-back wins over TP in 14/15 and even beat Taft in 2015. Was Kent winning the league in those years? Not even close, but games were competitive, and they had a puncher's chance if the traditional powerhouses were off their game. The 2000's were even better for Kent with players like 6'6 Bobby Eilers, who would go on to be a captain at Syracuse, playing at the school.

Kent lacrosse was never given much of a recruiting budget, particularly compared to what I'd imagine other Founder's League schools work with. A few players got in as lacrosse-only recruits each year, but the team was largely constructed of football/hockey players who happened to play lacrosse as well. Marble often recruited football players who played lacrosse and encouraged them to play in the Spring for his DC, Randy Hobbs.

For whatever reason, starting around 2013, Kent attempted to go through a cultural change to try and increase its academic prestige. Admissions placed a much greater emphasis on academic profiles and drastically decreased the leeway that coaches were given to recruit. This led to Marble stepping down as the football coach a few years later. The men's basketball coach would then step down, and Hobbs would follow in 2018. Hobbs was not innocent in the downfall of the program, and he certainly could have put more effort into recruiting in my opinion. However, I don't believe he was ever given considerable support from the school, and this was only heightened once Kent decided to change its admissions focus.

Mike Kruger was brought in to lead the program in 2019, which I believe was a phenomenal hire. He had college coaching experience and had been heavily involved in the 3d program out in California. He was motivated to recruit and was well-known in club lacrosse circuits. In his first year there in 2019, they only had 2 wins (Westy and Milbrook), but the groundwork for rebuilding the program had been put down, and he managed to begin getting some recruits in the door. Getting recruits did result in him bumping heads with those in administration/admissions who weren't accustomed to having a coach go to bat for lacrosse players.

Unfortunately, Covid halted the small momentum the program had going for it. 2020 was the last year headmaster Richard Schell ran the school. He had never placed an emphasis on the lacrosse program, so his departure on paper wouldn't hurt Kent lacrosse. What quickly became apparent was that the new headmaster and Coach Kruger did not see eye-to-eye.  Kruger could maybe have been a bit more politically savvy in how he approached getting support for the program, but I won't critique the man for fighting to get players in the door.

Ultimately, Kruger would leave the school after the 2021 season, with the new AD and headmaster telling alums that they support the lacrosse program, but that Kruger was just not the right fit. I believe Kruger saw the writing on the wall during that 2020-21 year and halted any major efforts to bring players into the school (can't blame him).

Kruger's departure resulted in multiple players leaving, such as goalie Harry Laferriere (Brown), who switched to Avon. Kent would bring in Tyler White to coach towards the end of the summer of 2021, which gave him no opportunity to bring in any new players. This marked the first year of bringing in basically 0 recruits, which unsurprisingly resulted in a winless 2022 year.

After a winless 2021 and 2022, what respectable player would want to go to Kent or have faith that things would change? In 2023, the team went 1-17, somehow beating Canterbury. Noticeably, the Kent team had 0 commits listed on inside lacrosse. Any positives about the team winning its first game since 2019 were heavily outweighed by the announcement that Coach White was leaving at the end of the season.

I'm not sure if Coach White had managed to get any recruits for the '24 season prior to his departure in the early summer, but there certainly was not anyone recruiting for the program during the summer of 2023. How do I know this? Well, that is because the school did not move quickly to hire a new coach and instead have had Wayne Clarke running the team as an interim coach since last summer. There has been no news as to when the position will be filled, and the only commit on the team is an attackman going to the University of Indianapolis.  

I see two options for Kent at this point. The first is to allocate significant financial resources to providing lacrosse players with scholarships to attend the school. That's the only way you could incentivize players to come to Kent at this point. Will Kent do this? No. At least not on the scale required to compete with the rest of the league.

As many other commentators have noted, the second and most logical option is to move down a division. I know multiple alums who would be saddened by this, but I don't think there is another realistic option. Kent is currently wasting its own players and other schools' time playing these games. I cannot imagine being a kid on that current roster, knowing you're going to get humiliated on the field every game. I don't know what's holding them back from this, considering they haven't truly backed the program or cared about lacrosse in the past 25 years.

Fantastic summary StR. Tough situation for them as dropping a division is like cutting off your own limb but they may need to do it for survival

If I could just ask you to repost this again next year because I will forget all of this when we ask "what is the state of Kent lax" next year.

[Sportin' Life]

DA throttled Taft 15 - 3. The Big Green dominated from start to finish and the Rhinos didn't play with any energy.

Brunswick 15, Hotchkiss 6