NESCAC

[Laxxal22]

Don’t count the chickens before the eggs hatch. Most Midd players are off campus this semester, having decided to defer the semester/study remotely.

I wonder what this means if there's 40ish kids on campus who played in high school and say, "Sure, we'll play". They'd obviously get throttled but between varsity players who didn't care about trying to preserve eligibility and are on campus plus some walk ons you could have a roster. Would coaches look down their noses at that or just be excited to get out there and practice/play with the guys they've got?

[isaacwright22]

Looks like Amherst may have games too: https://www.amherst.edu/news/covid-19/c ... ode/795391

"Only athletes living on campus will be allowed to participate"

I think this sums it up

If the coach and players want a season, they now have the means to make it happen. I hope they prove all the doubters wrong, man up, and play ball. The tide is turning.

There are a handful of off campus houses of players of all sports

[ah23]

Despite the NESCAC's best efforts (half kidding), there will at least be some semblance of a season in 2021. Very excited to see some lacrosse, but man...the return to play plan is unbelievably restrictive.

As things stand right now (aka in the hot take-y first few hours after a major announcement), I'd imagine that eight (maybe nine?) teams is the absolute best-case scenario:

• Bates, Colby, Conn, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams have all posted statements indicating varying degrees of commitment/apprehension. It does seem like a few of these are more tentative than others, but they've at least said they are moving forward.

• For now, I would exclude Amherst because of the ban on off-campus students (congratulations to President Martin for temporarily achieving her vision of an athletics-free Amherst) and Bowdoin (who have already said they will not participate).
  
  Looking forward to more clarity (and potentially schedules) in the near future.

[Matnum PI]

They're talking about mid-April. Vaccinations are increasing rapidly. Cities and states are opening. Things are changing quickly and... Lots of time until mid-April. I'm optimistic.

[Laxwizard]

Despite the NESCAC's best efforts (half kidding), there will at least be some semblance of a season in 2021. Very excited to see some lacrosse, but man...the return to play plan is unbelievably restrictive.

As things stand right now (aka in the hot take-y first few hours after a major announcement), I'd imagine that eight (maybe nine?) teams is the absolute best-case scenario:

• Bates, Colby, Conn, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams have all posted statements indicating varying degrees of commitment/apprehension. It does seem like a few of these are more tentative than others, but they've at least said they are moving forward.

• For now, I would exclude Amherst because of the ban on off-campus students (congratulations to President Martin for temporarily achieving her vision of an athletics-free Amherst) and Bowdoin (who have already said they will not participate).
  
  Looking forward to more clarity (and potentially schedules) in the near future.

I'm guessing Bowdoin will try to play Colby and Bates outside of the NESCAC schedule, but Colby and Bates will have to find space to to compete with them. The announcement says nothing about NESCAC teams playing non-NESCAC teams midweek, etc. Amherst should have scheduled NESCAC games. Not sure how the on campus requirement will be met, but there will be pressure for the school to offer dorm space to team members that want to move on campus with the Freshman to meet the school's requirement, and to Sophmores to return to campus for the season.

[Dave]

I'm betting Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Amherst don't play...others will

[isaacwright22]

I'm betting Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Amherst don't play...others will

From Bowdoin, "While we will compete on a limited basis this spring and opportunities will be based upon team-specific circumstances".

Imo this release is way too late and will cause a lot of disruption among all of the schools covid protocols. I wonder if a majority of ADs and school presidents are going to look at this and not feel confident and just resort to local play in state.

[Laxwizard]

I'm betting Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Amherst don't play...others will

From Bowdoin, "While we will compete on a limited basis this spring and opportunities will be based upon team-specific circumstances".

Imo this release is way too late and will cause a lot of disruption among all of the schools covid protocols. I wonder if a majority of ADs and school presidents are going to look at this and not feel confident and just resort to local play in state.

The school presidents were the ones who made the decision to return to sport, which is why all but Bowdoin have said they will take part in NESCAC competition. Men's LAX specifically may have some unique challenges for a few schools, but the presidents and ADs are now required to try to meet those challenges because they signed off on Spring sports yesterday as a consortium.

[JumboFan4]

Hopefully rosters and schedules get posted in short order.

[Laxxal22]

From @DIIIlacrosse on Twitter: If there was ever a year...@TuftsLacrosse and @TerrierMLAX have to find a way to schedule a game in April, an abbreviated Beanpot. Make it happen @CoachDAnnolfo @RyanPolleyBU

I'd love to see it and think it would be a great game but I just don't see the upside for BU.

[ah23]

The announcement says nothing about NESCAC teams playing non-NESCAC teams midweek, etc. Amherst should have scheduled NESCAC games.

The announcements from the conference and most individual schools don't say anything about midweek games, but a few individual schools did.

Amherst: "Competition will be played on weekends."

Tufts: "If conditions permit, Tufts’ spring athletes, who missed last year’s season when the pandemic struck, may play a limited, weekend-only, NESCAC schedule from mid-April to mid-May."

I feel like there are two ways to interpret this:

• NESCAC games will be on weekends, but teams may schedule midweek games against non-conference schools as long as their testing regimes match the NESCAC and they agree to the other protocols (universal mask wearing, no locker rooms, etc)

• The NESCAC is simply banning out of conference play altogether, and only weekend games against conference opponents will be permitted

IMO Tufts' statement makes it sound like the second option is potentially the case, but who knows. It would be incoherent from a public health standpoint (if two schools have identical testing and safety protocols, why would one be safe to play while the other would be "too dangerous"?), but it's how I think the statement comes across. Hopefully I'm wrong!

Worth noting that Peter Lasagna's Inside Lacrosse column from this morning mentions that Bates had been in conversation with UNE about scheduling game(s), although that was before last night's return to play announcement and does not necessarily mean they will be allowed to. Have to imagine that schedules will be released before rosters, so this in theory shouldn't be a question for very long.

[NESLAX]

Trinity's schedule currently has 8 games posted. Only one vs a NESCAC opponent.
Four of which are non conference opponents, scheduled during the school week.
I

[nehslaxfan]

Trinity's schedule currently has 8 games posted. Only one vs a NESCAC opponent.
Four of which are non conference opponents, scheduled during the school week.
I

There schedule has been up for about a week. It originally had more games but some were removed over the past few days.

[NESLAX]

I realise the schedule has been up since the weekend....the point is the NESCAC is not banning non-conference play.

[bighoss74]

From what I've been told, 8 NESCAC schools will attempt to field teams. The three non playing teams I'm 99% sure are Amherst, Midd, and Bowdoin

[JumboFan4]

From @DIIIlacrosse on Twitter: If there was ever a year...@TuftsLacrosse and @TerrierMLAX have to find a way to schedule a game in April, an abbreviated Beanpot. Make it happen @CoachDAnnolfo @RyanPolleyBU

I'd love to see it and think it would be a great game but I just don't see the upside for BU.

I’d love to see it, but don’t see the upside for either team. For BU there’s no extra street cred for beating a D-III team and, frankly, the same goes for Tufts. Not much credence for beating a D-I team that’s not in the Top 20.

[georgeoar394]

It’ll be interesting to see how they do outside the conference in local play, Springfield, WNE, Endicott

[SoLaxNC]

Bowdoin is 100% out for 2021 spring lacrosse. They will not play anyone. They may have 10 players on campus if that. No first years, no seniors and most of the sophomores and juniors took the spring off bc the admin signaled hard early on that it would be highly unlikely that spring sports would happen. The team already sent a letter to alumni, parents etal saying there will be no season. Bowdoin is OUT,

[Laxxal22]

From @DIIIlacrosse on Twitter: If there was ever a year...@TuftsLacrosse and @TerrierMLAX have to find a way to schedule a game in April, an abbreviated Beanpot. Make it happen @CoachDAnnolfo @RyanPolleyBU

I'd love to see it and think it would be a great game but I just don't see the upside for BU.

I’d love to see it, but don’t see the upside for either team. For BU there’s no extra street cred for beating a D-III team and, frankly, the same goes for Tufts. Not much credence for beating a D-I team that’s not in the Top 20.

I know we love these teams and this conference, but beating top 20 D1 just isn't realistic. I think Tufts could compete quite well with teams 30-50 in D1 and handle the teams below that... but top 30 would be a real struggle and top 20 are most likely absolute blow outs.

[ctbagataway]

Ask Lars Tiffany that question, I don’t think he would agree.