NESCAC

[JaxsonGrey68]

Trinity @ Nassau Community College: https://nassaulions.com/sports/mens-lac ... ?path=mlax

Oh my... does that apparently a mess of a Trinity team know what they're walking in to down there? Not for the timid getting on the field with those guys...

That is ambitious under the best of circumstances, will certainly be a good test for them given all that has taken place this winter. Will be a chance for them to prove all the naysayers wrong. One thing is for sure, they will need to have their chinstraps buckled.

[SunocoCharlie]

Trinity @ Nassau Community College: https://nassaulions.com/sports/mens-lac ... ?path=mlax

Oh my... does that apparently a mess of a Trinity team know what they're walking in to down there? Not for the timid getting on the field with those guys...

That is ambitious under the best of circumstances, will certainly be a good test for them given all that has taken place this winter. Will be a chance for them to prove all the naysayers wrong. One thing is for sure, they will need to have their chinstraps buckled.

On the surface it doesn't make sense. Trinity can travel 20 Miles (WNEC and Springfield) for strong competition or 2 miles (U St Joseph or U Hartford) to still have a game and play comparable programs. Will be interesting to see the outcome. Send game updates.

[pcowlax]

For what it is worth, Part 1 of New England Lax Journal NESCAC preview:

1. Tufts (19-3, 9-1 NESCAC)
The Jumbos return to the field with aspirations of NESCAC and national championships. It’s just how they are wired. Though they lost one of the best offensive players in school history in Mac Bredahl, they still return a ton of top-tier talent, including first-team All-American selections attackman Jack Boyden and defenseman Kyle Adelmann. Moreover, this team is legitimately just fun to watch. If you brave the wind tunnel of Bello Field, you can join in the “RIDE ‘EM! TURN ‘EM!” chant until you’re red in the face. It’s quite an experience.

2. Bowdoin (18-3, 9-1 NESCAC)
Head coach Bill Mason had a hell of an opening season with the Polar Bears. One win shy of the league title and two NCAA tournament wins is as good a debut as any coach could ask for. But this season, Bowdoin is eyeing the top spot and has the players to get there. Face-off man Ethan Barnard (Boxford, Mass.) is the best face-off man in the league, and attackman Will Byrne (Darien, Conn.) put up over 100 points as a rookie last season.

3. Wesleyan (13-6, 6-4 NESCAC)
Always a constant power in the NESCAC, Wesleyan is right there in the mix once again in 2023. Several returning players will bolster the Cardinals’ offensive output. Chief among them is the attack duo of Matt Gill (Duxbury, Mass.) and Justin Hazard (Glastonbury, Conn.). Both were selected as All-Americans and they combined to put up 174 points last spring. Oh, and don’t forget the ever-present, ever-changing, backer zone defense.

4. Amherst (10-7, 7-3 NESCAC)
Last year’s campaign may not have ended the way that the Mammoths wanted, but it was still a return to excellence. After missing two years of competition, and going through two other coaches, current head coach Sean Woods righted the ship in his debut campaign. Amherst played much as it did before the pandemic largely because the philosophies held over from those winning squads were retained and heightened. This year they won’t be able to surprise anyone, but players like attackman Brock Gonzalez know that the doubles are coming.



5. Middlebury (8-8, 6-4 NESCAC)
The Panthers are one of the most underrated teams in the league heading into 2023. One of the few teams to actually beat Tufts last spring, Middlebury couldn’t capitalize on the momentum of that victory. However, they do return a solid core led by All-American midfielder Jack Sheehan. Leading scorer Billy Curtis (Beverly Farms, Mass.) is also back for year two in Vermont, and fans will be eager to see if he can improve upon his 55-point rookie season.

[creasecone66]

For what it is worth, Part 1 of New England Lax Journal NESCAC preview:

1. Tufts (19-3, 9-1 NESCAC)
The Jumbos return to the field with aspirations of NESCAC and national championships. It’s just how they are wired. Though they lost one of the best offensive players in school history in Mac Bredahl, they still return a ton of top-tier talent, including first-team All-American selections attackman Jack Boyden and defenseman Kyle Adelmann. Moreover, this team is legitimately just fun to watch. If you brave the wind tunnel of Bello Field, you can join in the “RIDE ‘EM! TURN ‘EM!” chant until you’re red in the face. It’s quite an experience.

2. Bowdoin (18-3, 9-1 NESCAC)
Head coach Bill Mason had a hell of an opening season with the Polar Bears. One win shy of the league title and two NCAA tournament wins is as good a debut as any coach could ask for. But this season, Bowdoin is eyeing the top spot and has the players to get there. Face-off man Ethan Barnard (Boxford, Mass.) is the best face-off man in the league, and attackman Will Byrne (Darien, Conn.) put up over 100 points as a rookie last season.

3. Wesleyan (13-6, 6-4 NESCAC)
Always a constant power in the NESCAC, Wesleyan is right there in the mix once again in 2023. Several returning players will bolster the Cardinals’ offensive output. Chief among them is the attack duo of Matt Gill (Duxbury, Mass.) and Justin Hazard (Glastonbury, Conn.). Both were selected as All-Americans and they combined to put up 174 points last spring. Oh, and don’t forget the ever-present, ever-changing, backer zone defense.

4. Amherst (10-7, 7-3 NESCAC)
Last year’s campaign may not have ended the way that the Mammoths wanted, but it was still a return to excellence. After missing two years of competition, and going through two other coaches, current head coach Sean Woods righted the ship in his debut campaign. Amherst played much as it did before the pandemic largely because the philosophies held over from those winning squads were retained and heightened. This year they won’t be able to surprise anyone, but players like attackman Brock Gonzalez know that the doubles are coming.



5. Middlebury (8-8, 6-4 NESCAC)
The Panthers are one of the most underrated teams in the league heading into 2023. One of the few teams to actually beat Tufts last spring, Middlebury couldn’t capitalize on the momentum of that victory. However, they do return a solid core led by All-American midfielder Jack Sheehan. Leading scorer Billy Curtis (Beverly Farms, Mass.) is also back for year two in Vermont, and fans will be eager to see if he can improve upon his 55-point rookie season.

People pay for this content? Usually don’t finish a NELJ Chasing the Goal episode by the time they get to the university of Nebraska high school commercial, but I finished the episode with Woods (impressive on the JM3 pod as well). Buying all the stock I can in the Jeffs now, not going to dollar cost average as they’ll trend upwards throughout the spring. Depending on the dividend date I’m using those or some capital gains to buy Conn and Hamilton (for the next half they can write Rainville is a really good attackman for the camels and Seamus Fagan is a really good goalie for the Conts. That’ll be $10/month, thank you.) Cautious to short Trinity like everyone else and get GameStop’d. Looks like Bates and Colby scrimmage preseason, would be interesting to see what Annino’s squad looks like between the first look against another jersey and late April, hoping he and the bobcats rise similar to Bowdoin or at least close the gap between those mid-tier teams.

[Laxdad457]

Colby loses to Bates 11-9 after beating them 22-8 to close out the season last year. Yes it was a scrimmage but it was played competitively. Tough look for a coaching staff that is already on the hot seat. I can’t see GVA being back next year if the struggles continue, frankly a change is long overdue. The theme of his tenure had been disfunction. Yes, he is a big name in the lacrosse community, but it seems as his best years are behind him as he has struggled to adapt to the complexities of the modern game. He is an old school coach who has reportedly rubbed many in Waterville the wrong way with his arrogance and stubbornness.

[JumboFan4]

Anyone attending the Tufts v. Wesleyan scrimmage today?

[lilax]

Colby loses to Bates 11-9 after beating them 22-8 to close out the season last year. Yes it was a scrimmage but it was played competitively. Tough look for a coaching staff that is already on the hot seat. I can’t see GVA being back next year if the struggles continue, frankly a change is long overdue. The theme of his tenure had been disfunction. Yes, he is a big name in the lacrosse community, but it seems as his best years are behind him as he has struggled to adapt to the complexities of the modern game. He is an old school coach who has reportedly rubbed many in Waterville the wrong way with his arrogance and stubbornness.

Had a friend there. Colby was up 8-4 and pulled their starters at the half. Colby was a better and could have been up by more. Bates kept their starters in for another 15 minutes. Annino has Bates moving in a good direction.

Seeing your previous post leads me to believe that your son was recently cut by the Colby staff.

[Laxdad457]

That is not true they were up by 2 at one point and also down by 5 before putting their starters back in. Your second claim is also inaccurate.

[NESCACtracker]

Wow, call me a low life but made the one hour trip from my VT ski house to try and catch the Middlebury inner squad scrimmage today. An absolute fiesta as the game seemed to be pushed from a 1pm start to a 3pm start to a 1:30 final start... barely caught it.

Though to tell talent when a team is playing themselves, but have to say that Sheehan (previously AA) looked to only improve his shot from last year. A new OC could do wonders for this team after a season last year that seemed to be packed with enough talent to beat tufts handily. Slept on are some of the defensive mid fielders like Stevens and Muldoon - excited to see this early season matchup vs Bowdoin. Bowdoin returns a majority of their lineup but misses players like Pyne and Fowler. Should be an electric early season match up in the NESCAC that should give us a good indication of how these teams will shake out throughout the season.

[georgeoar394]

AC looked decent..some good chemistry on the field, pretty solid all around it looked. Tanyr was out on the sidelines assuming injured. New first year Bob Gross was on with Brock and Jake and making some big moves, big body. Classic fake pass, switch directions and throw back to top left man up play still works lol

[Laxfan44]

Bowdoin hosted MIT in scrimmage today. Very close game MIT comes out on top 10 - 9

[nelaxman]

MIT 10 - Bowdoin -9 - Very Sloppy at times! MIT seemed to be more organized overall on the day. MIT was impressive and looked as or even more athletic than Bowdoin. Both teams played at slower controlled and slower pace. Bowdoin can move the ball pretty well but didn’t look as fluid as they were last year. Fitzpatrick should be back soon with the team so that will help the offense a little more.

Tufts 20 - Wesleyan 17 - Both teams can rack up points quickly. Very much a back and forth game for the first half. Wesleyan was up after first 20 minutes then Tufts went on four goal run and was able to hold 3 goal lead for the rest of the scrimmage.
It looked like Wesleyan had a lot of players out with injuries on sideline, and no Dixon playing because he is still playing hockey. This should be a great game when they play for in April.

[ah23]

MIT is very good, I’m surprised they’re flying under the radar again after the year they had in 2022. The NESCAC will get plenty of looks at them this season - they have games scheduled against Colby, Conn, Hamilton, Trinity, and Williams. Some interesting tests in there for both sides.

[Razor21]

Trinity @ Nassau Community College: https://nassaulions.com/sports/mens-lac ... ?path=mlax

Oh my... does that apparently a mess of a Trinity team know what they're walking in to down there? Not for the timid getting on the field with those guys...

That is ambitious under the best of circumstances, will certainly be a good test for them given all that has taken place this winter. Will be a chance for them to prove all the naysayers wrong. One thing is for sure, they will need to have their chinstraps buckled.

Trinity 9 - Nassau 8.

[pcowlax]

Wow. Surprised by that score with the reports of chaos coming out of Hartford (with all of the usual scrimmage caveats). Good for the Bantams still on the team.

[Unknown Participant]

MIT 10 - Bowdoin -9 - Very Sloppy at times! MIT seemed to be more organized overall on the day. MIT was impressive and looked as or even more athletic than Bowdoin. Both teams played at slower controlled and slower pace. Bowdoin can move the ball pretty well but didn’t look as fluid as they were last year. Fitzpatrick should be back soon with the team so that will help the offense a little more.

Tufts 20 - Wesleyan 17 - Both teams can rack up points quickly. Very much a back and forth game for the first half. Wesleyan was up after first 20 minutes then Tufts went on four goal run and was able to hold 3 goal lead for the rest of the scrimmage.
It looked like Wesleyan had a lot of players out with injuries on sideline, and no Dixon playing because he is still playing hockey. This should be a great game when they play for in April.

Fair update of the Tufts scrimmage. A couple more thoughts ... Tufts top 3 fogos were unavailable so Wes had the clear advantage at X. I thought Wes' starting gk was really good and that Tufts did not get great goalie play.

[JumboFan4]

Who are their top 3? Don’t they have like 7 FOGO’s this year?

[nelaxman]

I did hear about a couple Tufts Faceoff men being out. Tufts had almost 60 guys on the sideline. Has to be one of biggest rosters in all of D3. Not much more space for guys to stand at end of bench. I also heard Wesleyan was down their two two top SSDM’s and a starting defender. Not to mention DJ Dixon who is one of top midfielders in the NESCAC. This is going to be a great game in Middletown in late April.

[Laxdad457]

Where would everyone rank each faceoff unit in the nescac?

[JaxsonGrey68]

Trinity @ Nassau Community College: https://nassaulions.com/sports/mens-lac ... ?path=mlax

Oh my... does that apparently a mess of a Trinity team know what they're walking in to down there? Not for the timid getting on the field with those guys...

That is ambitious under the best of circumstances, will certainly be a good test for them given all that has taken place this winter. Will be a chance for them to prove all the naysayers wrong. One thing is for sure, they will need to have their chinstraps buckled.

Trinity 9 - Nassau 8.

Extremely sloppy game by both teams. As was stated. What Nassau lacks in skill they make up in physicality. Game was extremely chippy credit to the Bants for not backing down. D looked ok offense not so good. Lots of work to do if they want to stay away from the bottom of the league