ISL

[Bigdawg69]

Anyone know where to find the stream for the nobles Belmont game this Wednesday? Looking forward to the huge game

A Christmas Miracle in May: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LEQOTeslgM

Let’s gooooo that’s huge. Gonna be a good one!

[Can Opener]

Gameday 10 out of 11 - we’re really getting down to it. I believe if Middlesex, Milton, Govs, RL, and Thayer all win then the playoff field (not seedings) will be decided by the end of the day. A few of those games could be tight, but those teams are favored in all of them. Apologies if I got the locations of any of the games incorrect. The ISL website doesn’t always match up with what the schools have listed for home/away.

Belmont Hill (11-0, 9-0) at Nobles (11-3, 9-0) 4:30: Really wish this one was going to be streamed. The top offense (Nobles has scored 10 or more in every game since 4/1) vs the top defense (Belmont Hill has only allowed double digits once - in garbage time in a game where they lead by 13 goals at one point). Probably the two goalies and two faceoff specialists having the best seasons in the ISL. BH secures top seed with a win. Nobles gets it with a win and win against Seb’s on Saturday. It’ll come down to coin flips if Nobles wins and then loses to Seb’s. The Vegas line would probably be Bel Hill by 2. This game will be a battle of a math teacher's controlled and exacting game plan vs. the looser style of a dude with a scraggly beard who lets his guys talk trash and go off script. Tully keeps Nobles in any game he plays and will make 2+ saves today that most HS goalies rarely make. FOs should be an epic battle, but again, I would give the edge to Nobles because their FO unit is allowed to freelance after a win and go to the cage. Nobles will need these unsettled goals because even McClements isn't going to do his usual thing against the BH poles.

St. George’s (0-11, 0-9) at St. Seb’s (9-3, 8-1) 4:00: Seb’s should be able to get the regulars a good run while playing depth from the start.

Middlesex (7-4, 6-3) at Rivers (4-8, 3-6) 4:30: A pride game for Rivers and a momentum building opportunity for Middlesex. Faceoffs and depth have been issues for the Red Wings all year, and those are two strengths for the Zebras. Rivers has two excellent offensive threats. If they can get possessions, they will score some goals.

BB&N (4-9, 3-6) at Milton Academy (7-4, 6-3) 3:30: It’s “win and you’re in” for the Mustangs as even a loss to Thayer on Friday would end the regular season at 7-4. They should expect a battle from the Knights who’ve shown fight despite being in 13th place .

Govs (6-6, 6-3) at Tabor (6-7, 4-5) 4:00: Do or die for Tabor and a chance for Govs to experience the intensity of playing an opponent facing elimination. Two factors that could favor the Seawolves are the uncertain status of Umansky and Byfield to Marion being one of the longest road trips in the ISL. If Tabor wins out then their wins over Groton and Milton as well as a loss to Thayer may factor in making the postseason or not. I feel as if O'Neil doesn't get as much attention as some of the other top flight offensive players in the ISL. He is elite. Remarkable field vision and feeder in addition to being a very crafty dodger. If Govs isn't able to bring their A game to the FO dot, O'Neil could lead the upset.

Lawrence Academy (4-6, 3-6) at Roxbury Latin (7-6, 5-4) 3:30: The Foxes should handle business here and control their own destiny with just Middlesex left to go. They did lose to Groton though so if they end up with five losses they’ll be hoping the Zebras drop one of the next two games. I agree that RL will be favored, but LA has some talent on its roster. RL's D will have to work hard for this win, even though possessions should heavily favor RL.

Groton (5-5, 4-5) at Thayer (6-5, 5-4) 4:00: Thayer essentially punches a ticket to the playoffs with a win here as though even a loss to Milton on Friday would put the Tigers at 6-5 they’d hold head-to-head wins against RL and Tabor. Groton has to win out and hope things break right. That early April win over Roxbury Latin could prove crucial. When Groton is healthy, they are a strong team and could catch Thayer looking past this one to the Milton game which will have big playoff seeding implications. No one wants to face BH or Nobles in the first round.

St. Mark’s (1-10, 1-8) at Brooks (0-11, 0-9) 4:00: A good measuring stick for each program against a similarly talented opponent. I suppose I am rooting for Brooks here, because no one wants to see a team go winless.

Thanks, Laxxal. A couple of thoughts added above.

[McMonkey]

I watched the NG v BH game today.

Would love to see a rematch.

[Laxxal22]

I watched the NG v BH game today.

Would love to see a rematch.

I agree. Some thoughts on very basic thoughts on that game and how things stand going into the final game.

It was a very high-level game. I thought Nobles showed the patience and skill to create better chances against the BH defense than I’ve seen thus far in the 9-6 BH victory. The Sextants were more physical (the poles plus the shortstick defenders O’Donnell, Peterson, and Verville are beasts) which the Dawgs struggled with and showed some frustrations.

Before that game began I caught a good portion of the first half of Seb’s-St. G’s. It was Senior Day and the Arrows didn’t necessarily seem locked in but pulled away regardless 19-7. How much will Seb’s and Nobles throw at each other on Saturday? There’s a high likelihood they play again next Saturday, they won’t know the 6th/7th seeds yet and what result will yield the preferred opponent, and the campuses are five minutes from each other so “travel” for the away team in the semis would be negligible. I could see both squads keeping it pretty vanilla.

Tabor kept their chances alive with the 9-7 win over Govs. They’re the only 5-loss team at the moment and I believe they’ll have to beat Brooks (lost 11-5 to St. Mark’s) and need Middlesex (16-11 winners over Rivers) to take down Roxbury Latin (14-5 winners over Lawrence). That would then go to a coin flip for the 8th seed between Tabor and RL.

Middlesex is incentivized to win as an 8-3 finish would secure a first round home game. If they fall to four losses it could be chaos (see below).

Govs should finish at 7-4 as they play St. G’s on Saturday. Thayer (7-5 winners over Groton) and Milton (15-7 over BB&N) play Friday afternoon. If Thayer wins we could end up with five 4-loss teams (Govs, Middlesex, Milton, RL, Thayer) and infinite coin flips to decide playoff seedings.

[Can Opener]

When Nobles couldn't get inside looks -- even for McClements -- and the BH goalie saved 71% of shots on goal, there is no way to get past the Sextants. That modified zone is really impressive. It wouldn't seem like an obvious choice given the quality of the BH poles, but it's working. The highlight play of the game was a coast-to-coast goalie goal by Tully from Nobles. He may have a chance to start at Cornell next year with the graduation of Chayse Ierlan, but yesterday the glory belonged to Torrey. Realistically, to beat Bel Hill in the playoffs, an opponent probably needs them to make some uncharacteristic mistakes and commit fouls.

Highlights below:

[Laxxal22]

Realistically, to beat Bel Hill in the playoffs, an opponent probably needs them to make some uncharacteristic mistakes and commit fouls.

I mean, BH is definitely the favorite but it's not like they've killed everybody and teams may feel more comfortable* the second time seeing that defense. If the playoff seedings end up having them face Thayer, Govs, Nobles I could see one of them pulling the upset - nothing would surprise me after seeing what the Bruins did this postseason.

*The flip side of that coin is the BH defense being even more dominant in a second outing.

[Can Opener]

Realistically, to beat Bel Hill in the playoffs, an opponent probably needs them to make some uncharacteristic mistakes and commit fouls.

I mean, BH is definitely the favorite but it's not like they've killed everybody and teams may feel more comfortable* the second time seeing that defense. If the playoff seedings end up having them face Thayer, Govs, Nobles I could see one of them pulling the upset - nothing would surprise me after seeing what the Bruins did this postseason.

*The flip side of that coin is the BH defense being even more dominant in a second outing.

Ouch. You had to go there.

[Laxlife100]

Bostonlax has been releasing its top 100 players in Massachusetts over the past few weeks. I've been compiling and as they released #2 this morning I feel confident guessing who is #1. Anyway, it's interesting because it's pretty clearly based off of preseason thoughts. Now that almost the full season has been played there are some players that are too high, some too low and some pretty glaring omissions. If you feel like going back and reading the articles, players 100-50 were all lumped together and not individually ranked, players 49-11 got brief write ups, and the top 10 players all got write ups plus interviews. Overall the ISL had 46 of the top 100.


Belmont Hill
Preston Evans ( Att ’25)
#38 Ben Wood (Def ’23, Georgetown as a 2024)
#22 Matt Torrey (Goal ’23, Air Force)
#16 Finn Fox (Def ’24, Princeton)
#14 Charlie Hazard (Lsm ‘23, Hopkins)
#12 Eli Goldstein (Mid ‘23, Dartmouth)

Govs
#7 Pearse MacDonald (Mid ‘23, Penn as a 2024)
#2 Owen Umansky (Faceoff ‘23, Harvard)

Groton
#50 Hugh Carlin (FO ‘23, Colgate)
#41 Jack Travis (Mid ’23)

Middlesex
Nick Moore (Mid ’24, Colgate)
Owen Crann (Att/Mid ’25)

Milton Academy
Mike Hanlon ( Mid ’23, Amherst)
#25 Murphy McLaughlin (Lsm/Def ’23, Boston University)

Nobles
Bruno Batty (Def ’23, Babson)
Thatcher Bernstein (Att/Mid ’25)
CT Grosso (Faceoff ’24, Virginia)
Colin Kenney (Att/Mid ’25)
#43 Tommy Schwartz (Def ’23)
#10 Brody Upton (Mid ‘23, Princeton)
#8 Grayson McClements (Att ‘23, Penn)
#1 Matthew Tully (Goal ‘23, Cornell)

Rivers
Anthony Stillwell (Att/Mid ’23, Hobart)
#27 Brendam Poirier (Mid ‘23, Lafayette)

Roxbury Latin
David Sullivan (Def ’23, Dartmouth)
Hayden Cody (Faceoff ’24)
Johnny Price (Midfield ′25)
#46 Riley Stanton (Goal ’23, Holy Cross)

St. George’s
Austin Boardo (Goal ’23, Quinnipiac)

St. Sebs
Brendan Fulham (Def ‘24)
James Joyce (Mid ‘24, Michigan)
Michael Quinn (Att/Mid ’24, Michigan)
#44 Charlie Hoffman (Att/Mid ’23, Georgetown)
#31 Matt Swirbalus (Mid ’23, Villanova)
#26 Chris Merageas (Att ’24, Denver)
#24 Ryan Williamson (Goal ’23, Dartmouth)

Tabor
Jack Cappadonna (Def ’25)
#33 ​​Logan Styles (Lsm/Def ’23, Boston University)
#18 Evan O’Neil (Att ’24, Richmond)

Thayer
Chris Cabral (Def ’24, Rutgers)
Nate Austin-Johnstone (Att/Mid ’24, Rutgers)
Teddy Lally (Att 25′)
#45 Beau Chouinard (Att ’23, Holy Cross)
#35 Jackson Henehan (Faceoff ’24, Boston University)
#32 Tucker Chanenchuk (Lsm ’23, Stony Brook)
#3 Connor Foley (Goal ‘23, Brown)

A little late to this but thank you for your thoughtful comments here. I thought they were about 65% right give it take 10%. They really need to do their homework next year as you can’t be listing a ‘25 when there are ‘23 & ‘24 D1 commits to top 10 Ranked programs who are leading their team in scoring and not even get ranked. No insinuations here but it’s begs the question……

[Laxxal22]

They really need to do their homework next year as you can’t be listing a ‘25 when there are ‘23 & ‘24 D1 commits to top 10 Ranked programs who are leading their team in scoring and not even get ranked. No insinuations here but it’s begs the question……

I'm not sure of the selection criteria (other than an informal polling of coaches) and I can't fully speak to the MIAA or other MA leagues, but from an ISL perspective I don't think they missed many 2023s/24s. Sheffield is a Tabor 2024 committed to Penn, but he transferred in this year from upstate New York and I don't think people really knew about him. I'm good with the 2025s they chose. They are all excellent players for very strong teams, and none of them are in the top 50. Of the seven listed I think six will be D1-committed by Christmas and the other is hanging up his stick to go play junior hockey. Overall the 2025 class looks quite strong for the ISL.

[Laxxal22]

Thayer beat Milton 13-6 last night. Leaving them both at 7-4 for the finish. Here's a quick guess at how playoff seedings will shake out.

1. Belmont Hill
2. Nobles/Seb's (depending on today's outcome)
3. Nobles/Seb's (depending on today's outcome)
4. MIddlesex (assuming they handle RL today)
5. Govs
6. Thayer
7. Milton (If RL loses to MX today)
8. RL/Tabor (Coin flip if RL loses to MX)

This makes Seb's/Nobles very interesting. I thought the other day that the coaches might almost play it like a late-season scrimmage as a rematch is quite likely in a week, but avoiding Thayer in round 1 is probably enough motivation to go for the win.

I have no idea what the seedings will look like outside of the top 3 if RL beats Middlesex. That would leave us with five 4-loss teams with a circular firing squad of wins in head-to-head match ups.

[Bartfromboston]

They really need to do their homework next year as you can’t be listing a ‘25 when there are ‘23 & ‘24 D1 commits to top 10 Ranked programs who are leading their team in scoring and not even get ranked. No insinuations here but it’s begs the question……

I'm not sure of the selection criteria (other than an informal polling of coaches) and I can't fully speak to the MIAA or other MA leagues, but from an ISL perspective I don't think they missed many 2023s/24s. Sheffield is a Tabor 2024 committed to Penn, but he transferred in this year from upstate New York and I don't think people really knew about him. I'm good with the 2025s they chose. They are all excellent players for very strong teams, and none of them are in the top 50. Of the seven listed I think six will be D1-committed by Christmas and the other is hanging up his stick to go play junior hockey. Overall the 2025 class looks quite strong for the ISL.

Bostonlax didnt get it completely wrong but they always skew toward laxachusetts players which reduces the credibility of the assessment. They also get caught up in the hype of player names and where they are going to school (which isn’t always a reflection of their talent - sometimes a reflection of legacy status, financial status, or grades). A prime example if Evan O’neill being ranked so far above Anthony Stillwell (both lefty attack). Anyone who has watched both teams play, would question Stilwell not being in the top 20 kids. But one plays for Laxachusetts and one doesnt. Same thing with some of the younger face off kids not getting respect compared to the “big name” laxachusetts kids.

[Farfromgeneva]

They really need to do their homework next year as you can’t be listing a ‘25 when there are ‘23 & ‘24 D1 commits to top 10 Ranked programs who are leading their team in scoring and not even get ranked. No insinuations here but it’s begs the question……

I'm not sure of the selection criteria (other than an informal polling of coaches) and I can't fully speak to the MIAA or other MA leagues, but from an ISL perspective I don't think they missed many 2023s/24s. Sheffield is a Tabor 2024 committed to Penn, but he transferred in this year from upstate New York and I don't think people really knew about him. I'm good with the 2025s they chose. They are all excellent players for very strong teams, and none of them are in the top 50. Of the seven listed I think six will be D1-committed by Christmas and the other is hanging up his stick to go play junior hockey. Overall the 2025 class looks quite strong for the ISL.

Bostonlax didnt get it completely wrong but they always skew toward laxachusetts players which reduces the credibility of the assessment. They also get caught up in the hype of player names and where they are going to school (which isn’t always a reflection of their talent - sometimes a reflection of legacy status, financial status, or grades). A prime example if Evan O’neill being ranked so far above Anthony Stillwell (both lefty attack). Anyone who has watched both teams play, would question Stilwell not being in the top 20 kids. But one plays for Laxachusetts and one doesnt. Same thing with some of the younger face off kids not getting respect compared to the “big name” laxachusetts kids.

Great to hear Stilwell is doing well, seemed like his numbers were down from Jr year earlier in the season. In fairness O’Neill also has four stars from IL and Stilwell has none. We also know he was one of Hobarts earliest commits (before recent recommit Liam Matthew’s who’s going to PSU now) and his short list of interested teams included some solid programs like Nova and Bucknell. Oneills brother starting as a FR at Rich probably helps as well. (Notwithstanding Bucknell being down this year they get talent)

[Laxxal22]

Great to hear Stilwell is doing well, seemed like his numbers were down form Jr year earlier in the season. In fairness O’Neill also has four stars from IL and Stilwell has none.

O'Neil was also first team All-ISL with over 80 points last season. Stillwell was honorable mention and had 40 points (though the final few games of Rivers' season were canceled). I think Stillwell is great and can make as many "wow" plays as anybody in the league, but there are reasons beyond "he plays for Laxachusetts" for people to rank O'Neil higher. Also, love em or hate em, Laxachusetts is the top club in the state so they're going to be well represented on a list like this one.

Now, onto the playoffs. The first round match ups are...

(1) Belmont Hill v. (8) Tabor
(2) Nobles v. (7) Milton Academy
(3) St. Seb's v. (6) Thayer
(4) Middlesex v. (5) Govs

For a second straight year it looks like Nobles has a horseshoe up their ass with how the bracket breaks for them. Milton has had a nice season but are the weakest team in the playoffs imo. Biggest "upset" potential is Seb's-Thayer. I said in my preseason preview Connor Foley would be unconscious in net and steal a game somewhere this season. This could be it. I was at Seb's-Nobles yesterday and while Seb's talent is undeniable (side note: Tedy Frisoli's ceiling is absurdly high) but they're reckless. BH-Nobles looks inevitable but we'll see.

[Farfromgeneva]

Great to hear Stilwell is doing well, seemed like his numbers were down form Jr year earlier in the season. In fairness O’Neill also has four stars from IL and Stilwell has none.

O'Neil was also first team All-ISL with over 80 points last season. Stillwell was honorable mention and had 40 points (though the final few games of Rivers' season were canceled). I think Stillwell is great and can make as many "wow" plays as anybody in the league, but there are reasons beyond "he plays for Laxachusetts" for people to rank O'Neil higher. Also, love em or hate em, Laxachusetts is the top club in the state so they're going to be well represented on a list like this one.

Now, onto the playoffs. The first round match ups are...

(1) Belmont Hill v. (8) Tabor
(2) Nobles v. (7) Milton Academy
(3) St. Seb's v. (6) Thayer
(4) Middlesex v. (5) Govs

For a second straight year it looks like Nobles has a horseshoe up their ass with how the bracket breaks for them. Milton has had a nice season but are the weakest team in the playoffs imo. Biggest "upset" potential is Seb's-Thayer. I said in my preseason preview Connor Foley would be unconscious in net and steal a game somewhere this season. This could be it. I was at Seb's-Nobles yesterday and while Seb's talent is undeniable (side note: Tedy Frisoli's ceiling is absurdly high) but they're reckless. BH-Nobles looks inevitable but we'll see.

I’m curious to see how Stilwell does compared with Tim Evnin over time. Different games but think both will play eventually. Both excelled at lesser historically successful ISL programs.

Will probably track Stilwell Vs Poirier at Laf as well over time.

[Laxxal22]

I think he'll be a good college player. He's got nice speed and the smoothness of his stick/shot looks like a D1 player, whereas some kids who excel in the ISL are just bigger, stronger, faster than the competition they're facing - an advantage that goes away once they step foot on a college campus.

[Farfromgeneva]

I think he'll be a good college player. He's got nice speed and the smoothness of his stick/shot looks like a D1 player, whereas some kids who excel in the ISL are just bigger, stronger, faster than the competition they're facing - an advantage that goes away once they step foot on a college campus.

My only concern is I read once he doesn’t get after rides and backups super aggressively (IL analysis from a event) but he seems skilled. We really need an X attack which is more Evnin than stilwell who will be behind a Sr names Anthony Dattellas for that right side attack spot next year.

Funny you mention the size/strength matter as I’ve been coaching 8/9 then 4th/5th grade rec and while we’ve struggled to have success though we did beat the two seed in playoffs after w winless season and honestly may have had the best kid in the league but he runs into double and triple teams and try to split them and doesn't have his head up always. The going to goal mentality is needed at that age but he helps the team the most not when he scores 2 or 3 of our 4-5 goals but when he passes off and makes his teammates better which I try to impress but he’s a very emotional mommas boy as well and takes things a little to personally. He’d get frustrated with teammates and I have a couple of kids who are possibly autistic or at least on some spectrum it seems. That ability to elevate others and make the team better is so critical at each higher level and I am trying to help this kid understand that, I can’t help him much improve specific skills even at this stage other than making him sometimes use only left hand in practice. Like other sports it goes from “do your job or task” to “do your job/task AND make a play on the ball” as the level goes up which we all know. I can’t wait for some of my tougher but smaller/younger kids to play these exurban cheating older kids in 5yrs. I know my kids will be better off.

(League is really 25mi out of town areas and we’re inside the perimeter of Atlanta-massive differences, deep suburbs where they all are in the same subdivision and go to same school, go 17-20 deep where we have 15 total never more than 11-13 for games, not a ton of athletes, the exurb/suburb teams definitely cheat and claim they need to pull kids down to have numbers, more respect for Covid then their exurban counterparts so took a full two years off, etc)

[Laxlife100]

They really need to do their homework next year as you can’t be listing a ‘25 when there are ‘23 & ‘24 D1 commits to top 10 Ranked programs who are leading their team in scoring and not even get ranked. No insinuations here but it’s begs the question……

I'm not sure of the selection criteria (other than an informal polling of coaches) and I can't fully speak to the MIAA or other MA leagues, but from an ISL perspective I don't think they missed many 2023s/24s. Sheffield is a Tabor 2024 committed to Penn, but he transferred in this year from upstate New York and I don't think people really knew about him. I'm good with the 2025s they chose. They are all excellent players for very strong teams, and none of them are in the top 50. Of the seven listed I think six will be D1-committed by Christmas and the other is hanging up his stick to go play junior hockey. Overall the 2025 class looks quite strong for the ISL.

If we’re talking ISL, then we def have some 24s who are committed to D1 top 10 programs who didn’t even make the list. If you look at scoring some of them are top 10 ISL and play for the top 3 schools so now I’m really confused as to how they are doing this. Anyway, I’m sure they did their best it’s never perfect but like you wrote, there may be some implicit bias here. Excited to see some great great this week.

[Laxxal22]

If we’re talking ISL, then we def have some 24s who are committed to D1 top 10 programs who didn’t even make the list.

Who?

[Bartfromboston]

Great to hear Stilwell is doing well, seemed like his numbers were down form Jr year earlier in the season. In fairness O’Neill also has four stars from IL and Stilwell has none.

O'Neil was also first team All-ISL with over 80 points last season. Stillwell was honorable mention and had 40 points (though the final few games of Rivers' season were canceled). I think Stillwell is great and can make as many "wow" plays as anybody in the league, but there are reasons beyond "he plays for Laxachusetts" for people to rank O'Neil higher. Also, love em or hate em, Laxachusetts is the top club in the state so they're going to be well represented on a list like this one.

Now, onto the playoffs. The first round match ups are...

(1) Belmont Hill v. (8) Tabor
(2) Nobles v. (7) Milton Academy
(3) St. Seb's v. (6) Thayer
(4) Middlesex v. (5) Govs

For a second straight year it looks like Nobles has a horseshoe up their ass with how the bracket breaks for them. Milton has had a nice season but are the weakest team in the playoffs imo. Biggest "upset" potential is Seb's-Thayer. I said in my preseason preview Connor Foley would be unconscious in net and steal a game somewhere this season. This could be it. I was at Seb's-Nobles yesterday and while Seb's talent is undeniable (side note: Tedy Frisoli's ceiling is absurdly high) but they're reckless. BH-Nobles looks inevitable but we'll see.

Just a few observations, Personally I think 3D is a much better top team than Laxachusetts these days - I think its a fair point to say of course Laxachusetts will be well represented but Bostonlax is RUN by laxachusetts so they dont do a great job of being objective. As for inside lacrosse rankings, they rank based on the inside lacrosse events so kids that dont go to those events typically dont get ranked because they are never seen. I saw a kid from the Atlanta team that was ridiculous going to Harvard and didnt get a star because he never played in front of inside lacrosse scouts at an event. if you are curious about their lack of objectivity, look at the top 10-20 scorers in the ISL and see if the non-laxachusetts kids made the top 50 - hardly any. Stillwell and Charlie Hoffman (Georgetown) are by far the best lefty attackman in the ISL. Stillwell was in 50-100 and Hoffman was like 45. O’Neil was like 15 largely because of his brother and laxachusetts. O’Neill is a solid player but the club program shouldn’t help boost your rankings. Hoffman is 3D and Stillwell is Clams. My point is just that they should do better to be objective.

[Laxxal22]

I 100% do not have a dog in this fight, but...

Clams and 3D have definitely played in Inside Lacrosse sponsored tournaments the past two summers - I don't think LXC has. While 3DNE 2024 is loaded with talent, the "#1 ranking" was largely based on performance at those tournaments against good but not great competition. At tourneys that had the best teams in the country 3D showed well but certainly didn't win them (They also lost to LXC the last time they played). Were they top team in the country? No, but they were the top team at IL events, hence the ranking. There are politics all over the sport - it's not just LXC/NLF.

There are a few lefty attackmen that are playing at the same level or higher than O'Neil (Hoffman, Stillwell, Evans, Stewart to name a few). I'd love if they did the Top 100 again in July based on 2023 performance, but this list was put together based on what players did prior to this season. I'll say it again, O'Neil had 80 points last season and made All ISL last year. He was the highest returning scorer after McClements. You can say it's based on his club or brother, but up until March of this year he'd shown more as a player in the ISL than those other guys.

The criteria for the list was "With input from high school and college coaches...". Hopefully next year they just list the coaches they asked. The transparency would either validate your concerns of cronyism or just leave you disagreeing with the results.

I probably agree that 3D will overtake LXC - national companies typically prevail over regional ones. But it won't be until at least after the 2025 and 2026 classes graduate.