Public schools in New Jersey are divided into four Groups by sport. For an easy example, assume there are 64 schools that have girls lacrosse teams. The largest 16 by enrollment are in Group 4, the second largest 16 are in Group 3, etc.
Then each Group is divided into North and South sections. They actually use the latitude of the high school (called “northing number”) to do this. So the eight northernmost high schools in each Group are in North. Evidently, there are more North Jersey Group 1 high schools that offer girls lacrosse than in South Jersey so the demarcation line is well north of what you would expect. Also, the demarcation line for each Group between North and South will be different simply due to the vagaries of school size and location.
Here is the full list of schools by Group and section:
https://www.njsiaa.org/sites/default/fi ... -%2723.pdf
2024 HS season
Re: 2024 HS season
Final HS rankings:
US Lacrosse Magazine:
1 St. Anthony's (N.Y.) 19-0
2 Good Counsel (Md.) 21-0
3 St. Paul's (Md.) 16-5
4 McDonogh (Md.) 17-2
5 New Canaan (Conn.) 21-1-1
6 St. Anne's-Belfield (Va.) 22-1
7 Darien (Conn.) 16-5-1
8 Episcopal (Pa.) 21-2
9 Stone Ridge (Md.) 16-4
10 Maryvale (Md.) 16-3
11 Noble & Greenough (Mass.) 18-1
12 Sayville (N.Y.) 21-0
13 Agnes Irwin (Pa.) 15-5
14 Archbishop Spalding (Md.) 12-5
15 American Heritage-Delray (Fla.) 22-1
16 Sacred Heart Greenwich (Conn.) 15-3
17 Wilton (Conn.) 16-4
18 Severna Park (Md.) 18-1
19 Hotchkiss School (Conn.) 14-1
20 Summit (N.J.) 18-4 20
21 Glenelg High (Md.) 18-1
22 Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) 17-4
23 Manchester Valley (Md.) 17-1
24 Victor (N.Y.) 19-3
25 Colorado Academy (Colo.) 19-0
https://www.usalacrosse.com/magazine/us ... 5-rankings
I got to see eight of these teams in person this year. I didn't do a deep dive as I used to do, but based on the teams' records and what I saw live, these rankings seem to be pretty decent. I'd put Episcopal Academy ahead of McDonogh since EA beat McD.
Lax Numbers top 25:
1 Good Counsel (MD) 21-0-0 99.99
2 McDonogh School (MD) 17-2-0 97.47
3 American Heritage Delray (FL) 22-1-0 97.28
4 Episcopal Academy (PA) 21-2-0 97.20
5 New Canaan (CT) 21-1-1 97.19
6 St Pauls SG (MD) 16-5-0 96.97
7 St Anthonys (NY) 19-0-0 96.50
8 Darien (CT) 16-5-1 96.33
9 Noble & Greenough (MA) 20-1-0 95.64
10 St Annes-Belfield (VA) 22-1-0 95.61
11 Stone Ridge School (MD) 16-4-0 95.61
12 Summit (NJ) 18-4-0 95.43
13 Colorado Academy (CO) 19-0-0 94.87
14 Sacred Heart Greenwich (CT) 15-3-0 94.86
15 Archbishop Spalding (MD) 12-5-0 94.83
16 Agnes Irwin (PA) 15-5-0 94.42
17 Maryvale Prep (MD) 16-3-0 94.27
18 Radnor (PA) 23-3-0 94.26
19 Morristown (NJ) 23-1-0 94.23
20 Bayport-Blue Point (NY) 16-3-0 94.18
21 Conestoga (PA) 21-4-0 93.98
22 Cardinal Gibbons (NC) 20-4-0 93.90
23 Bishop England (SC) 19-0-0 93.83
24 Archbishop Carroll (PA) 21-2-0 93.79
25 William Penn Charter (PA) 16-8-0 93.70
https://www.laxnumbers.com/ratings.php?y=2024&v=4000
I don't think the Lax Numbers rankings are as good as Lax Power's used to be. Though the LP rankings were supposed to be "neutral" and derived entirely by a computer program, in fact there was some human tweaking done each year which almost always improved the quality of the rankings.
I love Good Counsel, but St. Anthony's deserves to be no. 1 this year. SPSG has to be ranked ahead of McDonogh because they won the league title game which carries more weight than the regular season loss. Episcopal Academy has to be ranked ahead of McDonogh due to the head-to-head result. So where does Darien fit in? They beat SPSG but lost to McDonogh? I'd probably put them ahead of both teams as they had a better overall record than SPSG.
US Lacrosse Magazine:
1 St. Anthony's (N.Y.) 19-0
2 Good Counsel (Md.) 21-0
3 St. Paul's (Md.) 16-5
4 McDonogh (Md.) 17-2
5 New Canaan (Conn.) 21-1-1
6 St. Anne's-Belfield (Va.) 22-1
7 Darien (Conn.) 16-5-1
8 Episcopal (Pa.) 21-2
9 Stone Ridge (Md.) 16-4
10 Maryvale (Md.) 16-3
11 Noble & Greenough (Mass.) 18-1
12 Sayville (N.Y.) 21-0
13 Agnes Irwin (Pa.) 15-5
14 Archbishop Spalding (Md.) 12-5
15 American Heritage-Delray (Fla.) 22-1
16 Sacred Heart Greenwich (Conn.) 15-3
17 Wilton (Conn.) 16-4
18 Severna Park (Md.) 18-1
19 Hotchkiss School (Conn.) 14-1
20 Summit (N.J.) 18-4 20
21 Glenelg High (Md.) 18-1
22 Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) 17-4
23 Manchester Valley (Md.) 17-1
24 Victor (N.Y.) 19-3
25 Colorado Academy (Colo.) 19-0
https://www.usalacrosse.com/magazine/us ... 5-rankings
I got to see eight of these teams in person this year. I didn't do a deep dive as I used to do, but based on the teams' records and what I saw live, these rankings seem to be pretty decent. I'd put Episcopal Academy ahead of McDonogh since EA beat McD.
Lax Numbers top 25:
1 Good Counsel (MD) 21-0-0 99.99
2 McDonogh School (MD) 17-2-0 97.47
3 American Heritage Delray (FL) 22-1-0 97.28
4 Episcopal Academy (PA) 21-2-0 97.20
5 New Canaan (CT) 21-1-1 97.19
6 St Pauls SG (MD) 16-5-0 96.97
7 St Anthonys (NY) 19-0-0 96.50
8 Darien (CT) 16-5-1 96.33
9 Noble & Greenough (MA) 20-1-0 95.64
10 St Annes-Belfield (VA) 22-1-0 95.61
11 Stone Ridge School (MD) 16-4-0 95.61
12 Summit (NJ) 18-4-0 95.43
13 Colorado Academy (CO) 19-0-0 94.87
14 Sacred Heart Greenwich (CT) 15-3-0 94.86
15 Archbishop Spalding (MD) 12-5-0 94.83
16 Agnes Irwin (PA) 15-5-0 94.42
17 Maryvale Prep (MD) 16-3-0 94.27
18 Radnor (PA) 23-3-0 94.26
19 Morristown (NJ) 23-1-0 94.23
20 Bayport-Blue Point (NY) 16-3-0 94.18
21 Conestoga (PA) 21-4-0 93.98
22 Cardinal Gibbons (NC) 20-4-0 93.90
23 Bishop England (SC) 19-0-0 93.83
24 Archbishop Carroll (PA) 21-2-0 93.79
25 William Penn Charter (PA) 16-8-0 93.70
https://www.laxnumbers.com/ratings.php?y=2024&v=4000
I don't think the Lax Numbers rankings are as good as Lax Power's used to be. Though the LP rankings were supposed to be "neutral" and derived entirely by a computer program, in fact there was some human tweaking done each year which almost always improved the quality of the rankings.
I love Good Counsel, but St. Anthony's deserves to be no. 1 this year. SPSG has to be ranked ahead of McDonogh because they won the league title game which carries more weight than the regular season loss. Episcopal Academy has to be ranked ahead of McDonogh due to the head-to-head result. So where does Darien fit in? They beat SPSG but lost to McDonogh? I'd probably put them ahead of both teams as they had a better overall record than SPSG.