New England West 2025

[MA Lax Fan]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

[pcowlax]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Not sure if this is still the case but back in the day a few schools, including some NESCACs, used to have JV teams which would play each other, some community colleges and some of the WEST-1 teams. 10 PGs would be ludicrous (not sure that has ever actually happened) but even 5-6 is too much for me,3-4 should really be max for any one sport.

[3rdPersonPlural]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Not sure if this is still the case but back in the day a few schools, including some NESCACs, used to have JV teams which would play each other, some community colleges and some of the WEST-1 teams. 10 PGs would be ludicrous (not sure that has ever actually happened) but even 5-6 is too much for me,3-4 should really be max for any one sport.

When I was at Taft in the late '70's, we played Frosh squads from Yale, Wesleyan, and Trinity.

[Unknown Participant]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Not sure if this is still the case but back in the day a few schools, including some NESCACs, used to have JV teams which would play each other, some community colleges and some of the WEST-1 teams. 10 PGs would be ludicrous (not sure that has ever actually happened) but even 5-6 is too much for me,3-4 should really be max for any one sport.

When I was at Taft in the late '70's, we played Frosh squads from Yale, Wesleyan, and Trinity.

Were the games even more or less?

[3rdPersonPlural]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Not sure if this is still the case but back in the day a few schools, including some NESCACs, used to have JV teams which would play each other, some community colleges and some of the WEST-1 teams. 10 PGs would be ludicrous (not sure that has ever actually happened) but even 5-6 is too much for me,3-4 should really be max for any one sport.

When I was at Taft in the late '70's, we played Frosh squads from Yale, Wesleyan, and Trinity.

Were the games even more or less?

I don't remember getting wiped out or romping, but it was a long time ago.

[Run2theEL]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Strange to focus on this when one of the three MA teams in West 1 had 6 PGs just last year… teams ebb and flow. There’ve been West 1 teams with more than 6 PGs in the past, although I do agree the 4-5 seems to be the best number and the typical average. My guess is some of the PGs in west 1 will be younger than some seniors in the ISL…

[Laxxal22]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Strange to focus on this when one of the three MA teams in West 1 had 6 PGs just last year… teams ebb and flow. There’ve been West 1 teams with more than 6 PGs in the past, although I do agree the 4-5 seems to be the best number and the typical average. My guess is some of the PGs in west 1 will be younger than some seniors in the ISL…

I think he's just railing against the concept of mercenary all-star teams in general. Nobody disagrees that there are ISL reclasses the same age/older than West 1 PGs. The difference is West 1 has the reclasses and the PGs.

[3rdPersonPlural]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Strange to focus on this when one of the three MA teams in West 1 had 6 PGs just last year… teams ebb and flow. There’ve been West 1 teams with more than 6 PGs in the past, although I do agree the 4-5 seems to be the best number and the typical average. My guess is some of the PGs in west 1 will be younger than some seniors in the ISL…

I think he's just railing against the concept of mercenary all-star teams in general. Nobody disagrees that there are ISL reclasses the same age/older than West 1 PGs. The difference is West 1 has the reclasses and the PGs.

NEW1 lax is a different breed. Loomis is fielding a mercenary team next year. Deerfield does this now and then and 'wick is like an ISL team with an army of reclassed All Stars from a hotbed. 'bury always seems to get a complete squad (via reclass and PG mercenaries) that play hard and like they've been playing together since grammar school. Taft has been a masterclass in the use of social media to lure enough hotshot underclassmen and PG's to win a lot.

My concern, today. My beloved Rhinos (based on research posted on this thread) have only added a couple of goalies this offseason. Any more mercenaries or hotshot underclassmen for the Rhinos?

[MA Lax Fan]

I think it’s Tafts turn to fall back to the middle of the pack.

When that newer coach put the video out of kids mounting each other and crawling across the mud, all while screaming about how lax is war and things need to get real - I thought, this is not the win the coach thinks it is.

You need to be able to sell a school and culture and that video did the exact opposite.

I’ll try and find the clip and post it.

[3rdPersonPlural]

I posted that clip. It was while Nic Bell was still in charge, but I get your drift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qh2bS0bffo

[Unknown Participant]

I posted that clip. It was while Nic Bell was still in charge, but I get your drift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qh2bS0bffo

Did he quit or was he encouraged to move on?

As an aside, Tufts does "the Program" every year. The Program is run by a former Marine infantry officer who served in a Recon battalion (not Force Recon). I think it started under Daly. It seems to try and integrate some demanding or somewhat demanding phyisical tests with some of the mind heck / heck heck games that are played at Parris Island, Quantico, San Diego during OCS/boot camp. Per my son, it's solid physical training with some (to a civilian student athlete who will suffer no real consequences for f'ing up) MOTO silliness mixed in.

I've been through Quantico as an infantry officer followed by Ranger School and then Navy SERE School (a year after being in the Fleet and after returning from deployment, I volunteered, another bad decision). I think The Program and its progeny are all relatively harmless, and probably helpful to instill some camraderie, but probably not as helpful as a well run practice or two with some serious cardio sprinkled thoughout.

MTA: When my oldest son was in HS, the coach, Trent Carter, had a personal trainer come in for a day and just bury the kids with functional training, etc. They had a name for it that I forget, but it was an hour plus of push ups, leg lifts, burpies, jacks, ladder work, etc. That did a really good job of building "esprit de corps" I thought. It's all in the same vein, shared suffering.

[pcowlax]

I posted that clip. It was while Nic Bell was still in charge, but I get your drift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qh2bS0bffo

Did he quit or was he encouraged to move on?

As an aside, Tufts does "the Program" every year. The Program is run by a former Marine infantry officer who served in a Recon battalion (not Force Recon). I think it started under Daly. It seems to try and integrate some demanding or somewhat demanding phyisical tests with some of the mind heck / heck heck games that are played at Parris Island, Quantico, San Diego during OCS/boot camp. Per my son, it's solid physical training with some (to a civilian student athlete who will suffer no real consequences for f'ing up) MOTO silliness mixed in.

I've been through Quantico as an infantry officer followed by Ranger School and then Navy SERE School (a year after being in the Fleet and after returning from deployment, I volunteered, another bad decision). I think The Program and its progeny are all relatively harmless, and probably helpful to instill some camraderie, but probably not as helpful as a well run practice or two with some serious cardio sprinkled thoughout.

MTA: When my oldest son was in HS, the coach, Trent Carter, had a personal trainer come in for a day and just bury the kids with functional training, etc. They had a name for it that I forget, but it was an hour plus of push ups, leg lifts, burpies, jacks, ladder work, etc. That did a really good job of building "esprit de corps" I thought. It's all in the same vein, shared suffering.

3PP would remember best but almost sure Bell left voluntarily, moved for family reasons. He was extremely successful there and built the recent run they have had coming in after Casey. That video though. Yeah, I remember that too and it was definitely What the heck. Not projecting the vibe he probably thought it was.

[justanotherperson]

My bad. He will only have 50% of his starters be college freshmen (probably) not 60%.

At what point do teams like this start putting JUCO’s on the schedule?

Strange to focus on this when one of the three MA teams in West 1 had 6 PGs just last year… teams ebb and flow. There’ve been West 1 teams with more than 6 PGs in the past, although I do agree the 4-5 seems to be the best number and the typical average. My guess is some of the PGs in west 1 will be younger than some seniors in the ISL…

I think he's just railing against the concept of mercenary all-star teams in general. Nobody disagrees that there are ISL reclasses the same age/older than West 1 PGs. The difference is West 1 has the reclasses and the PGs.

NEW1 lax is a different breed. Loomis is fielding a mercenary team next year. Deerfield does this now and then and 'wick is like an ISL team with an army of reclassed All Stars from a hotbed. 'bury always seems to get a complete squad (via reclass and PG mercenaries) that play hard and like they've been playing together since grammar school. Taft has been a masterclass in the use of social media to lure enough hotshot underclassmen and PG's to win a lot.

My concern, today. My beloved Rhinos (based on research posted on this thread) have only added a couple of goalies this offseason. Any more mercenaries or hotshot underclassmen for the Rhinos?

I think this unfortunately is the new paradigm. I know there have always been PG's but it does seem to not only be increasing in numbers at each school, but also increasingly being utilized by schools. I cant go as far as to say they are choosing wins or development but yes, if I had an underclassman at a school they brought in PG's more and more, I would probably not love that decision

3PP - I have no doubt the Rhinos will reload and there is still lots of time for websites to be updated but you do have 2 non goalies
-Ziv Asher from Pingry as a PG going to Yale
-Aidan McElrone is either new to taft or was not rostered last year but it looks like hes from Winchendon. 2026 Attack

[justanotherperson]

"TRANSFER PORTAL" 2024 / 2025

The accuracy of this list is essentially crowdsourced information, so its intent is not to pass false information nor offend anyone. If anyone has any corrections or new additions, please feel free to send them in as PG's definitely should have, or will sign during the summer. Some of the new 2027's may have been at the school last year. Bold is the new additions

Anyone with updates, please send them in. Thanks to Run2tEl for the latest updates. I will do my best to see if I can get some updates.

AVON OLD FARMS:
-2026 -> 2027: Brody Root, Defense, Guilford (CT)

BERKSHIRE:
-2027 -> 2028: Walker Harvey, LSM, Cardigan Mountain School

CHOATE:
-PG: George Hawley, Defense, Fairfield Prep (Dartmouth) - I think its Choate as I saw it somewhere but I cant confirm this
-PG: Mitch Kavey, A/M, Tabor (MA) (Loyola)
-PG: Jacob Thibodeau, Attack, MIddlesex School (uncommitted)
-2027-->2028: Mac Privateer, Goalie, Frontier (NY)

DEERFIELD:
-PG: Liam Appleton, Midfield, Cohasset (MA) (uncommitted - football?)
-PG: Matt Johnson, Attack, Andover High School (MA) (Gtown)
-PG: Brayden Leahy, Attack, Trinity Pawling (NY) (Virginia)
-PG: Atticus Oliven, Defense, St Ignatius College Prep (CA) (Michigan)
-2025 -> 2026: Henry Oliver, Defense, Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MO) (BU)

HOTCHKISS:
-2026-->2027: Bryce Lopes, Midfield, LaSalle Academy

KENT:
-2027:Jonah Goidel, Attack, Kimball Union?

LOOMIS:
-PG: Hayden Cody, FO, Roxbury Latin (Bucknell)
-PG: Jack Connolly, Middie, Chaminade (NY) (uncommitted)
-PG: David Disque, Midfield, Syosset (Hopkins)
-PG: Cole Goodwillie, Middie, Latin School of Chicago (IL) (Harvard)
-PG: Rowyn Nurry, Attack, Salesianum (Cornell)
-PG: Gray Tamasco, D, New Canaan (CT) (Richmond)
-2025-->2026, Hunter Johnson, New IL profile - unclear if always was at Loomis
-2026 -> 2027: Owen Heske, Middie, St. Ignatius College Prep (CA)
-2026-->2027: Noah Rodgers, Midfield, Montclair Kimberly Academy (NJ)
-2027 -> 2028: OJ Ika, Attack, Corner Canyon HS (UT)
-2027 -> 2028: Jake Colclasure, Goalie, De La Salle HS (CA)

NORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMON:
-PG: Quaadir Durden, FOGO, Pennington School (NJ) (uncommitted)
-PG: Ryder Sunday, Defense, Massena High (NY) (uncommitted)
-PG: Will Swezey, D/LSM, Gonzaga (DC) (uncommitted)
-2026: Mason Bussman, Attack, East Lyme (CT)

SALISBURY:
-PG: Jack Curran, Defense, Needham, MA (Richmond)
-PG: Grant Ramsey, Defense, Deerfield Academy (Denver)
-2025-->2026: Jackson Allen, LSM, IMG (FL)

TAFT:
-PG: John Fisher, Goalie, Battlefield HS (VA) (Richmond)
-PG: Asher Ziv, Midfield, Pingry (Yale)
-2026: Aidan McElrone, Attack, Winchendon (MA)
-2027: Teddy Oh: Goalie, Sacred Heart Prep (CA)

[Laxxal22]

I saw that Choate PG Jacob Thibodeau (Attack, MIddlesex School) committed to Colby. From what I can tell Berhardt is putting together a good group in first recruiting class for the Mules, and while I don't know what they have on the roster I assume Thibodeau will get playing time immediately.

[3rdPersonPlural]

I posted that clip. It was while Nic Bell was still in charge, but I get your drift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qh2bS0bffo

Did he quit or was he encouraged to move on?

As an aside, Tufts does "the Program" every year. The Program is run by a former Marine infantry officer who served in a Recon battalion (not Force Recon). I think it started under Daly. It seems to try and integrate some demanding or somewhat demanding phyisical tests with some of the mind heck / heck heck games that are played at Parris Island, Quantico, San Diego during OCS/boot camp. Per my son, it's solid physical training with some (to a civilian student athlete who will suffer no real consequences for f'ing up) MOTO silliness mixed in.

I've been through Quantico as an infantry officer followed by Ranger School and then Navy SERE School (a year after being in the Fleet and after returning from deployment, I volunteered, another bad decision). I think The Program and its progeny are all relatively harmless, and probably helpful to instill some camraderie, but probably not as helpful as a well run practice or two with some serious cardio sprinkled thoughout.

MTA: When my oldest son was in HS, the coach, Trent Carter, had a personal trainer come in for a day and just bury the kids with functional training, etc. They had a name for it that I forget, but it was an hour plus of push ups, leg lifts, burpies, jacks, ladder work, etc. That did a really good job of building "esprit de corps" I thought. It's all in the same vein, shared suffering.

3PP would remember best but almost sure Bell left voluntarily, moved for family reasons. He was extremely successful there and built the recent run they have had coming in after Casey. That video though. Yeah, I remember that too and it was definitely What the heck. Not projecting the vibe he probably thought it was.

Apparently Nic Bell's wife is from Charlottesville area and wanted to go home. My recollection is a bit hazy as to if she also got a job at StAB, but I admire a coach of Nic's caliber and promise taking a step 'back' professionally to respect his wife's wishes.

[NEWestFan]

Anyone have any info on WICK's pipeline? Here is a list of those who have hit InsideLacrosse's radar. Some of the 2026's were very productive as sophomores in 2024. Any more known 2027/2028's?

Sean Ryan A 2026 PrimeTime 2025 87
Lucas Garcia A 2026 Primetime 2026 90
Jake Greene D 2026 2Way 2026 Black 87
Ryan Baxter LSM 2026 2Way 2026 Black 86
Charlie Hausmann M 2026 Eclipse 2026 Black 86
Rick Giordano M 2026 PrimeTime 2025 87
Matt Colella M 2026 Primetime 2026 89
Leif Anderson D 2027 2Way 2027 Black 87
Luke Perriello M 2027 -- 88
David Giuriceo M 2027 -- 88

[PhishFall97]

Friday blast from the past........

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... ings/29477

[pcowlax]

Friday blast from the past........

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... ings/29477

Very interesting. Interesting to see that, while there are some solid players on there, not many really turned into out and out stars (Guterding and Cloutier huge exceptions).

[Laxxal22]

Friday blast from the past........

https://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/ ... ings/29477

Very interesting. Interesting to see that, while there are some solid players on there, not many really turned into out and out stars (Guterding and Cloutier huge exceptions).

Indeed. Probably par for the course though, right? For every Peter Buonanno in a PG class there are going to be 4-5 JAGs at the next level.

That picture also reminds me of the dark times from about 2008-2014 when the bagginess of lacrosse uniforms was just absolutely terrible. Everyone looked like they were wearing their older brother's jersey and shorts.