Recruiting

[Laximus]

Coaching..people underrate how excellent coaching and development can make up for a talent gap. JMU is a perfect example. They don't land the best talent, but boy do they get every ounce out of their players. They have an identity, and a way they play, and they stick to it. Stonybrook is another similar school. Programs like that have a structure you think about when they come up.

Penn State?? there is none. They're kind of just all over the place. Talent without structure results in bad teams. Little talent without structure results in bad teams. You must have structure. Until that happens nothing will change for Penn State. See Stanford and Duke and Florida prior to last year

Totally agree! I think that has been a common sentiment when PSU coaching comes up.

That’s why she loses so many assistants. Not because that’s the norm in college sports which to some degree it is. From what I’ve been told, they leave Doherty so fast because she refuses to take any advice and refuses to implement any change in philosophy. Hope she goes soon. And once she does, if they get the right coach, Penn State will climb back up the rankings

Didn't PSU finish at or near top 25 and make tournament last 2 years. Sounds pretty good to me considering they play a good schedule every year and have to play NU, Maryland, Hopkins & Michigan. I'd have to think that meets or exceeds expectations.

[forthelaxofit]

Maybe not related to this year recruiting, but NFHS (National Federation of HS) has published their annual Athlete Participation numbers for the recent 23/24 school year. Not great data supporting the fastest growing sport theory.

There were 101,204 HS female lacrosse players, up only marginally compared to 5 years ago 18/19 total of 99,750. Five States had a growth in the 1,000 player range – Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania. If you remove these 5 growth states, the TOTAL number of HS girls playing in other states decreased from 2018/2019 by 5.5%

Disappointing numbers in traditional core or discussed growth states of MD, NJ, NY, MA, CT, FL & GA – where each state showed a decrease in the number of girls despite an increase in the number of schools offering the sport. These states show over a 9% reduction in girls playing HS lacrosse from 2018/2019.

There will always be the elite top 4 and 5 star players, but hard to grow a sport at a high level when interest at the grass roots is stagnant.

[wgdsr]

Maybe not related to this year recruiting, but NFHS (National Federation of HS) has published their annual Athlete Participation numbers for the recent 23/24 school year. Not great data supporting the fastest growing sport theory.

There were 101,204 HS female lacrosse players, up only marginally compared to 5 years ago 18/19 total of 99,750. Five States had a growth in the 1,000 player range – Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania. If you remove these 5 growth states, the TOTAL number of HS girls playing in other states decreased from 2018/2019 by 5.5%

Disappointing numbers in traditional core or discussed growth states of MD, NJ, NY, MA, CT, FL & GA – where each state showed a decrease in the number of girls despite an increase in the number of schools offering the sport. These states show over a 9% reduction in girls playing HS lacrosse from 2018/2019.

There will always be the elite top 4 and 5 star players, but hard to grow a sport at a high level when interest at the grass roots is stagnant.

it's worse on the boys' side and i believe has been going on a year or 2 longer. if correlation isn't always causation, it sure seems like it with the proliferation of club (which i'm quite sure is up) and my view for over a decade was it was always going to happen.

[spidey44]

Maybe not related to this year recruiting, but NFHS (National Federation of HS) has published their annual Athlete Participation numbers for the recent 23/24 school year. Not great data supporting the fastest growing sport theory.

There were 101,204 HS female lacrosse players, up only marginally compared to 5 years ago 18/19 total of 99,750. Five States had a growth in the 1,000 player range – Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania. If you remove these 5 growth states, the TOTAL number of HS girls playing in other states decreased from 2018/2019 by 5.5%

Disappointing numbers in traditional core or discussed growth states of MD, NJ, NY, MA, CT, FL & GA – where each state showed a decrease in the number of girls despite an increase in the number of schools offering the sport. These states show over a 9% reduction in girls playing HS lacrosse from 2018/2019.

There will always be the elite top 4 and 5 star players, but hard to grow a sport at a high level when interest at the grass roots is stagnant.

I really think you have to take Covid into consideration. The new girls that decided to play lax at my daughters HS in 2020, didn't come back in 2021. I'm sure if you look at many/most sports, you'll see the same attrition.

[WLAXFAN778899]

I also worry about the growth of flag football on the girls side which is a spring sport, at least in PA. The NFL is pouring money into it and it will also be debuting in the LA28 Olympics. I could see more colleges putting money into FF in the years to come if the NFL continues to throw weight behind it and that could have a direct impact on the future growth of lacrosse.

[Relax77]

Maybe not related to this year recruiting, but NFHS (National Federation of HS) has published their annual Athlete Participation numbers for the recent 23/24 school year. Not great data supporting the fastest growing sport theory.

There were 101,204 HS female lacrosse players, up only marginally compared to 5 years ago 18/19 total of 99,750. Five States had a growth in the 1,000 player range – Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania. If you remove these 5 growth states, the TOTAL number of HS girls playing in other states decreased from 2018/2019 by 5.5%

Disappointing numbers in traditional core or discussed growth states of MD, NJ, NY, MA, CT, FL & GA – where each state showed a decrease in the number of girls despite an increase in the number of schools offering the sport. These states show over a 9% reduction in girls playing HS lacrosse from 2018/2019.

There will always be the elite top 4 and 5 star players, but hard to grow a sport at a high level when interest at the grass roots is stagnant.

That is interesting.

[ultravisitor]

Along with Jaylen Rosga, Niki Miles, and Jordan Miles, NU also got Riley Campbell and Grace Fujinaga. Interesting.

[spidey44]

I also worry about the growth of flag football on the girls side which is a spring sport, at least in PA. The NFL is pouring money into it and it will also be debuting in the LA28 Olympics. I could see more colleges putting money into FF in the years to come if the NFL continues to throw weight behind it and that could have a direct impact on the future growth of lacrosse.

It's a fall sport in Maryland.

[LaxUpstate]

I also worry about the growth of flag football on the girls side which is a spring sport, at least in PA. The NFL is pouring money into it and it will also be debuting in the LA28 Olympics. I could see more colleges putting money into FF in the years to come if the NFL continues to throw weight behind it and that could have a direct impact on the future growth of lacrosse.

It's a fall sport in Maryland.

Spring sport in NY

[Kleizaster]

Along with Jaylen Rosga, Niki Miles, and Jordan Miles, NU also got Riley Campbell and Grace Fujinaga. Interesting.

Will be interesting to see how NU pivots now that Izzy is no longer there. There was a period of time where they struggled mightily without Scane. I just don't see a program changing talent like that right now on their roster and i expect them to fall back to earth a bit, even with the new additions.

[fanlaxUN]

Father of a '27 here, so am just trying to better understand what (might) happen next year. I have two related questions:

Let's assume there will be about 1,000 D1 commits. Does it break down something like: 500 committed by October 1, 800 by November 1, 900 by December 1, etc.? Or does it string out longer? Is there is pattern across the last few years?

If you're not in the initial wave of comms (September), would you ever get reach outs? Is there a second wave of reach-outs? Or does that mean you should move on considering D3?

Thanks.

Usually by the end of October, most if not all of D1 offers dry up. If you aren't extended an offer by this time, safe to say it's time to move on. All you can do is make your interest known should a spot open up. Sometimes Injuries, decommits, or life situations may lead an opening for an offer. But even those are often very competitive, as you could have alot of other players vying for it.

That's quite an overstatement regarding D1 based on a lot of the first hand experience I have seen. There are a lot of offers made in Sep and Oct, but I would estimate 33% or more across D1 comes after October.

[NULax2]

Along with Jaylen Rosga, Niki Miles, and Jordan Miles, NU also got Riley Campbell and Grace Fujinaga. Interesting.

Will be interesting to see how NU pivots now that Izzy is no longer there. There was a period of time where they struggled mightily without Scane. I just don't see a program changing talent like that right now on their roster and i expect them to fall back to earth a bit, even with the new additions.

Wow, raiding the Ivys. NU does like to call itself the "Harvard of the Midwest".
Lots of playing time opened up due to graduation.

[forthelaxofit]

Maybe not related to this year recruiting, but NFHS (National Federation of HS) has published their annual Athlete Participation numbers for the recent 23/24 school year. Not great data supporting the fastest growing sport theory.

There were 101,204 HS female lacrosse players, up only marginally compared to 5 years ago 18/19 total of 99,750. Five States had a growth in the 1,000 player range – Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania. If you remove these 5 growth states, the TOTAL number of HS girls playing in other states decreased from 2018/2019 by 5.5%

Disappointing numbers in traditional core or discussed growth states of MD, NJ, NY, MA, CT, FL & GA – where each state showed a decrease in the number of girls despite an increase in the number of schools offering the sport. These states show over a 9% reduction in girls playing HS lacrosse from 2018/2019.

There will always be the elite top 4 and 5 star players, but hard to grow a sport at a high level when interest at the grass roots is stagnant.

I really think you have to take Covid into consideration. The new girls that decided to play lax at my daughters HS in 2020, didn't come back in 2021. I'm sure if you look at many/most sports, you'll see the same attrition.

I don’t know the impact of Covid on lacrosse, maybe? However, in total the report shows girls overall sports participants in 23/24 was the highest level ever at 3.424 Million girls, a total level higher than the pre Covid years.

Along the lines of WGSR comments, there was a very interesting study published a couple years ago about how “pay for play” sports (ex – clubs) was negatively impacting sports participation. One - the cost limits lower socio-economic participants (Was it Relax a while ago mentioned looking at the cars in the parking lot of club practices?). Second point was that it deters middle school and HS “walk ons” who have never played before due to talent gaps. Yes there are still natural athletes that can pick up sports, but a lot of kids are insecure about going out for a team the first time against kids who have been playing club for 4-5 years (or more) and end up either being cut or being placed on a lower level team than their age peers. Does seem to have some logic to it - when looking around at the woman college D1 rosters, I bet it would be an exception to find players who didn’t play club along the way.

[LuckyLaxMD]

Not sure if you're on social media, but check out WLaxNumbers group on FB where you find these numbers and see the trends. The following numbers are taken from that info.

Right now there are a total of 1305 '24 commits and 1282 D1 '25 commits (the '25 number changes very slowly with flips, FSU and a tiny handful of new recruits). fanlaxUN isn't far off with his estimate of 30% after October, but obviously, the top lax schools and high academics skew early so the schools that are often mentioned on this forum would typically be done by October (if not September!)

This is how the monthly breakout went:
'24 commits
Sept 25%
Oct 25%
Nov 13%
Dec 12%
Jan-Mar 4-5% each month
Apr-Jun slow trickle

'25 commits
Sept 39%
Oct 27%
Nov 9%
Dec 9%
Jan-Mar 1-4% each month
Apr-Jun trickle

'26 commits
Sept has been faster than even last year. # of goalies has already surpassed the whole of Sept last year and we still have nearly a week left.

[watcherinthewoods]

Maybe not related to this year recruiting, but NFHS (National Federation of HS) has published their annual Athlete Participation numbers for the recent 23/24 school year. Not great data supporting the fastest growing sport theory.

There were 101,204 HS female lacrosse players, up only marginally compared to 5 years ago 18/19 total of 99,750. Five States had a growth in the 1,000 player range – Utah, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania. If you remove these 5 growth states, the TOTAL number of HS girls playing in other states decreased from 2018/2019 by 5.5%

Disappointing numbers in traditional core or discussed growth states of MD, NJ, NY, MA, CT, FL & GA – where each state showed a decrease in the number of girls despite an increase in the number of schools offering the sport. These states show over a 9% reduction in girls playing HS lacrosse from 2018/2019.

There will always be the elite top 4 and 5 star players, but hard to grow a sport at a high level when interest at the grass roots is stagnant.

I really think you have to take Covid into consideration. The new girls that decided to play lax at my daughters HS in 2020, didn't come back in 2021. I'm sure if you look at many/most sports, you'll see the same attrition.

I don’t know the impact of Covid on lacrosse, maybe? However, in total the report shows girls overall sports participants in 23/24 was the highest level ever at 3.424 Million girls, a total level higher than the pre Covid years.

Along the lines of WGSR comments, there was a very interesting study published a couple years ago about how “pay for play” sports (ex – clubs) was negatively impacting sports participation. One - the cost limits lower socio-economic participants (Was it Relax a while ago mentioned looking at the cars in the parking lot of club practices?). Second point was that it deters middle school and HS “walk ons” who have never played before due to talent gaps. Yes there are still natural athletes that can pick up sports, but a lot of kids are insecure about going out for a team the first time against kids who have been playing club for 4-5 years (or more) and end up either being cut or being placed on a lower level team than their age peers. Does seem to have some logic to it - when looking around at the woman college D1 rosters, I bet it would be an exception to find players who didn’t play club along the way.

To take this one step further ... does the study talk about participation in HS sports overall, for both genders? One of the effects of specialization and heavy club participation is that many kids simply opt out or are opted out via the tryout process by the time they reach high school. Not ideal, IMHO.

[laxfan9999]

I think for some of the states that showed growth, the increase in school sponsored teams as State Athletic Associations took over lacrosse was the growth not the growth in number of players. That might even cover all the states. Our high school team started in 2003 but was only school sponsored in 2020. We would be included in our state's growth. Our state had a little growth in that time but not 1000 players.

[MDstateMan]

Should they be better? yes. But let's be honest -- their location limits them a bit. Lots of girls, especially from the Island, Jersey and CT who are used to a more urban life don't want to live in a (admittedly fun) college town in the middle of nowhere. Some will love, but some hate the location. Same reason Cornell can't get the same recruits as Brown.

For a girl with options from Nassau Country, Bergen Country or Connecticut, how many are choosing PSU over Clemson, a similarly ranked program.

For me, the biggest question is why isn't Ohio State recruiting better. Just as big a football school, just as good a college town, much better location and better facilities. My opinion is that Ohio State will be a perenniel top 10 team well below Penn State.

Max your argument is fair, but JMU is/has been up there even winning it all in 18. Similar small town, but much smaller school, with much fewer resources yet are usually hanging around top 10. Schools like PSU really have no excuse.

Coaching..people underrate how excellent coaching and development can make up for a talent gap. JMU is a perfect example. They don't land the best talent, but boy do they get every ounce out of their players. They have an identity, and a way they play, and they stick to it. Stonybrook is another similar school. Programs like that have a structure you think about when they come up.

Penn State?? there is none. They're kind of just all over the place. Talent without structure results in bad teams. Little talent without structure results in bad teams. You must have structure. Until that happens nothing will change for Penn State. See Stanford and Duke and Florida prior to last year

I would say JMU does land talent, just the underrated talent.

[LaxDadMax]

Along with Jaylen Rosga, Niki Miles, and Jordan Miles, NU also got Riley Campbell and Grace Fujinaga. Interesting.

Will be interesting to see how NU pivots now that Izzy is no longer there. There was a period of time where they struggled mightily without Scane. I just don't see a program changing talent like that right now on their roster and i expect them to fall back to earth a bit, even with the new additions.

While probably the most unheralded, I think by the end of the season Fujinaga will be the biggest impact transfer. Her defensive performance against MD was one of the best I can remember

[MSLAX5]

NW also lost Laliberty which is a big loss. Who is stepping in net for NW?
So two top players on Offense and Defense. Huge holes to fill.

[ultravisitor]

Along with Jaylen Rosga, Niki Miles, and Jordan Miles, NU also got Riley Campbell and Grace Fujinaga. Interesting.

Will be interesting to see how NU pivots now that Izzy is no longer there. There was a period of time where they struggled mightily without Scane. I just don't see a program changing talent like that right now on their roster and i expect them to fall back to earth a bit, even with the new additions.

While probably the most unheralded, I think by the end of the season Fujinaga will be the biggest impact transfer. Her defensive performance against MD was one of the best I can remember

She and Niki Miles have two years of eligibility left, too, from what I understand.