CORNELL 2025

[oldbartman]

From what I've heard, there was a ton of focus on the top 50-60 kids. Every coach focused on trying to get 2 or 3 of them. At this point, they're now looking at their "second list". I am a bit surprised that Cornell didn't have more success. It may be a case of waiting to find some late bloomers for the great majority of coaches now that the "elite" have made their verbal commitments. Though I expect Andy Shay is lurking in the background.....everywhere.

[10stone5]

No Canadians in the top 100 yet, either.
I haven't researched the 2026 recruits from up north as much as most years -- but so far no top, say, 50 that I've come across for this class.
Compare to the top xx Canadians from the last several years where you had Firth of course, Collison, Finlay Thomson, Brooks English, Silas Richmond.

[HopFan16]

No Canadians in the top 100 yet, either.
I haven't researched the 2026 recruits from up north as much -- but so far no top, say, 50 that I've come across for this class.
Compare to the top xx Canadians from the last several years where you had Firth of course, Collison, Finlay Thomson, Brooks English, Silas Richmond.

Literally IL's top ranked attackman is Canadian — Cooper Brozek, he went to St. Mike's before transferring to Deerfield

Lawrenceville middies Ponting and Morgan are also Canadian. Top 100 LSM Chase Smith is Canadian

[10stone5]

No Canadians in the top 100 yet, either.
I haven't researched the 2026 recruits from up north as much -- but so far no top, say, 50 that I've come across for this class.
Compare to the top xx Canadians from the last several years where you had Firth of course, Collison, Finlay Thomson, Brooks English, Silas Richmond.

Literally IL's top ranked attackman is Canadian — Cooper Brozek, he went to St. Mike's before transferring to Deerfield

Lawrenceville middies Ponting and Morgan are also Canadian. Top 100 LSM Chase Smith is Canadian

Yeah - sorry.

Like I said I haven't researched the Canadians as much nor tracked any of those guys - I tend to follow the box players, not those that play for American preps - Hill Academy.

Really, was making a point that in past years Canadians entered the IL lexicon later, Firth, Collison, than those playing at American publics and preps, those imported to Lawrenceville, Culver, Western -
so still time for Cornell to grab one of these late arrivals.

[CHRLAX]

Afraid the competition is closing in. Michigan academically is an equal and now making tournament appearances regularly and has top facilities and schollies. Harvard making a push and they are Harvard, Princeton and Yale always there... now Dartmouth luring top recruits.... ughhh.. ND academically not much different and they have great facilities and winning the natty now and schollies...although there is more talent now than ever and still not enough seats...maybe outside of 5 stars you just wait..Not sure Cornell can get 5 stars. I dunno fingers crossed.

[another fan]

It is concerning and surprising for a number of reasons-- excellent school, excellent young coaches who are also good recruiters, fine team with an exciting style of play, great tradition, etc. etc. Yes there are still very good players out there and we have gotten hidden gems in the past. There are also late bloomers and occasional school flips, but I thought we were beyond these consolations and were more of a target school now. We have talked at length about the flaws in the various ratings systems, too, but they still have value.

I do get some comfort looking back at last year's freshmen, though. The most impactful were Gilmartin, Goldstein and Firth, all of whom started out with zero stars from IL, but rose in later iterations. Firth actually rose to 5* and top 10 status, while the other two eventually got 4*. Hopefully, we will start seeing some additional recruits who will have success in the next two years on the field and be strong additions to the team.

[another fan]

New 26 recruit-- Michael Santillo, M, East Syracuse Minoa. He is a 3* from Il, but high potential with great speed.

[The Orfling]

From what I've heard, there was a ton of focus on the top 50-60 kids. Every coach focused on trying to get 2 or 3 of them. At this point, they're now looking at their "second list". I am a bit surprised that Cornell didn't have more success. It may be a case of waiting to find some late bloomers for the great majority of coaches now that the "elite" have made their verbal commitments. Though I expect Andy Shay is lurking in the background.....everywhere.

LOL oldbartman, you’ll never forgive Andy Shay for Ben Reeves, will you?! (Which I understand and I’m just kidding you.)

IL rankings aren’t everything but the 5-stars often pan out absent injury. By my count, 75% of the 5-stars have gone to the ACC (the Ivy League actually has the second most with 4 — 2 Harvard, 1 Princeton, 1 Dartmouth). It’s a bit wild that the Big 10 hasn’t had any 5-star signings yet (at least using the IL rankings -- there are more rating sources now). When it comes to a Cornell or Yale and recruiting, I think three things are going on:

1. The ACC is THE sought-after conference. Take the best historic lacrosse conference and add in the post-COVID free agency era plus NIL money and the ACC has had a competitive advantage over the Ivy League — they’ve won 4 out of the past 5 National Championships and players want rings. Not to mention the NIL money that rains down on successful programs.

2. I know I mentioned it above, but NIL. NIL. NIL. When you talk to Lars Tiffany he says he doesn’t want guys if the first thing they ask about is NIL. But . . . If he’s convinced they are all-in on UVA for the traditional "right reasons" (academics, lacrosse, magical campus) then that NIL money is there for them. Even kids from affluent backgrounds could be pretty excited to get a 5 figure “signing bonus.” These future finance majors can imagine what they could do with day trading a $50,000 stake.

3. As an earlier poster noted, within the league, it’s not a Cornell-Princeton binary choice (or Cornell-Yale, maybe, circa 2019). Now you’ve got all 7 teams that can make a play for the top ranked guys. As noted above 3 out of the 4 5-stars are bound for Harvard (2) and Dartmouth (1).

My hope is that some of this evens out . . . Maybe even with NIL some guys won’t want to park on the bench for 2 years at UVA or ND or Duke if they can have meaningful playing time at another top academic university with a strong lacrosse pedigree (Cornell's program takes a back seat to nobody on that count). And maybe the Ivy coaches will continue to do well at drawing guys from beyond the East Coast club universe that tends to dominate these ratings (e.g. Cornell and all those great Canadians).

[Ezra White]

From what I've heard, there was a ton of focus on the top 50-60 kids. Every coach focused on trying to get 2 or 3 of them. At this point, they're now looking at their "second list". I am a bit surprised that Cornell didn't have more success. It may be a case of waiting to find some late bloomers for the great majority of coaches now that the "elite" have made their verbal commitments. Though I expect Andy Shay is lurking in the background.....everywhere.

LOL oldbartman, you’ll never forgive Andy Shay for Ben Reeves, will you?! (Which I understand and I’m just kidding you.)

IL rankings aren’t everything but the 5-stars often pan out absent injury. By my count, 75% of the 5-stars have gone to the ACC (the Ivy League actually has the second most with 4 — 2 Harvard, 1 Princeton, 1 Dartmouth). It’s a bit wild that the Big 10 hasn’t had any 5-star signings yet (at least using the IL rankings -- there are more rating sources now). When it comes to a Cornell or Yale and recruiting, I think three things are going on:

1. The ACC is THE sought-after conference. Take the best historic lacrosse conference and add in the post-COVID free agency era plus NIL money and the ACC has had a competitive advantage over the Ivy League — they’ve won 4 out of the past 5 National Championships and players want rings. Not to mention the NIL money that rains down on successful programs.

2. I know I mentioned it above, but NIL. NIL. NIL. When you talk to Lars Tiffany he says he doesn’t want guys if the first thing they ask about is NIL. But . . . If he’s convinced they are all-in on UVA for the traditional "right reasons" (academics, lacrosse, magical campus) then that NIL money is there for them. Even kids from affluent backgrounds could be pretty excited to get a 5 figure “signing bonus.” These future finance majors can imagine what they could do with day trading a $50,000 stake.

3. As an earlier poster noted, within the league, it’s not a Cornell-Princeton binary choice (or Cornell-Yale, maybe, circa 2019). Now you’ve got all 7 teams that can make a play for the top ranked guys. As noted above 3 out of the 4 5-stars are bound for Harvard (2) and Dartmouth (1).

My hope is that some of this evens out . . . Maybe even with NIL some guys won’t want to park on the bench for 2 years at UVA or ND or Duke if they can have meaningful playing time at another top academic university with a strong lacrosse pedigree (Cornell's program takes a back seat to nobody on that count). And maybe the Ivy coaches will continue to do well at drawing guys from beyond the East Coast club universe that tends to dominate these ratings (e.g. Cornell and all those great Canadians).

I'd add two more things:

• Players will be attracted by a particular coach's record of spotting potential talent and nurturing it to stardom. Gavin Adler is an excellent recent example.
• Each school, particularly in the Ivies, is almost unique in the universe of higher education institutions. Here, for example, are two videos about Cornell: (a) Main Campus Video Tour, and (b) Cornell University: The Pros, the Cons, and How to Get In. Surely some star lacrosse players would be enticed by each Ivy's unique features. For instance, at Cornell the chance to study wine tasting while at "the top engineering school in the Ivy League" has got to be attractive to some lacrosse players, NIL be damned.

[another fan]

New recruit: Landon Johnson from Washington state. I’ve seen him listed at both attack and midfield. 4* from IL and their #57 player. Very two-handed player.

[another fan]

New recruit: Logan Stevens, A, Bernards HS,NJ- 3* from IL

[faircornell]

Not new or news, but Jeff Teat continues to pile up accolades. In the last month, he's been named:

PLL: Top Attackman
PLL: 2024 Season MVP
World Lacrosse: All World Box 2024
World Lacrosse: 2024 Box Championships Men's MVP

I've probably missed a few awards....

[Chousnake]

Cornell up to 8 2026 recruits now - 2 four star and 6 three star for whatever that is worth when evaluating 16 year old sophomores



-- Landon Johnson 2026 A Eastlake High School ****
-- Teddy Gillin 2026 D The Haverford School ****
-- Caden Parker 2026 LSM Jamesville Dewitt High School ***
-- Danny Riely 2026 M Malvern Preparatory School ***
-- Michael Santillo 2026 M East Syracuse Minoa Central High School ***
-- Logan Stevens 2026 A Bernards High School ***
-- Christian Troczynski 2026 FO Delbarton School ***
-- David Xavier 2026 G Rocky Point High School ***

[BIGGER_REDDER]

Good to see some new recruits. I also see the new freshmen are now on the online roster, along with some number changes for the upperclassmen.

[Phillylax22]

Tommy Goldstein,Ryan’s brother, also committed. Ryan did a pg year so maybe Tommy is as well.

[mfp]

"Congratulations to Willem Firth on taking home the Green Gael Award as @TheOJLL Most Valuable Player AND The Jim Veltman Award as the League's Most Outstanding Player."

https://x.com/BeachesJrA/status/1841167734081552735

It will be fun to see how the coaches find more ways to get Firth involved. Not that he wasn't involved last year...but Cornell has the challenge of having so many weapons on offense. It seems to me that Firth could play a more impactful role, especially as defenses focus on our many other rockstars.

[Chousnake]

Another new 26 recruit

Jack O'Reilly - a midfielder from Manasquan NJ. He's not rated. He's 6'4" and also plays hoops. The younger Goldstein has not appeared on the IL 26 recruits list yet.

[Tacotruck]

Is Kirst Playing in the fall or is he not enrolled to preserve his eligibility?

[laxfan1313]

Great video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u7T4zh2prg