NESCAC

[nehslaxfan]

Have heard that Wesleyan had many kids who withdrew this semester, leaving them without a large roster. Does anyone have insight?

[Dave]

I have heard the same about Wesleyan

[Laxxal22]

So the guys who've withdrawn for the semester or year (a good number from Amherst, Midd, Bowdoin, apparently Wesleyan) to preserve eligibility within the NESCAC, how much eligibility do they have left? Say for instance you were a freshman at Bowdoin in 2020, the NCAA granted the extra year of eligibility and now you've withdrawn for spring 2021. Do you still have four years left of eligibility remaining? Can you play all of them at Bowdoin if you just keep withdrawing for fall semesters?

[JumboFan4]

I just want to make sure I understand this correctly...Tufts just posted their schedule and there's no out of conference games shown. Does that mean they're strictly playing a 4 game season? Total BS when some southern schools are already five games in. NESCAC should've just cancelled the season if that's all the athletes are getting for their eligibility.

[pcowlax]

So the guys who've withdrawn for the semester or year (a good number from Amherst, Midd, Bowdoin, apparently Wesleyan) to preserve eligibility within the NESCAC, how much eligibility do they have left? Say for instance you were a freshman at Bowdoin in 2020, the NCAA granted the extra year of eligibility and now you've withdrawn for spring 2021. Do you still have four years left of eligibility remaining? Can you play all of them at Bowdoin if you just keep withdrawing for fall semesters?

My understanding (and I was wrong on this before so someone correct me if I am wrong again) is that D3 has granted another mulligan year this year, on top of the one for last year. https://bangordailynews.com/2020/10/30/ ... -covid-19/

If that is true, it would seem as though this year does not count towards eligibility whether you play or nor, whether you are enrolled or not. Thus I think (again correct me if I am wrong) that everyone who was a NESCAC freshman in 2020 will still have 4 years of athletic eligibility to play in D3 at the end of this spring (I say D3 because D1 only gave a waiver for last year so I don't think you could transfer from D3 to D1 and use the extra D3 mulligan year in D1). The reason to withdraw this year was not to preserve athletic eligibility but to preserve academic eligibility. As CAC schools do not (outside of Tufts) really have any grad schools to speak of (a few very small exceptions), if players had been in school the past 2 years they would entering the fall of 2021 with 4 years of athletic eligibility intact but academically as juniors. NESCAC is not going to allow the sort of shenanigans that someone like Ierlan (no blame on him for taking advantage of the rules) was able to do and take 1 or 2 classes a semester to drag out undergrad for 6 years. Very few families would want to pay for this anyway. Many NESCAC players could have player D1 but chose D3 because of other priorities. Dragging out college for 2 additional years is not likely to fit in line with that for most.

[DeepPocket]

...The reason to withdraw this year was not to preserve athletic eligibility but to preserve academic eligibility.....Dragging out college for 2 additional years is not likely to fit in line with that for most.

I understand completely the decision to not put life on hold for a sport (however much you love it). But if that were the case, then why not continue with classes these semesters and proceed with your education, because classes are still going on, right?

Or am I missing something?

[pcowlax]

I believe many are but if you continued normally taking classes the past 2 years you would, unless you are going to transfer, basically have used up 2 years of your lax career without playing because you are still going to graduate in 4 years. You could then enroll in a grad school elsewhere and play and some will do that but it will be a very small minority. ~90% of NESCAC students graduate in 4yrs, very different from large state schools where well over half graduate in 5 or 6 (or not at all). You really can't be half enrolled, in virtually all cases it is full course load or nothing. So those who withdrew this year did so, in effect, explicitly to avoid taking classes and avoiding using up a "school year".

[DeepPocket]

I believe many are but if you continued normally taking classes the past 2 years you would, unless you are going to transfer, basically have used up 2 years of your lax career without playing because you are still going to graduate in 4 years...... So those who withdrew this year did so, in effect, explicitly to avoid taking classes and avoiding using up a "school year".

I know nothing of these school’s / conference’s rules, but the way this reads, they wanted to avoid using up a “school year” explicitly for the purpose of lacrosse, due to those rules limiting their years allowed to remain there academically.

Which if that’s the case, we can move away from the position that this isn’t specifically being done to retain athletic eligibility, at least in a round about way.

[pcowlax]

I believe many are but if you continued normally taking classes the past 2 years you would, unless you are going to transfer, basically have used up 2 years of your lax career without playing because you are still going to graduate in 4 years...... So those who withdrew this year did so, in effect, explicitly to avoid taking classes and avoiding using up a "school year".

I know nothing of these school’s / conference’s rules, but the way this reads, they wanted to avoid using up a “school year” explicitly for the purpose of lacrosse, due to those rules limiting their years allowed to remain there academically.

Which if that’s the case, we can move away from the position that this isn’t specifically being done to retain athletic eligibility, at least in a round about way.

Oh yes, many players who have withdrawn have done it to preserve, let’s say, years in which they will be able to play. At NESCAC schools you don’t really have a variety in the number of “credits” you take. Unless there is some extenuating circumstance (health, etc), everyone takes a full course load every semester and you graduate in 4 years. Thus if you kept enrolled the past 2 years, you would be graduating after only playing 2 years (with 2 mostly useless years of athletic eligibility in your pocket). I said many rather than all players above however because there are some who just don’t want to spend college years remotely and want 4 years of the on campus experience and withdrew for that reason. I can very much sympathize with that.

[Laxxal22]

Whatever the motivations and mechanics of how it works, there's potential (just like everywhere else in college lacrosse I guess) for some very loaded teams over the next four years. One 2020 high school grad who I definitely thought was D1 caliber I've now seen listed as a Middlebury 2025. With two 4-stars coming in the fall (one a Top 100 recruit), that's suddenly a very loaded class. Assuming it's the top players from each class at these schools taking measures to ensure four full seasons, then I think the overall 2022 NESCAC recruiting class will be quite small.

[smoova]

Whatever the motivations and mechanics of how it works, there's potential (just like everywhere else in college lacrosse I guess) for some very loaded teams over the next four years. One 2020 high school grad who I definitely thought was D1 caliber I've now seen listed as a Middlebury 2025. With two 4-stars coming in the fall (one a Top 100 recruit), that's suddenly a very loaded class. Assuming it's the top players from each class at these schools taking measures to ensure four full seasons, then I think the overall 2022 NESCAC recruiting class will be quite small.

I strongly doubt that any NESCAC coach would decline to use his full allotment of slots/tips/etc on the 2022 recruiting class.

[Laxxal22]

Fair point. If you don't spend the annual marketing budget it might get cut next year.

[westcoastlax]

I am sure several students took the semester off so that they can save money for when they do come back to school. Five years of tuition at a NESCAC school is pricey. Why pay NESCAC prices for another semester of online classes with no lacrosse and lots of rules on campus. It is more cost-effective to take classes at a local state school and avoid all the rules of on-campus living.

[Unknown Participant]

Whatever the motivations and mechanics of how it works, there's potential (just like everywhere else in college lacrosse I guess) for some very loaded teams over the next four years. One 2020 high school grad who I definitely thought was D1 caliber I've now seen listed as a Middlebury 2025. With two 4-stars coming in the fall (one a Top 100 recruit), that's suddenly a very loaded class. Assuming it's the top players from each class at these schools taking measures to ensure four full seasons, then I think the overall 2022 NESCAC recruiting class will be quite small.

I strongly doubt that any NESCAC coach would decline to use his full allotment of slots/tips/etc on the 2022 recruiting class.

Pretty sure Tufts did not this year fwiw

[smoova]

Whatever the motivations and mechanics of how it works, there's potential (just like everywhere else in college lacrosse I guess) for some very loaded teams over the next four years. One 2020 high school grad who I definitely thought was D1 caliber I've now seen listed as a Middlebury 2025. With two 4-stars coming in the fall (one a Top 100 recruit), that's suddenly a very loaded class. Assuming it's the top players from each class at these schools taking measures to ensure four full seasons, then I think the overall 2022 NESCAC recruiting class will be quite small.

I strongly doubt that any NESCAC coach would decline to use his full allotment of slots/tips/etc on the 2022 recruiting class.

Pretty sure Tufts did not this year fwiw

Interesting. The Inside Lacrosse database shows 9 commits to Tufts in the 2021 class (8 of them committed last summer/fall). Do you mean that D'Annolfo has more than 9 slots/tips or that he declined to use his "admissions capital" on several of those kids? (I know that this topic can be sensitive, so I understand if you aren't comfortable answering directly.)

[Laxwizard]

Whatever the motivations and mechanics of how it works, there's potential (just like everywhere else in college lacrosse I guess) for some very loaded teams over the next four years. One 2020 high school grad who I definitely thought was D1 caliber I've now seen listed as a Middlebury 2025. With two 4-stars coming in the fall (one a Top 100 recruit), that's suddenly a very loaded class. Assuming it's the top players from each class at these schools taking measures to ensure four full seasons, then I think the overall 2022 NESCAC recruiting class will be quite small.

I strongly doubt that any NESCAC coach would decline to use his full allotment of slots/tips/etc on the 2022 recruiting class.

Pretty sure Tufts did not this year fwiw

Interesting. The Inside Lacrosse database shows 9 commits to Tufts in the 2021 class (8 of them committed last summer/fall). Do you mean that D'Annolfo has more than 9 slots/tips or that he declined to use his "admissions capital" on several of those kids? (I know that this topic can be sensitive, so I understand if you aren't comfortable answering directly.)

The IL page listing recruits is great, but for D3 it isn't 100% accurate. I don't know about Tufts, but for both Amherst and Middlebury I am aware of both decommits that are still listed as commits as well as unlisted commits. I wouldn't be surprised if Tufts has two commits that aren't listed on IL.

[ah23]

I just want to make sure I understand this correctly...Tufts just posted their schedule and there's no out of conference games shown. Does that mean they're strictly playing a 4 game season? Total BS when some southern schools are already five games in. NESCAC should've just cancelled the season if that's all the athletes are getting for their eligibility.

Yeah, this is surprising given that it seems like multiple NESCAC schools have OOC games on the schedule. Knowing Tufts’ general approach (loves to play tough OOC opponents) I would hope that the current schedule just reflects the games the conference assigned them. If not...man. Four games would be a massive disappointment. Trinity has seven OOC games.

[ABClaxfan]

Whatever the motivations and mechanics of how it works, there's potential (just like everywhere else in college lacrosse I guess) for some very loaded teams over the next four years. One 2020 high school grad who I definitely thought was D1 caliber I've now seen listed as a Middlebury 2025. With two 4-stars coming in the fall (one a Top 100 recruit), that's suddenly a very loaded class. Assuming it's the top players from each class at these schools taking measures to ensure four full seasons, then I think the overall 2022 NESCAC recruiting class will be quite small.

I strongly doubt that any NESCAC coach would decline to use his full allotment of slots/tips/etc on the 2022 recruiting class.

Pretty sure Tufts did not this year fwiw

Interesting. The Inside Lacrosse database shows 9 commits to Tufts in the 2021 class (8 of them committed last summer/fall). Do you mean that D'Annolfo has more than 9 slots/tips or that he declined to use his "admissions capital" on several of those kids? (I know that this topic can be sensitive, so I understand if you aren't comfortable answering directly.)

The IL page listing recruits is great, but for D3 it isn't 100% accurate. I don't know about Tufts, but for both Amherst and Middlebury I am aware of both decommits that are still listed as commits as well as unlisted commits. I wouldn't be surprised if Tufts has two commits that aren't listed on IL.

Just checked and the IL page is missing two 2021 recruits for Tufts, both football and lacrosse recruits

[FCIAC LAX]

An issue is that once the other leagues announced play, tentative plans for games against NESCAC schools became secondary.
I know that Trinity had some OOC games scheduled for the weekends and it looks like they were able to reschedule to midweek, logistically they could do it.

I wouldn't say NESCAC teams are not looking to play a full schedule, many logistical issues with a shortened season based on 5/8 NESCAC Championship date & NCAA tournament start the next week (NCAA Championship 5/29).

NESCAC has said no overnights, so you will see Wesleyan traveling to Hamilton & ConCo traveling to Colby on the same day to play, these are 4 hour trips before you step on the field.

Certainly a big issue for schools like Colby & Hamilton but I would expect some additional scheduled games before 4/10.

[nehslaxfan]

So far accept for Bates and Trinity schedules only show the 4 league games. Must think the others will be adding games as 4 games is a very very short season.