Recruiting

[newuser]

I’m sorry. I’ve watched her play this summer, but I don’t get it. She’s the Charlie Barkley of womens lacrosse. Can you back into the goal and score in college? I haven’t seen it, but I’m not a lax person.

[LiveLaxLove]

Spallina to CUSE. Had to sweat it out there for a while..things got nervy but family was always going to win out. HUGE get for KT

CUSE now with their best class in History. On a normal year they would have been by far the biggest winners and this class would have been best in the nation by a good margin

soory, best recruiting this year is UNC by a wide margin, even with Spallina going to SU.

All of which means nothing until the players prove themselves at the college level.

Exactly! Cuse has recruited great for a long time. Still can't win a championship.

[UpDownLax]

Not many teams can win a championship, it’s pretty hard. I guess that’s why only like five teams have won in the last 20 years. I may miss one or two, but it isn’t easy. That goes for cuse, duke, nd and all the other programs folks like to hammer on this forum.

[realitychecks]

To be honest, sounds like you have done your research and have alot of information on all schools. But you're really splitting hairs here. Academically, Yale is the best. Lax wise, Dartmouth has the brightest future. In 3-4 years they will have the most talented team in their history. The Hapgood sisters committed there will be very good lacrosse players. They were key players on the number 1 girls high school team in the nation (Darien) and played the toughest schedule in the country. Dartmouth's 2025 class is very strong so far. I don't have much to say for the coaching but signing strong players despite not having the best season says something about the coach and her messaging about the future of the program.

Academics
1. Yale
2. Brown
3. Dartmouth


Lax
1. Dartmouth
2. Yale
3. Brown

Having followed recruiting and trends, I can't see Brown being better than a .500 team for the forseeable future. Yale will improve with Dowd but Dartmouth has the potential to be what Princeton was a few years ago. or very close to it.

But when it comes down to it, your daughter can't lose with any of these schools. I don't know how good she is as a player but that's also something to consider where she might have a bigger role on the team.

Solid advice, but I would add one more metric.

Happiness
1. Brown
2. Dartmouth
3. Yale

Brown students are consistently rated the happiest in the Ivies in a number of surveys. Part of that is due to the open curriculum which does not require students to take core classes outside their areas of academic interest. No foreign language, math, science, English, history or other similar requirements. Yale on the other hand is perceived as an academic grind where students are often very stressed about completing coursework.

Ivys are all very different experiences

[MolonLaxe]

Exactly. Why is Spallina such a great get when several people on this site said she would not start at UNC or BC for a few years. That does not sound "great". Always good to get a top tier player but individual rankings dont mean much until proven on the field. Just look at a few top 5 recruits at UNC and BC.

AS would most likely not start at UNC and BC because she wouldn’t fit in with their offense. She is a smart, strong and powerful player but is no where near as fast as other top ten recruits. She needs an offensive where she can act as a quarterback and execute from X.

A great defender can shut her down and stop her from even getting the ball. She will need to put more time into speed work and creating separation. She won’t be able to bully her way into the goal when there are stronger college players than her.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Coach Dowd is a winner with a proven track record of success as a player and coach.

Sure, she's won as an assistant/associate coach--but this is only her second stint as a head coach in D1. Her first go around was with the Oregon Ducks. Dowd went 18-17 at the helm for two seasons (2018, 2019). It remains to be seen whether her record of success will include her time as a head coach. I wish her the best. I'd love to see her mold Brown into a threat amongst the Ancient Eight.

[Relax77]

I’m sorry. I’ve watched her play this summer, but I don’t get it. She’s the Charlie Barkley of womens lacrosse. Can you back into the goal and score in college? I haven’t seen it, but I’m not a lax person.

I like the comparison. May tweak it a little. Mark Jackson of wlax. She can feed when she wants.

[laxguy516]

AS is legit, bottom line. She has a different skill set then 99% of the players that have come before her. The game has evolved and changed so much over the last 20 years and she is the type of player that is going to transform it again. Her style is not for everyone, but it is successful and I believe will continue to be at the next level. Is she the best player in the country in her class? That depends on your philosophy and preferred style of play. She is not the fastest or quickest, but she can dodge, feed and shoot very effectively. Not many players are a triple threat like she is. Emma Ward is the most current player that I feel resembles AS and her style of play. Cuse has found something with that style of player and will continue to use it in their offense. I hope she has a great college career and there are more players emulating her style 10 - 20 years from now. Why? Because its different......

[LaxDadMax]

AS is legit, bottom line. She has a different skill set then 99% of the players that have come before her. The game has evolved and changed so much over the last 20 years and she is the type of player that is going to transform it again. Her style is not for everyone, but it is successful and I believe will continue to be at the next level. Is she the best player in the country in her class? That depends on your philosophy and preferred style of play. She is not the fastest or quickest, but she can dodge, feed and shoot very effectively. Not many players are a triple threat like she is. Emma Ward is the most current player that I feel resembles AS and her style of play. Cuse has found something with that style of player and will continue to use it in their offense. I hope she has a great college career and there are more players emulating her style 10 - 20 years from now. Why? Because its different......

Is she an incredibly talented player? Yes

Is she a generational talent like her brother? Probably not.

Will she be a very good college player? Very likely.


However, just how good she becomes will likely come down to the evaluation of the rules within the next 6 years. The more the powers that be work to take physicality from the defense out of the game, the more it will benefit AS.

If women's lacrosse turns into the NFL, where defense isn't allowed to be physical, then we could see some record setting performances.

[DMac]

AS is legit, bottom line. She has a different skill set then 99% of the players that have come before her. The game has evolved and changed so much over the last 20 years and she is the type of player that is going to transform it again. Her style is not for everyone, but it is successful and I believe will continue to be at the next level. Is she the best player in the country in her class? That depends on your philosophy and preferred style of play. She is not the fastest or quickest, but she can dodge, feed and shoot very effectively. Not many players are a triple threat like she is. Emma Ward is the most current player that I feel resembles AS and her style of play. Cuse has found something with that style of player and will continue to use it in their offense. I hope she has a great college career and there are more players emulating her style 10 - 20 years from now. Why? Because its different......

Don't know anything at all about AS, just the hype and I watched one of her highlight videos. I'd sure like for you to elaborate a little on that different skill set than 99% of the players who have come before her and how you think she's going to transform the game (I sure wasn't left with those thoughts after watching her highlights clip).
The level of competition changes drastically when you walk off the HS field and onto the D1 level field. I've watched a few #1 mlaxer recruits here in Cuse (pretty good HS lacrosse around here) who were absolute standouts at the HS level but were just good to average players at the D1 level (I've seen a couple of complete busts too). A couple of the Eccles boys played at UA and were very good players. In HS the youngest one could do whatever he wanted to on the field, was unstoppable, you'd think he was going to go on and be a T Award recipient. He went on to be a good D1 player but he wasn't the same kind of dominating player at the D1 level as he was in HS (I'm not knocking him at all here, he was a very good player). As lofty as they are, I hope you're right in your predictions but I'll wait until she sells me on all that with play on the field, I aint sold yet. Frankly, I think there are a whole lot of players who are triple threats re shooting, dodging, passing. She better than Halle Majorana or Nicloe Levy were?

[laxguy516]

In my opinion, yes. It's not dominating at the HS level that's so impressive, but her performance at the club level against the top talent across the country. Including showcase events, she dominates. Again, is she the only standout player in the 25 class, no, absolutely not. However, she plays her best when the lights are brightest. I think with the attention she is getting as a HS junior younger players will start to emulate her game. If she lives up to her billing at the college level she will in fact transform the game at the attack position. Either way, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

I think there are a whole lot of players who are triple threats re shooting, dodging, passing. She better than Halle Majorana or Nicloe Levy were?

I saw Nicole Levy for most of her career with the Orange. I never knew her to be a good dodger. She seemed to be very limited in that area. Most of her moves were engineered to create shooting space chances. When the ref didn't call it, she invariably had no plan B so she would pass to a teammate. She had a wicked step-and-launch laser shot from 8m, and when she got an open shot during play. But she never struck me as a talented dodger.

Both players mentioned are seen here:

[DMac]

I wouldn't call either Halle or Nicole fleet of foot/light footed but both were nifty/clever enough to beat defenders and their outstanding sticks took over from there. Nicole is the same in AU, very effective despite lack of speed....Hallle didn't play this past season but she's been outstanding at that level too. In the very little I've seen of AS she looks more like an Emma Ward type player (Emma is deceptively quick...that's not to say she's fast) but is her stick as good? It took me three seconds to recognize that Emma was going to be a real force to be dealt with....I wasn't left with that impression with AS. You know I'm a tough sell on the hype, show me what you've got at the D1 level.

[DMac]

In my opinion, yes. It's not dominating at the HS level that's so impressive, but her performance at the club level against the top talent across the country. Including showcase events, she dominates. Again, is she the only standout player in the 25 class, no, absolutely not. However, she plays her best when the lights are brightest. I think with the attention she is getting as a HS junior younger players will start to emulate her game. If she lives up to her billing at the college level she will in fact transform the game at the attack position. Either way, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

You've seen her play and I haven't so I have to respect your opinion here. Once again, I'd sure like some elaborating on how she's going to transform the game. What does she do that Kayla, Dowd, North, Scane, Carney, Tyrrel, Hawryschuk (prior to injury), Ward couldn't/can't do? I'm all in in rooting for her but she's going to run into a whole different level of defenders at the D1 level, calling a Jr in HS as one who is going to transform the game is darn tough for me to swallow.

[Itsallgood]

Exactly. Why is Spallina such a great get when several people on this site said she would not start at UNC or BC for a few years. That does not sound "great". Always good to get a top tier player but individual rankings dont mean much until proven on the field. Just look at a few top 5 recruits at UNC and BC.

AS would most likely not start at UNC and BC because she wouldn’t fit in with their offense. She is a smart, strong and powerful player but is no where near as fast as other top ten recruits. She needs an offensive where she can act as a quarterback and execute from X.

You are correct in your speed assessment, but in my opinion there is no better teacher on how to beat your defender without speed than the current Syracuse coach. Kayla was never about speed ( she had none ) but was about change of direction and incredible stick skills that made her just about impossible to cover 1 vs 1 ( by much faster players ). We have all witnessed her passing on her style from X to BC's star attacker Sam Apuzzo. Ms Apuzzo always had speed but after working with Coach Treanor she had an additional option when breaking down a defender. Both of these players were ankle breakers with their cross over move.

[laxguy516]

My comment was, "if she lives up to her billing, she will transform the game". Now that's a big IF. It seems like the hype/billing surrounding her recruiting period and the 2 year build up to her taking the field that we are about to enter is bigger than any player I remember. Of course, I could be wrong in that assessment. With that build up comes attention of younger players. Add in NIL and the exposure that comes with it, which players before her who were mentioned here did not have. Put it all together and she could transform the game because more younger players will want to play like her. The game itself has more coverage and exposure now, so its more the timing of when AS is hitting the college level that will send transformative ripples through the lax world in that there will be more players like her years from now. Just an opinion based on current climate of college sports compared to even just 5 years ago.

[DMac]

As much as it might sound it I'm not trying to argue with you or be disagreeable, I hope she turns out to be the force you think she will (or is capable of becoming). Yup, huge changes in the landscape, wlax, I think, is going to continue to explode, it's a fantastic game (now).
I see nothing at all in this clip that separates AS from quite a number of players I have watched. Gotta add, I don't see the best of defenses there either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hahQgdKysk

[laxguy516]

It's all good, just a healthy discussion. With all the talent in today's game it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Best wishes to all the kids in the 2025 recruiting class.

[Relax77]

As much as it might sound it I'm not trying to argue with you or be disagreeable, I hope she turns out to be the force you think she will (or is capable of becoming). Yup, huge changes in the landscape, wlax, I think, is going to continue to explode, it's a fantastic game (now).
I see nothing at all in this clip that separates AS from quite a number of players I have watched. Gotta add, I don't see the best of defenses there either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hahQgdKysk

I think there’s many reasons why she has been discussed for the last two years as the number one player coming out and how she will transcend the game. I do agree. I don’t see it. The number one reason is her lineage. if she was from Philadelphia and her father was a construction worker and her brothers were not athletes, they probably wouldn’t be talking that way. But……she is still a top player and dominant against 2025 club

[Madlax59]

As much as it might sound it I'm not trying to argue with you or be disagreeable, I hope she turns out to be the force you think she will (or is capable of becoming). Yup, huge changes in the landscape, wlax, I think, is going to continue to explode, it's a fantastic game (now).
I see nothing at all in this clip that separates AS from quite a number of players I have watched. Gotta add, I don't see the best of defenses there either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hahQgdKysk

I think there’s many reasons why she has been discussed for the last two years as the number one player coming out and how she will transcend the game. I do agree. I don’t see it. The number one reason is her lineage. if she was from Philadelphia and her father was a construction worker and her brothers were not athletes, they probably wouldn’t be talking that way. But……she is still a top player and dominant against 2025 club