ISL 2021

[Laxxal22]

BH and Seb's have always been two of the, if not the two, jockiest schools. Their talent (along with Nobles and soon to be Thayer) has exploded with the growth and improvement of local clubs along with the grade repeating that used to be reserved for hockey players. Kids who've been playing for Laxachusetts Black since 4th grade have erased the advantage Middlesex and Govs formerly enjoyed of getting a few kids from Concord, Sudbury, Beverly as well as some pre-preppers from Fenn, Cardigan Mountain, or Eaglebrook.

Size is a huge factor for most ISL boarding schools. Belmont Hill and Milton Academy are the only two schools with over 300 boys in the upper school. Tabor, Seb's, and Nobles are all around 280. The St. Grottlesex contingent are significantly smaller; around 200. So not only do they not have a PG option, they have about 25-50 fewer boys per class than than their West 1 brethren who are mostly in the 300-450 range. There's just not that many spots unless lacrosse is made a priority. I think Govs, Middlesex, and St. George's (all teams that have fallen off from their peaks) look like they've beefed up a bit. We'll see if they can get back in contention this year.

I'm interested to see what Holderness does this year. Based on what I've seen from the team Instagram account, Simon has a legitimate recruiting budget to go across the country looking for talent. Hope to see them schedule aggressively over the next few years.

[Sportin' Life]

Kids who've been playing for Laxachusetts Black since 4th grade have erased the advantage Middlesex and Govs formerly enjoyed of getting a few kids from Concord, Sudbury, Beverly as well as some pre-preppers from Fenn, Cardigan Mountain, or Eaglebrook.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this may have been the first reference to jr boarding schools such as Eaglebrook, Cardigan and Fenn on this board!

[Laxxal22]

Kids who've been playing for Laxachusetts Black since 4th grade have erased the advantage Middlesex and Govs formerly enjoyed of getting a few kids from Concord, Sudbury, Beverly as well as some pre-preppers from Fenn, Cardigan Mountain, or Eaglebrook.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this may have been the first reference to jr boarding schools such as Eaglebrook, Cardigan and Fenn on this board!

I'm always trying to stay on the cutting edge . My general point was that beyond great coaches (Herter & Bidstrup) 10+ years ago Middlesex and Govs were probably getting kids further along in their lacrosse development than the day schools.

[Can Opener]

Kids who've been playing for Laxachusetts Black since 4th grade have erased the advantage Middlesex and Govs formerly enjoyed of getting a few kids from Concord, Sudbury, Beverly as well as some pre-preppers from Fenn, Cardigan Mountain, or Eaglebrook.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this may have been the first reference to jr boarding schools such as Eaglebrook, Cardigan and Fenn on this board!

I'm always trying to stay on the cutting edge . My general point was that beyond great coaches (Herter & Bidstrup) 10+ years ago Middlesex and Govs were probably getting kids further along in their lacrosse development than the day schools.

It's an interesting point. Back in the dark ages when I played New England prep school lacrosse, the guys from junior boarding school were much further along than most other kids. The exception was maybe the New Canaan and Darien athletes who sometimes made their way to boarding schools. The LI, Balto and Upstate kids didn't migrate to New England.

[Laxxal22]

Schedule for St. Seb's. Quite a challenging start. They continue to play the most aggressive non league schedule of any program in the ISL.

3/22 @ Haverford
3/24 @ Malvern Prep
4/2 @ Taft
4/9 Govs
4/13 @ Middlesex
4/16 @ Nobles
4/20 @ St. George's
4/23 @ St. Mark's
4/27 RL
4/29 Belmont Hill (neutral site)
5/4 @ Rivers
5/7 Brooks
5/11 BB&N
5/14 @ Groton
5/18, 5/21, 5/22 ISL Playoffs

[Flag Down]

Belmont Hill has a challenging start to the season as well: scrimmage against Taft, then they open at Deerfield, they have the Hill School of PA at home and then Avon Old Farm before getting into ISL play.

[Laxxal22]

Belmont Hill has a challenging start to the season as well: scrimmage against Taft, then they open at Deerfield, they have the Hill School of PA at home and then Avon Old Farm before getting into ISL play.

Is Deerfield a game again this year or back to being a scrimmage? It’s not listed on the DA site. Really liked that as an end of year match up last year, but not really possible with a return to a normal season. Nice to see AOF back on the schedule. I’d imagine BH will be favored by a few goals over Hill School. It’s nice to see a school actually travel north for once.

[Floyd]

Strange that Deerfield does not have it listed on their schedule, however those I've spoken with at BH are under the impression its an actual game.

[Laxboy78]

Article about the new playoff format in NE Lacrosse Journal. Each team plays 11 league games. Teams broken up into 4 pools based on 2019 standings. Play each team in your pool, plus teams from 2 other pools. Everyone gets 2 playoff games guaranteed. Playoffs being held at BH this May. Switches sites each year. Top 8 in one bracket, bottom 8 in a separate one (NIT!)

[Laxxal22]

Great stuff. Was kind of hoping to see the two final games played at a college or some sort of bigger venue, as I could see 500+ attendance. Better get there early or be tall if you want to see the games.

[Floyd]

BH is set up pretty well to handle a large crowd, with the balcony off the athletic center looking over the field. Will be a great way to finish the year.

[Laxxal22]

BH is set up pretty well to handle a large crowd, with the balcony off the athletic center looking over the field. Will be a great way to finish the year.

Definitely going to be a great day. Maybe I'm just being overly optimistic but I think it could be a considerably larger crowd than a BH homecoming or NEPSAC bowl game. Hopefully they can bring in some temporary bleachers for the far sideline as well.

[Laxxal22]

The winter box leagues wrapped up this weekend. In a sign that they're most likely on a collision course this spring, Belmont Hill repeated as the 3D New England champs while St. Seb's won the Laxachusetts league for the third year in a row.

I mentioned that I didn't think I'd have time for a league preview this spring, but I took a look back at the notes I'd jotted down for 2022 and they were more comprehensive than I thought, so I will be finishing up a preview in the next couple of weeks. If anyone has insight on Brooks, RL, or St. Mark's please send me a PM. I'm pretty light on those programs at the moment.

[Can Opener]

BH is set up pretty well to handle a large crowd, with the balcony off the athletic center looking over the field. Will be a great way to finish the year.

Definitely going to be a great day. Maybe I'm just being overly optimistic but I think it could be a considerably larger crowd than a BH homecoming or NEPSAC bowl game. Hopefully they can bring in some temporary bleachers for the far sideline as well.

Nothing against BHS which has a beautiful campus and athletic complex, but that is not a great venue for 1,000+ fans. Lack of grandstands and it suffers from one of my pet peeves -- a lacrosse field set inside a track. It really separates the crowd from the action. Tufts, Babson, BC and Harvard would all be great venues, centrally located. BU fails my "track test," but it would be a good way for the Terriers to elevate their exposure to ISL athletes.

[Laxboy78]

Strange that Deerfield does not have it listed on their schedule, however those I've spoken with at BH are under the impression its an actual game.

Looks like it is on the Deerfield schedule now with a livestream! Lots of schedules finally getting posted

[Laxxal22]

Strange that Deerfield does not have it listed on their schedule, however those I've spoken with at BH are under the impression its an actual game.

Looks like it is on the Deerfield schedule now with a livestream! Lots of schedules finally getting posted

That's great. Hope to see livestreams as one of the lasting effects of Covid for ISL lacrosse.

[Can Opener]

My understanding is that the league will be divided into 4 pods of 4 teams each. The top 2 in each pod will advance to the big boys tournament and the bottom 2 will play in the other bracket. The top 2 will be decided by overall record of their total ISL games, not just results vs. their pod opponents. I imagine that head-to-head results will be the tiebreaker among teams with the same record in the same pod. It’s not a perfectly fair system, but hey, it’s a playoff which is great.

[Laxxal22]

My understanding is that the league will be divided into 4 pods of 4 teams each. The top 2 in each pod will advance to the big boys tournament and the bottom 2 will play in the other bracket. The top 2 will be decided by overall record of their total ISL games, not just results vs. their pod opponents. I imagine that head-to-head results will be the tiebreaker among teams with the same record in the same pod. It’s not a perfectly fair system, but hey, it’s a playoff which is great.

Interesting. Any insight into the pod breakdowns? I really hope they're evenly weighted, but I thought I'd read that teams were going to be grouped together based on relative strength of the past few years. It'd be rough if that's the case, and we have a situation with something like BH, Seb's, Govs and Nobles all in the same pod and two of them not ending up in the top eight playoff bracket.

[Can Opener]

My understanding is that the league will be divided into 4 pods of 4 teams each. The top 2 in each pod will advance to the big boys tournament and the bottom 2 will play in the other bracket. The top 2 will be decided by overall record of their total ISL games, not just results vs. their pod opponents. I imagine that head-to-head results will be the tiebreaker among teams with the same record in the same pod. It’s not a perfectly fair system, but hey, it’s a playoff which is great.

Interesting. Any insight into the pod breakdowns? I really hope they're evenly weighted, but I thought I'd read that teams were going to be grouped together based on relative strength of the past few years. It'd be rough if that's the case, and we have a situation with something like BH, Seb's, Govs and Nobles all in the same pod and two of them not ending up in the top eight playoff bracket.

There is probably a way to figure it out by looking at the schedules. For example, Bel Hill plays Middlesex after the tournament has concluded, so I doubt they are in the same pod. Same as Milton vs. Nobles and Tabor vs. St. Mark's & Lawrence.

[Laxboy78]

Top 8 teams at end of season based on record make it. Pods just determine who you have on your schedule. The best teams have the hardest schedules.