LaxPower Back-Up Stick

My predictions for Wednesday's action (winners in bold):

Westminster School (3-4) vs. @Salisbury School (5-0)
Choate (4-2) vs. @Avon Old Farms (3-3)
Berkshire School (2-4) vs. @Hotchkiss (4-0)
Kent School (0-7) vs. @Loomis Chaffee (3-3)
Cushing Academy (1-3) vs.@Northfield Mt Hermon (0-10)
Brunswick School (6-0) vs. @Taft School (5-0) --- Game of the Day
Trinity-Pawling (4-2) vs. @Deerfield (4-1)

Looks like a promising day for the home teams...

Wick won 7-5
Salisbury won15-5

Completely plausible Wick loses a game this year as this is high school lax and they are playing a great schedule. I will eat my shorts is they are held to 7 goals though and to pick them to lose any given game is very tough. Taft is great, the top 4 teams as always in West-1 are extraordinarily talented, but good grief, this Wick team is loaded (again, not completely shocking if they lose on the road to an great Taft team). I like AOF a little comfortably over Choate if they are still engaged. Very strong team, bunch of close loses in a brutal schedule, vastly harder opponents than Choate, give me the Winged Beavers 13-7.

pcowlax wrote: ↑Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:20 pm Completely plausible Wick loses a game this year as this is high school lax and they are playing a great schedule. I will eat my shorts is they are held to 7 goals though and to pick them to lose any given game is very tough. Taft is great, the top 4 teams as always in West-1 are extraordinarily talented, but good grief, this Wick team is loaded (again, not completely shocking if they lose on the road to an great Taft team). I like AOF a little comfortably over Choate if they are still engaged. Very strong team, bunch of close loses in a brutal schedule, vastly harder opponents than Choate, give me the Winged Beavers 13-7.

Like I said, Wick won 7-5. Check that, I said 'wins' which made it seem like I was making a prediction. I changed 'wins' to 'won'.

Both Avon & Deerfield games are low scoring. They're still playing.

AOF: https://www.avonoldfarms.com/athletics ... m/lacrosse

Deerfield: https://events.locallive.tv/events/75809

Caught the 4th Qtr of Deerfield's 11-5 win over Trinity Pawling. I saw 2 very different teams. Deerfield, with good ball movement and solid D and good energy. TP was flat on both ends of the field. Offense was too much solo efforts. D looked slow and was easily moved out of position. Maybe the first 3 quarters were better for TP. Just expected a more cohesive effort.

I turned it on for a minute in the second qtr and it was either 4-4 or 5-4 at that point. Deerfield must have settled in the 2nd half.

ausus wrote: ↑Wed Apr 20, 2022 3:28 pm My predictions for Wednesday's action (winners in bold):

Westminster School (3-4) vs. @Salisbury School (5-0)
Choate (4-2) vs. @Avon Old Farms (3-3)
Berkshire School (2-4) vs. @Hotchkiss (4-0)
Kent School (0-7) vs. @Loomis Chaffee (3-3)
Cushing Academy (1-3) vs.@Northfield Mt Hermon (0-10)
Brunswick School (6-0) vs. @Taft School (5-0) --- Game of the Day
Trinity-Pawling (4-2) vs. @Deerfield (4-1)

Looks like a promising day for the home teams...

How many times are you gonna pick against Wick before you get on Board? Lville last week and Taft this week?

Just saw Hotchkiss beat Berkshire 18-4. They seem to more or less be mirroring both Salisbury and Deerfield. Maybe they're being overlooked a little bit. We'll find out more about them next game against Brunswick.

They have Brunswick at the right time - Wick v Taft on Weds., Wick v Hill Academy Fri night, and the Hotchkiss early Sat. The scheduling was very aggressive by Wick. Certainly not Hotchkiss' fault but does leave Brunswick vulnerable to a quality squad like Hotchkiss. This 4 day stretch against 3 top notch programs is as tough as I can recall.

TOADHALL wrote: ↑Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:20 pm They have Brunswick at the right time - Wick v Taft on Weds., Wick v Hill Academy Fri night, and the Hotchkiss early Sat. The scheduling was very aggressive by Wick. Certainly not Hotchkiss' fault but does leave Brunswick vulnerable to a quality squad like Hotchkiss. This 4 day stretch against 3 top notch programs is as tough as I can recall.

That's an understatement! Brings up another advantage Wick has in "selling" their lax program which the boarding schools of West 1 (geographically) have tough time matching: scheduling of out of league games.

We're lax-o-centric here, so we don't want to forget the boarding schools have their non-lax-o-centric advantages to draw in the kiddos.

Brutal scheduling. I know the kids won't complain, but from a sports physiology, performance, and recovery standpoint, can't be optimal.

Recent history shows that a tight 3 game window has become a staple of Wick's season. Their annual Amen Corner. This year's opponents and timing are particularly tough. Wick's depth will be the key to making it through. All three of their attack and 8+ middies are scoring on a regular basis. Wick's best performances key off of fast break opportunities, particularly off the face-off. They went only 50% at the dot versus Taft. That and Ricciardelli's outstanding play in net were the keys in that game.

Interesting note for the Hotchkiss game where it will be ND's '22 Fogo recruit (Hotchkiss) versus their '23 Fogo recruit (Wick).

The ND FOGO vs the ND FOGO is a great call, prelim of years of practice battles. As for Hill, I have not seen them play this year so this is spit balling off scores. They are however 4-4 (playing a brutal schedule). Over the past 10 years though, they have always played a brutal schedule and very rarely lost more than 2 games a year, while handling MIAA and West-1 teams (Brunswick has been an exception). Win over Spalding is a very good win, 1 goal loss to St. John’s looks like a very good loss. But losing to Salesianum (a very legit team but not top 10 national level) and beating Hill School by 1 is not very impressive for the level they usually are at. Based just on scores, which is a fools errand, I would say Wick maybe 13-7 but we will see after the tough Taft game. Agree Hotchkiss, who has their best team in a decade + has them at the best possible time tomorrow am. Let’s get it on and see!

Haven't seen Hill this year either, but it looks like they're not quite on par with their usual levels. I reckon you're in the ball park with 13-7. What has impressed me the most with Wick when I've watched them this year is how tenacious they are on D. You don't get an easy possession in their zone. Forced turnovers go way up when teams face Brunswick.

13-6 Brunswick after 3. Wick has won pretty much every face off with their fogo scoring a hat trick in the third quarter alone.

TOADHALL wrote: ↑Thu Apr 21, 2022 2:20 pm They have Brunswick at the right time - Wick v Taft on Weds., Wick v Hill Academy Fri night, and the Hotchkiss early Sat. The scheduling was very aggressive by Wick. Certainly not Hotchkiss' fault but does leave Brunswick vulnerable to a quality squad like Hotchkiss. This 4 day stretch against 3 top notch programs is as tough as I can recall.

Vulnerable to Hotchkiss? That's adorable and hilarious. The best player at Hotchkiss literally couldn't get on the field at Wick. So, is what it is. Wick by 10.

17-9 final

Thought the first half was closer than the score indicated. 2nd half Wick was in cruise control and in contrast to the 1st half the final score was probably closer than it could have been.

grelch wrote: ↑Fri Apr 22, 2022 5:57 pm Thought the first half was closer than the score indicated. 2nd half Wick was in cruise control and in contrast to the 1st half the final score was probably closer than it could have been.

Unless Deerfield and the others can find a generational player in Trumbull (of all places) again, and get him to repeat, it's going to be a tough ride. Wick has the territory locked down. You'll see

Brunswick vs. St. Johns (Md.) - Beyond curious how these teams compare, but we will never truly know. Truly the best 'wick team in recent memory. They are so deep it seems like they are almost immune to off days with the ability to rely on different players each game, even at the high school level. Crazy to think the #4 team in the country in 2021 who graduated 9+ D1 seniors could somehow get better.

Laxallday wrote: ↑Wed Apr 20, 2022 7:46 pm

ausus wrote: ↑Wed Apr 20, 2022 3:28 pm My predictions for Wednesday's action (winners in bold):

Westminster School (3-4) vs. @Salisbury School (5-0)
Choate (4-2) vs. @Avon Old Farms (3-3)
Berkshire School (2-4) vs. @Hotchkiss (4-0)
Kent School (0-7) vs. @Loomis Chaffee (3-3)
Cushing Academy (1-3) vs.@Northfield Mt Hermon (0-10)
Brunswick School (6-0) vs. @Taft School (5-0) --- Game of the Day
Trinity-Pawling (4-2) vs. @Deerfield (4-1)

Looks like a promising day for the home teams...

How many times are you gonna pick against Wick before you get on Board? Lville last week and Taft this week?

I like an underdog...

We've got some incredible games this weekend... my predictions for Saturday's action (winners in bold):

Berkshire School (2-5) vs. @ Kent School (0-8)
Northfield Mt Hermon (1-10) vs. @ Worcester Academy (3-1)
Salisbury School (6-0) vs. @ Lawrenceville (8-3) --- Game of the Day
Hotchkiss (5-0) vs. @ Brunswick School (7-0)
Loomis Chaffee (4-3) vs. @ Avon Old Farms (4-3)
Westminster School (3-5) vs. @ Trinity Pawling (4-3)
Taft School (5-1) vs. @ Deerfield (5-1)