NESCAC

[creasecone66]

NJIT get a huge road win in Queens as they take down St. Johns 10-8...things are lookin' up for the #highlanders !!

[laxdad1434]

NJIT get a huge road win in Queens as they take down St. Johns 10-8...things are lookin' up for the #highlanders !!

Yep...

[Laxxal22]

NJIT get a huge road win in Queens as they take down St. Johns 10-8...things are lookin' up for the #highlanders !!

Watched a little bit of this one On Demand. Honestly, compared to the other games that were on today it looked like a D3 matchup.

[SouthieLax]

Kohn (Tufts) really struggled with the size/speed adjustment of D1 today going 16-24 on faceoffs for Syracuse. He is also a captain.

[laxdad1434]

Kohn (Tufts) really struggled with the size/speed adjustment of D1 today going 16-24 on faceoffs for Syracuse. He is also a captain.

Genius, Kohn is 6' 210

[Laxattackjack]

Kohn (Tufts) really struggled with the size/speed adjustment of D1 today going 16-24 on faceoffs for Syracuse. He is also a captain.

16 or 24. Not bad. Interesting. He seemed to transition pretty good to D1
Ben Mayer transfered from York after two seasons, to Ohio state and started yesterday. Scoring two goals.

Top level D3 teams have plenty of talent to play at D1 schools

[Laxguy456]

In preparation for Mondays start across the ‘cac, here’s my preseason rankings with tiers. Don’t rip me too hard
TIER 1 - National Title hopes
1. Bowdoin - return the most in the conference, natty ship hopes
2. Midd - exciting crop of underclassmen, next year could be theirs
3. Tufts - they lose a lot but they always replace, I might be eating my words by Memorial Day weekend
TIER 2 - Really good teams here, should make for some great games. Expecting lots of fluidity here through the season
4. Amherst - strong squad, bob gross potential conf. Poty
5. Conn - the gritty camels have a strong defense and great goalie, but they’ll need to replace Rainville
6. Williams - breaking in a new keep but return a lot of production
7. Trinity - Ike is a big loss but they return good production and a great goalie
8. Wesleyan - disappointing end to last year, Jack Raba is back but not sure the cards figure it all out
9. Hamilton - sleeper team here, their stud lsm could swing the tide and rise the conts up these rankings
TIER 3 - cellar
10. Colby - great hire w/ Bernhardt, but gonna be a couple years to get his guys in. Potential 2028 cac champs
11. Bates - nothing new here, roster pretty barren outside of close defenseman Curtis

The 2024 college lacrosse preview by New England Lacrosse Journal, featuring the NESCAC, was published on January 31st. Titled "Time for a Change?" and authored by Kyle Devitte, the article quotes six coaches and categorizes the NESCAC teams as follows:
• The Top – Tufts and Middlebury
• The Challengers - Bowdoin and Amherst
• No substitute for Experience – Williams and Connecticut College
• Dark Horse – Wesleyan and Trinity
• Best of the Rest – Hamilton, Bates, and Colby

The article lacks in-depth insights into each team, disappointing readers who anticipated detailed analysis. However, notable points include:
• Tufts- Coach D'Annolfo is quoted “I think 2024 has the possibility to be the most wide open league in the last 15 years.” He mentions the notable returners:
O - Charlie Tagliaferri, Jack Regnery, Kevin Christmas
D - George Panagopoulos, Michael Ayers, Joey Waldbaum
Devitte identifies Parker Merrill will be FO man number one for the Jumbos

• Middlebury – Devitte confirms “Super-Seniors” - William Ryan, Tom Conley and Luke Simpson are back for 2024.

• Bowdoin – Devitte talks about their disappointing 2023 campaign. Calls out their SSDM and FO specialist and singled out Will Bryne as the leagues top attack.

• Amherst is not returning “Super-Seniors”: Notable losses are as I had listed based on this article:
O – Tanyr Krummenacher, Matt Adams, Bayard DeMallie
D - Brodie Rayment, Jack McHugh, Robinson Armour

• Williams – Devitte comments that all their top scores are back and does call out the loss of Keeper Matthew Freitas. Interesting that arguably one of the more important roles on the team he calls out that the backups played 18 minutes combined – no substitute for experience category?

• Connecticut College – notes Will Rice in goal and the fact the Camels return the same team, less Rainville. Devitte groups Conn in the experience grouping and then mentions a sophomore midfielder that saw time in three games in 2023 and a freshman close D. Devitte does call out a couple of Junior attack, one senior midfielder and a senior D man.

• Wesleyan – Devitte quotes Coach Raba “We expect some bumps, but if we respond the way I think we are capable of, it could be a remarkable one.” Confirms the Cardinals are losing the most seniors of any team in the NESCAC. Devitte also confirms that Justin Hazard and Jack Raba will return for the 2024 season. The Cardinals starting goalie will be Sam Jewett.

• Trinity – Coach Tarnow is quoted “I expect us to get better as the season goes on. We feel we are very strong at LSM and SSDM…” The article offers no updates on rumored transfers.

• Hamilton – Devitte confirms three of their top five scorers have graduated. He calls out their LSM as a “man-machine” but there really is little written about the Continentals.

• Bates – Devitte identifies that it is Coach Annino’s second season, and they’re a work in progress.

• Colby – Identifies the late hire of Coach Bernhardt and that there are no expectations for the Mules this year.

Though not explicitly ranked, the teams are discussed in the order mentioned. However, based on the article's content, I have revised my ranking, moved Amherst from 5th to 7th, Williams from 6th to 5th, with Wesleyan moving to 6th place due to confirmed "Super-Seniors," and Trinity and Hamilton moved down to 8th and 9th, respectively:
Revised Pre-Season Rankings:
1. Bowdoin
2. Middlebury
3. Tufts
4. Connecticut College
5. Williams
6. Wesleyan
7. Amherst
8. Trinity
9. Hamilton
10. Colby
11. Bates

[creasecone66]

I feel like reviewing your critique of Devitte’s writing merits a response of the James Franco meme when it looks like he’s about be hung and he looks to his left with the caption “first time?”…as in first time you’ve read his work or heard his ramblings on a podcast and thought “uhh…what?” Also respect Tufts dominance since the Daly era, but why wasn’t the conference open in 2017? Was the assumption that Bates was the clear-cut #1? Shoutout to that 2017 Bates squad.

[DoubleD]

Kohn (Tufts) really struggled with the size/speed adjustment of D1 today going 16-24 on faceoffs for Syracuse. He is also a captain.

16 or 24. Not bad. Interesting. He seemed to transition pretty good to D1
Ben Mayer transfered from York after two seasons, to Ohio state and started yesterday. Scoring two goals.

Top level D3 teams have plenty of talent to play at D1 schools

Was suprised Titus and Bruun barerly played. Mayer and Kohn did really well.

[Branwinstonforth]

Proper Nescac rankings

1 middlebury
2 tufts
3 Hamilton
4 Williams
5 Bowdoin
6 Wesleyan
7 Conn
8 bates
9 Colby
10 trinity
11 Amherst
12 NJIT

[_notsolittle]

Amherst too high

[RE6ULATOR]

Proper Nescac rankings

1 middlebury
2 tufts
3 Hamilton
4 Williams
5 Bowdoin
6 Wesleyan
7 Conn
8 bates
9 Colby
10 trinity
11 Amherst
12 NJIT

[Laxxal22]

I feel like reviewing your critique of Devitte’s writing merits a response of the James Franco meme when it looks like he’s about be hung and he looks to his left with the caption “first time?”…as in first time you’ve read his work or heard his ramblings on a podcast and thought “uhh…what?” Also respect Tufts dominance since the Daly era, but why wasn’t the conference open in 2017? Was the assumption that Bates was the clear-cut #1? Shoutout to that 2017 Bates squad.

KD is in a tough spot. NELJ essentially asks him to cover college, high school, prep school, club, and pro lacrosse across six states. When spread like that it's tough to have/go deeper than surface level observations. Not an ideal scenario.

[ah23]

Tuning in to the past ~20 pages of discourse.

[choochooCharlie]

Tuning in to the past ~20 pages of discourse.

Middlebury has a scheduling crisis.

Bates is 2 Duke players away from making a run.

NJIT could join the NESCAC & immediately be in contention.

And it turns out there is a huge WWF following among NESCAC fans. Who knew?

Now you’re all caught up.

[jumpman23]

Tuning in to the past ~20 pages of discourse.

Middlebury has a scheduling crisis.

Bates is 2 Duke players away from making a run.

NJIT could join the NESCAC & immediately be in contention.

And it turns out there is a huge WWF following among NESCAC fans. Who knew?

Now you’re all caught up.

An instant classic. Well done!

[MVPiccoli]

Tuning in to the past ~20 pages of discourse.

Middlebury has a scheduling crisis.

Bates is 2 Duke players away from making a run.

NJIT could join the NESCAC & immediately be in contention.

And it turns out there is a huge WWF following among NESCAC fans. Who knew?

Now you’re all caught up.

An instant classic. Well done!

Legit LOL Chuck. Cheers!

[The12lov3]

Guys,

Last year Tufts scored almost 170 more goals than Middlebury. After Braun, JB, and Swank the next 7 high scorers besides Murtha were mostly Freshman and Sophomore's. Point in bringing this up is that Tufts is still a very dangerous team and they reload every year. Not sure of their Freshman class but looks like they have some real studs that are coming in.

Cheers Gents - looking forward to the season.

[RamsFan]

For all the "D3 players don't realize how much better D1 players are" guys who post on here I leave this stat line from SYR vs 'Gate without comment:

Kohn 17-22 FO 14 GB 1G 2A 3PTS 1CT 0TO

[The12lov3]

For all the "D3 players don't realize how much better D1 players are" guys who post on here I leave this stat line from SYR vs 'Gate without comment:

Kohn 17-22 FO 14 GB 1G 2A 3PTS 1CT 0TO

Curious to see how JB does at Virginia this weekend. Mason Kohn looks like he has continued his success at the D1 level.