LaxPower Back-Up Stick

I just sense that NESCAC will be heavily influenced by what the Ivy League does. These players have already forfeited 1/4 of their careers. Somehow that have to make in conf play work at a minimum.

Hopefully instead of focusing on what the Ivy League does they focus on the numerous sports that are making it work as there are plenty at all levels. Not too say that safety isn’t paramount but there are kids and adults playing sports everywhere and no reports of transmissions during competition. I hope the focus is on these players getting to compete in as normal a season as possible. While sports aren’t more important than school for kids who have worked so hard it would be a shame for them to not get a chance to compete at the highest level possible.

Letter by the Tufts Seniors to the NESCAC pleading their case to play. Good for them!

https://twitter.com/TuftsLacrosse/statu ... 13638?s=20

Looks like the Wes Student Government Association is NOT in support of having athletics this spring:

https://twitter.com/WSAnews/status/1353 ... 87008?s=20

Is it fair to expect similar sentiments from the other NESCAC student bodies, given the way athletics are perceived?

Read it...
OMFG, they need to get a grip.

Looks like the rift between athletes and non-athletes is alive and well in Middletown.

Sidelinehorn! wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 11:20 am Letter by the Tufts Seniors to the NESCAC pleading their case to play. Good for them!

https://twitter.com/TuftsLacrosse/statu ... 13638?s=20

Really strange decision to point to the conferences they said were playing this winter. The ODAC (Old Dominion) is playing winter and has a plan for the spring, that is true. But the Coast 2 Coast conference only has 2 schools that have played winter sports (Salisbury and St. Mary's). I do know all the lacrosse schools in the conference plan on playing this spring, but essentially these basketball teams are playing as independents for the winter, not in the conference. The one I really don't get is including the Centennial conference. The Centennial has no Winter sports and they haven't made a decision yet for the spring sports. Why would the Tufts seniors include them as proof of "D3 leagues (that) have successfully completed a winter season and have plans to compete in a spring season"?

smoova wrote: ↑Mon Jan 25, 2021 4:53 pm Looks like the rift between athletes and non-athletes is alive and well in Middletown.

So what has changed?

NESCAC presidents are meeting today, spring sports will be an agenda item. No doubt it'll have great consequences as to whether a season happens in any form.

Here's to hoping they can play this season in a sensible responsible way. These kids have been through so much and losing another season would make it much worse.

Williams men are preseason 7th in D-III lacrosse national poll
By Howard Herman, The Berkshire Eagle 30 min ago

BERKSHIRE EAGLE FILE

Goalkeeper Harry Gahagan was a key factor in Williams finishing a shortened 2020 as the No. 3 men's lacrosse team in Division III. The Ephs will begin 2021 as the preseason No. 7 team.

The Ephs, coached by George McCormack, is the preseason No.7 team in the Nike/U.S. Lacrosse Division III men's preseason Top 20 poll. The poll was released by U.S. Lacrosse magazine.

Salisbury, the nation's No. 1 team going into the 2020 season that was never completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is the preseason No. 2 team. Williams' NESCAC rival Tufts is No.2, followed by RIT, NESCAC and Little Three rival Wesleyan and Ursinus, to round out the top five.


There are five NESCAC schools in the Nike Top 20. Amherst is 12th in the preseason poll, while Middlebury is 16th.

Two other area schools are in the Top 20. Union is the preseason No. 10 team in the country while RPI is ranked 17th.

In the final USILA regular-season, D-III poll of the 2020 campaign, Salisbury was first, followed by Tufts and Williams. Amherst was seventh and Wesleyan was 16th.

The NCAA Division III men's championship game will be played the weekend of May 29, at Rentschler Field in Hartford

US Lacrosse Magazine @USLacrosseMag
3 mins ago
An update from @NESCAC:

"The NESCAC presidents have agreed that conditions will need to improve significantly in order to conduct conference competition this spring."

If there's any competition, it won't be until late March or early April.

What a disaster.

Interesting but all but a few conferences are finding a way to make spring season work. Hopefully individual schools will find a way to let the kids compete in a meaningful way.

My sense is that will follow lead of the ivies at this point. Any association with ivies suits Nescac just fine. why not just wait and do what they do?

nehslaxfan wrote: ↑Wed Jan 27, 2021 8:19 pm Interesting but all but a few conferences are finding a way to make spring season work. Hopefully individual schools will find a way to let the kids compete in a meaningful way.

To say nothing of all NCAA DI hockey conferences other than the part of the ECAC that is the Ivys. F the Nescac Presidents. Just trying to be like the Ivys by parroting the same view. And today, in my part of the world:

"The grim milestone comes as trends show the situation improving overall in [STATE]. There are 5,214 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, a decrease of 216 from the day before.

The lack of action by the NESCAC Presidents sounds a death knell for the ‘21 season. The conference has postponed a decision in order to keep student athletes from deferring/withdrawing for the semester. Money talks. Such BS.

This inaction was the season’s death knell for a bunch of athletes in the conference. There will be a couple of schools who will see enough deferrals that they’ll be pressed for numbers to field a competitive squad. I can’t blame the players, as you only get one trip through the college experience, so why not let them hit the pause button for a semester. The last thing that I want to see happen is my kid going back, and having another season taken away. At nearly $75k a year, this remote learning/college experience isn’t what they signed up for.

I’m sure it doesn’t matter a bit to them but my HS’er is really put off by the NESCACs reaction. We’re a family with four NESCAC athletes and have a kid who easily meets the academic requirements and in normal years would be a very easy fit for this conference. But my kid is really put off but the lack of effort they’re putting into having a season. At this point I’m starting to count them out as options for a recruit.

I have been waiting for that sentiment to bubble to the surface. If conferences like the NESCAC and the Centennial don't play while others like the ODAC do, will there be any long term changes to the D3 landscape?? Just wondering.

Laxdds wrote: ↑Thu Jan 28, 2021 8:53 am I have been waiting for that sentiment to bubble to the surface. If conferences like the NESCAC and the Centennial don't play while others like the ODAC do, will there be any long term changes to the D3 landscape?? Just wondering.

I don't think so - if one or more NESCAC/CC teams do not play this spring, I'd expect a short-term (<1 season) dip in performance out of those teams since, when they do return to the field, they will have not competed together against top competition for almost 2 years. However, I do not think NESCAC/CC conference/school decisions about playing the 2021 season will have any measurable impact on recruiting.