LaxPower Back-Up Stick

Conference continues to bleed. RIT, then Ithaca, now Stevens. Kueka joins next year.

1) St. John Fisher - Took down the Ducks in the championship, won an NCAA game, very young team, Top 15 finish I think
2) Nazareth - I hope they can return to what they once were. Had some solid young talent on offensive end. Very few upstate NY recruits in the new freshman class, not sure what has happened here
3) Hartwick - Very good freshman attackman and return a talented goalie
4) Alfred - lost points to graduation and transfer. Think they still have ground to gain on Naz and 'Wick
5) Sage - Pretty good 1st season, I think they might jump Utica in year 2
6) Utica - Lost top offensive player and goalie, should be a good game with Sage
7) Elmira - Not sure if Gorman can bring them above this spot, hope they can get a full roster
8) Houghton - There are worse teams out there

Fisher is an easy pick. Easily a top 15 maybe top 10.
Wick and Naz are a pickem. Wick lost some defense. I'm not sure there was depth to replace that. Attack and offensive mids are in good shape. I would like to see Thompson get a right hand. At least then he could roll out of trouble. Ferguson at mid has a huge upside. Wick also needs somehow to upgrade the schedule. Naz really needs to pick up their game. Like in the ODAC with Noke the E8 needs a strong NAZ . Alfred lost ground last year. Tough place to recruit to. Sage and Elmira are interesting. Sage is in a good location and had a good first year. Gorman at Elmira is in his 2nd year. I'm sure the pace will pick up there. Utica and Houghton round it out.

Fisher should have their way in E8 for awhile.
Sad to see a conference that was once a force look this weak. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fisher doesn’t start looking for a new home. I just don’t know where they would land if they left.

D3 lacrosse throughout upstate is taking a beating. Look at SUNY, E8 and Liberty. Liberty fares the best. RIT is loaded with Canadians, SLU gets kids from New England as does Union. New York schools are being beaten to the punch by D2 schools. Look at Tampa. Whip is using his upstate connections to get kids who used to go to upstate schools. Other D2 schools are loaded with NY kids. Kids and parents like the idea of getting scholarship dollars for sports. They need to know that those dollars are available at the d3 schools for academics and as grants. SUNY schools might soon have the advantage of free tuitions which will help them keep kids closer to home. The private schools will have to increase their endowments in order to keep up. All in all it amounts to a tough row to hoe for private schools in upstate NY and their lacrosse teams.

Maybe upstate Lacrosse is just “drying up”...

Here’s a list of players from one high school alone (Victor, NY) on top 20 DI teams last year.

No. 20 Albany (Pat Barrow and Tanner Hay), No. 19 Bryant (Jack Callahan), No. 17 Michigan (Andrew Russell), No. 12 Loyola (Mitch Cain), No. 9 Cornell (Ryan Maloney and Chayse Ierlan), No. 8 John Hopkins (Alex Mabbett), No. 7 Syracuse (Jamie Trimboli) and No. 1 Yale (TD Ierlan).

Upstate lacrosse is alive and well. The better questions might be whether to top talent wants to; A. Stay close to home, and B. Play DI vs DIII. As the strong years of some upstate DIII programs fade from recent memory, chances of a bounce back diminish.

15. Saint John Fisher (who beat 10. Gettysburg in last years NCAA) opens with Ithaca, then 3 days later plays 9. Denison.
They goto Florida then play 11. Union and week later 5. RIT. Roster is full of upstate kids.

Impressive squad that got valuable playoff experience and lost little to graduation. Too bad Stevens left conference but, as noted, their 2020 OOC is strong and will keep them honest.
Are they (RIT? Cortland? Rhodes?) the clearest lock for autobid at this point?
If SJF is 3/4 loss team going into playoffs, beware.

richard wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:41 pm D3 lacrosse throughout upstate is taking a beating. Look at SUNY, E8 and Liberty. Liberty fares the best. RIT is loaded with Canadians, SLU gets kids from New England as does Union. New York schools are being beaten to the punch by D2 schools. Look at Tampa. Whip is using his upstate connections to get kids who used to go to upstate schools. Other D2 schools are loaded with NY kids. Kids and parents like the idea of getting scholarship dollars for sports. They need to know that those dollars are available at the d3 schools for academics and as grants. SUNY schools might soon have the advantage of free tuitions which will help them keep kids closer to home. The private schools will have to increase their endowments in order to keep up. All in all it amounts to a tough row to hoe for private schools in upstate NY and their lacrosse teams.

Being from Buffalo, I see a lot of players going to play D2 lately instead of staying in NY to play D3. A good amount of the ones that play D3 end up in the OAC (John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace, Ohio Northern). I don't know why there aren't many staying to play D3 in NY but it's definitely interesting to think about.

Fisher has all the momentum and now has coach that came in with credentials and made some noise in year 1 & 2. I think SJF’s upside is huge and they’ll be relevant for years. This does not bode well for Naz and Randall. First RIT leapfrogs the Flyers and hasn’t looked back and now SJF is beating them in the hometown recruiting game.

ALaudico7 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2020 9:13 am

richard wrote: ↑Mon Feb 03, 2020 9:41 pm D3 lacrosse throughout upstate is taking a beating. Look at SUNY, E8 and Liberty. Liberty fares the best. RIT is loaded with Canadians, SLU gets kids from New England as does Union. New York schools are being beaten to the punch by D2 schools. Look at Tampa. Whip is using his upstate connections to get kids who used to go to upstate schools. Other D2 schools are loaded with NY kids. Kids and parents like the idea of getting scholarship dollars for sports. They need to know that those dollars are available at the d3 schools for academics and as grants. SUNY schools might soon have the advantage of free tuitions which will help them keep kids closer to home. The private schools will have to increase their endowments in order to keep up. All in all it amounts to a tough row to hoe for private schools in upstate NY and their lacrosse teams.

Being from Buffalo, I see a lot of players going to play D2 lately instead of staying in NY to play D3. A good amount of the ones that play D3 end up in the OAC (John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace, Ohio Northern). I don't know why there aren't many staying to play D3 in NY but it's definitely interesting to think about.

Probably money... and not necessarily scholarships either.
Ohio private colleges are about $10K less than NY state private equivalents. Go further south and the difference can be $15K to $20K.

SJF coach is currently in year 3. '17 he was Assistant Head Coach. '18 (his first year) they went 12-6. Last year his second 17-3. They had 2 regular season losses, Stevens (who they beat in the Empire 8 Championship) and RIT. They lost to Williams in the NCAA tourney. If they can stay healthy I think they can get make some noise. Will see

Naz beats Springfield. Good news for E8. St JF takes on Denison Tuesday. Another big game for E8 fans. A win there would not surprise me..

You didn't mention that SJF beat Ithaca yesterday 18-13. A game that SJF should have won, but it's nice to beat a top half LL team. Tuesday is a big test, but I think SJF will come out on top in a close one.

Cards over the Bombers. Evans with 6 gs. This is going to be a fun team to watch for the next few years.

Oswego wins a close one vs Hartwick. This was a winnable game for Wick. They out shot the Lakers and made a good goalie look great. They might have forgotten he is a lefty in the first quarter. Hartwick attack man Thompson would be twice as good as he is if he had a right hand.

Men's and women's soccer is scheduled to begin March 10th and 11th, while women's volleyball is set to start on the 17th of March. Men's and women's lacrosse will begin potentially as early as March 20th according a release from Elmira College, baseball and softball on April 1st, and men's golf will compete in the E8 Championships over 3 days on April 16-18.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.mpnnow ... 6767108002

Empire 8 a go for spring sports.

MAR 3 (WED) 4 P.M.
VS ITHACA COLLEGE

MAR 6 (SAT) 1 P.M.
AT CLARKSON UNIVERSITY

MAR 10 (WED) 5 P.M.
VS UNION COLLEGE

MAR 13 (SAT) 1 P.M.
VS OSWEGO STATE

MAR 20 (SAT) 1 P.M.
AT SUNY CORTLAND

MAR 24 (WED) 7 P.M.
AT RIT

APR 3 (SAT) 1 P.M.
AT ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY

RocLaxFan wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 9:32 am MAR 3 (WED) 4 P.M.
VS ITHACA COLLEGE

MAR 6 (SAT) 1 P.M.
AT CLARKSON UNIVERSITY

MAR 10 (WED) 5 P.M.
VS UNION COLLEGE

MAR 13 (SAT) 1 P.M.
VS OSWEGO STATE

MAR 20 (SAT) 1 P.M.
AT SUNY CORTLAND

MAR 24 (WED) 7 P.M.
AT RIT

APR 3 (SAT) 1 P.M.
AT ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY

I wouldn't trust this too much. IC still has no info on season, apparently March 1st is when school (and i'm assuming LL) is making a call. Highly doubt that March 3rd game will happen but you never know