MASS HS Lax

[NNELax]

I'm not sure anyone totally bought that he would enroll there, but Henry Hasselbeck has officially decommitted from Maryland lacrosse and intends to pursue college football. Probably for the best. Juggling the two was probably keeping him from reaching his ceiling in either, and tbh even as a dmid MD seemed like a reach. He has offers from MSU, Arizona, BC (obviously) a bunch of Ivies and others. I'd be kind of stunned to see him suit up for the Hawks again next spring.

https://twitter.com/HenryHasselbeck/sta ... 0533662720

Update. MSU it is. https://twitter.com/HenryHasselbeck/sta ... 40994?s=20

Bummer because I thought he could have been an awesome dmid for Maryland....Those guys don't get nearly the credit they deserve in the sport...perfect example is what Terefenko, Goodrich, Logan and Richard brought to team USA in the world games...They don't beat Canada without them...

[Laxxal22]

Perhaps. While there's been huge improvements in the past 10-15 years it's still pretty rare for MA players (MIAA & ISL) to be impact players on Final Four caliber teams. It's the final hurdle imo.

[Farfromgeneva]

Perhaps. While there's been huge improvements in the past 10-15 years it's still pretty rare for MA players (MIAA & ISL) to be impact players on Final Four caliber teams. It's the final hurdle imo.

If Eric Holden hadn’t of been hurt most of the season you would’ve seen more of him for Maryland in 21.

[Laxxal22]

But that was after four years of development at Hobart. If he'd been gone to College Park directly from LS it could've been a rough adjustment.

[Farfromgeneva]

But that was after four years of development at Hobart. If he'd been gone to College Park directly from LS it could've been a rough adjustment.

Perhaps, he had a up and down first two years. Even the 39pts in 2018 masked a sub 20% shooting rate. By Jr year, 2019, he was AA level and probably would've made HM or perhaps even 3rd team had the season finished up, that was his year.

Holden is also a legacy of Bart, his uncle went there. So he otherwise would've ended up IVY or at a higher end program I believe without that relationship.

[Laxxal22]

[quote=Laxxal22 post_id=479589 time=<a href="tel:1688568446">1688568446</a> user_id=422]
Perhaps. While there's been huge improvements in the past 10-15 years it's still pretty rare for MA players (MIAA & ISL) to be impact players on Final Four caliber teams. It's the final hurdle imo.

Interestingly vague declarative statement.

the "merry go round" of defining what, an impact player, even is .

Coupled with "rare", well now we got ourselves a "whirling dervirsh" of opinions.
[/quote]

Okay then, someone who plays in close games for teams that reach the quarterfinals. That’s pretty generous and I think would still only leave MA with Frisoli and Maguire from Seb’s/Duke. Two guys out eight teams that run 25ish guys in a game is roughy 1%.

[runrussellrun]

[quote=Laxxal22 post_id=479589 time=<a href="tel:1688568446">1688568446</a> user_id=422]
Perhaps. While there's been huge improvements in the past 10-15 years it's still pretty rare for MA players (MIAA & ISL) to be impact players on Final Four caliber teams. It's the final hurdle imo.

Interestingly vague declarative statement.

the "merry go round" of defining what, an impact player, even is .

Coupled with "rare", well now we got ourselves a "whirling dervirsh" of opinions.

Okay then, someone who plays in close games for teams that reach the quarterfinals. That’s pretty generous and I think would still only leave MA with Frisoli and Maguire from Seb’s/Duke.
[/quote]

The 2019 Virginia champs had plenty of Eastern Mass kids, having an impacts. Matt Dziama, comes to mind. Herring, too.

Denver won an n$aa championship with zero help from Baltimore/MIAA impact players. Little of the Long Island spice to go along with lack of Old Bay.

What is your endgame, in bringing this up ? (lack of "impact" ) players ?

Are you saying that, even the pay to play "club teams" aren't producing "impact" players, for the Eastern Mass. affluent ?

How, could THIS be ?

Certain named "club team$", get mentioned, often.

Thank you for pointing out that these club teams impact, on lacrosse's "impact players", is nominal.

Shouldn't the question be, why this is?

[runrussellrun]

", well now we got ourselves a "whirling dervirsh" of opinions.

Okay then, someone who plays in close games for teams that reach the quarterfinals. That’s pretty generous and I think would still only leave MA with Frisoli and Maguire from Seb’s/Duke. Two guys out eight teams that run 25ish guys in a game is roughy 1%.
[/quote]

Aidan Carroll and Will Bowen for G-town.

Ned Lynch, Dawson Clark and John Sullivan for Army

Matt Narewski for Johns Hopkins

That is 6 more players......getting it up to 4%

Sexton, (Irish) Donahue (Denver) and Quinzani (Duke) types.......guess you are looking for.

The serious "ask" is why isn't the "club" system producing more "impact" type players, if the system is so "top notch" ?

____________________________________________



Penn State had themselves a 5 star, Matt Lazzaro. (Franklin, Mass) Did he get hurt ? No stats, at all. BTW, the only Nitme Lion player from Eastern NE, on its roster.

[Laxxal22]

I wasn't trying to make any negative judgements - the progress has been tremendous over the past 20 years. I was simply trying to state that imo there's one more level to go before reaching the Baltimore, Philly, Long Island/NY, DMV, Fairfield County level - the same areas MA has always been chasing. There is plenty of valid critiques of the club system, but I do think it has added a layer of player development that wasn't there in the past as MA has never had a critical mass of dads (another vaguely declarative statement, sorry) with playing experience.

[MA Lax Fan]

Owen Murphy at UMD was a top 5 scorer on their 22 Championship team and he was only a sophomore.

Does that count?

Also, going back aways. Quinzani at Duke from Dux was an absolute stud. I think it was 08.

[NNELax]

Dave Lawson - MX to Duke

[Laxxal22]

Owen Murphy at UMD was a top 5 scorer on their 22 Championship team and he was only a sophomore.

Does that count?

Also, going back aways. Quinzani at Duke from Dux was an absolute stud. I think it was 08.

Kind of. He left to go to Avon Old Farms.

[pcowlax]

Interesting article in NE Lax Journal about tensions between MIAA schools and Catholics, some coaches willing to speak on record

[Laxxal22]

Interesting article in NE Lax Journal about tensions between MIAA schools and Catholics, some coaches willing to speak on record

I read the piece. Coaching is a small fraternity and it has to be getting pretty awkward/tense at this point. Seems tensions are close to boiling over.

[Laxboy78]

Think anything will come out of it?

[justafan2023]

Longtime reader of the forum, always great information for someone like me that never played the sport that my kids love.

I also read the article but thought it was poorly written and one-sided. I'd like to give my thoughts and hope that if I'm the board will educate me if I'm way off.

Academics - I don't know what the author was trying to say here - all of these schools are excellent, public and private, but he seems to indicate that the Catholics have lesser standards, which I don't think is true. I don't think that anyone that would struggle to pass the MCAS would be admitted to these schools.

Reclasses - Yes, the Catholics have reclasses, but please don't pretend that the publics don't either. We know that in many of these affluent towns the parents hold the kid back and give him a late start to kindergarten. My wife and I were shocked as we realized that many of our son's classmates were over a year older than him because the parents decided to hold him back a year, which I have no problem with, parents should do what they want in their child's interest. Also, some of these kids reclass at a Catholic or ISL and then come back to the public school at some point - I know my local public school has a few. I think if you reviewed the rosters of many public schools you'd find a fair amount of reclasses there as well - it is not exclusive to Catholics or ISLs.

Scholarships - I was amused by this one. Someone should tell the AB coach that lacrosse is the 'full pay' crowd. Ridiculous to think that many of these lacrosse kids are getting financial aid - they're not. Lacrosse is an aristocrat sport. Ask the AB coach to name three kids he knows that were given scholarships to play lacrosse - he cannot. The author should have asked him that same question or else not published his comments - an accusation like that should have some specifics.

Some of these public school coaches think they own these kids because they grew up in that town - they do not. We have an excellent public high school in my town but my son was never going there - that decision was made long before he ever started athletics. They feel cheated because he doesn't go to the public school, but they shouldn't feel that way. The majority of kids at the Catholic schools never play sports at the varsity level but they attend the school for so many other reasons.

I have to wonder if some of this tension in lacrosse is because the sport has matured over the past few decades and become more competitive. The explosive growth of the sport over the past decades has made it more difficult for the oldest programs to sustain the type of success that they became accustomed to when it was a smaller pond. Just a thought.

Also, read the article in today's Boston Herald about Catholic Memorial's Guerby Lambert. He's one of the biggest football recruits in the country and just committed to Notre Dame, but he never played football before they pulled him off the soccer field at CM. He didn't go to a Catholic school for the athletics - some do, but most do not.

[NNELax]

Catholics should leave the MIAA like Austin Prep did. I think the issue is football more than anything. MIAA football is more competitive than what you get in the ISL/NE Prep.

[Laxxal22]

Catholics should leave the MIAA like Austin Prep did. I think the issue is football more than anything. MIAA football is more competitive than what you get in the ISL/NE Prep.

I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. There's a lot of size and talent on the rosters of the ISL 7 teams, and the top CT programs take it to even higher level with the teams they're producing.

The competition would be there but I'm not convinced a move to the NEPSAC is a better solution than adopting a Long Island or New Jersey model that would maintain traditional regular season play/rivalries but separate the postseasons. If you take SJP, BCH, and X out of the MIAA fully that is almost another punishment to top publics as they'd lose strong regular season competition.

[MA Lax Fan]

The Catholics recruit and that is a fact. Look at Xaverian and Coach Morse. He showed up on campus and instantly there is half of Laxachusetts’s roster in Westwood.

CM football is notorious for recruiting kids from all over the State….. there is no way a kid from Gloucester, on the football roster, is driving 90 min each way to play at CM. He was being housed somewhere and it’s 100% because he was a football stud and not because he was good at world history.

To say that public schools have reclasses is an absolute joke. There may be a few outliers but they are exactly that…. outliers. Now that the Catholics all have big middle schools, they are reclassifying THE ATHLETES before they reach 9th grade.

Reclassing a stud football player in 8th grade, because he is good at football, is very different then holding a boy back in kindergarten.

[MA Lax Fan]

Also, The MIAA absolutely sucks. I love public school lacrosse but the MIAA has zero interest in keeping up with the times with regards to advancing sports, social media, college recruiting, etc…. Their website looks like it was made on a Nintendo 64.

They only care about collecting “the gate” at playoffs and padding their retirements.

I wish the current AD’s would demand better.