at the end of the day- the issue is really that a kid from Westchester/Fairfield county will have almost an impossible time getting into an ivy. Lacrosse is opening doors, look at RYe - Villanova, Princeton, ND . Somers- Brown, ND. etc.

so when you say "if a kid can get in on his own" thats not the norm at an Ivy or top ranked school.
zero pot of gold at the end of the rainbow unless you can leverage athleticism for admission to a good school

If a kid plays for PT , or Eclipse etc, are many kids going to just show up at lehigh and try and play? especially when they can go to Nescac maybe or a really good lax school salisbury etc