No comments on the predictions although I think with Scarsdale’s FOGO they are likely favorites. I am commenting just to say what has happened to Westchester lacrosse. These are the commits among these teams (per IL) and then I just added a cpl more historical powerhouses for reference. I remember as recently as 3/4 years ago when Yorktown played John Jay you could have 30 commits from that one game alone! Now it looks like 1 or 2 a class.
Scarsdale - Amherst, Penn State, Union Somers- Susquehanna, Iona Rye - Colby, Washington & Lee, Virginia Bronxville - Hobart, Colby, North Carolina
Yorktown - Union, Wesleyan, Monmouth, Lehigh John Jay - Ithaca, Colgate, Umass
Is the drop in public commits tied to the rise of the privates? Stepinac is poised to be a power for some time, Iona has been around for a bit and continues to bring in local players from far and wide via their paid to play football and basketball model. Note: Do not go there for lacrosse unless you play for EN and have been asked by the coach. Brunswick is taking kids from Rye, Mahopac and all over while sending the entire roster to top 10 schools and teams. In years past these kids were playing for their local HS teams and would have been the top recruits. Avon Old Farms, Berkshire and TP are also pulling in local kids now as well…..with that view it is even more impressive what a town like Darien does year in and year out. Great to see the game growing and kids getting opportunities.
More of a factor, I think, is that lacrosse has become a lot more popular very recently in many other areas of the country. Local kids are no longer competing with just MD and LI for college spots. The rest of the country, especially in warm weather areas, are producing a lot more players, and I think kids that are older than Section 1 public schools kids - which may be precipitating a slight move to the private schools.
I am not going to argue with the fact that many kids are going private because of better education and much better lacrosse but in my opinion it doesn't speak to the drastic and literally overnight downgrade in Westchester lacrosse. As I mentioned in my earlier post watching Yorktown vs John Jay as recently as 3/4 years ago enabled one to see the best players around. Over 30 players going D1-D3. The private schools exist on LI/CT including St Anthony's and Chaminade as well as traveling to the Founders league with the AOF, Salisbury and Taft, etc but their teams still seem to be producing at a high level. Manhasset this year shows 11 players committed (including Duke, Harvard, BU), Garden City 7 (including Duke, Princeton, Virginia), South Side 10 (Cornell, BU), Ridgefield 7 (Virginia, Brown, Notre Dame). I will add that it appears Ct and Long Island have taken a hit as well but the drop doesn't seem as drastic as Westchester. Its actually insane when you look at St Anthonys and Chaminade and their commits and there is no comparison for Westchester. St. Anthony's has 26 D1 commits and Chaminade has 18. Also, I know stars are not the end all and be all but Westchester has ONLY 3 four star recruits in its public schools for both the 2023 and 2024 class COMBINED. Very surprising if you ask me especially wtht the traditional powerhouses in Westchester and historically the overall play of the game here.
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