BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums PENNSYLVANIA LACROSSE PENNSYLVANIA FORUM Boys 2023

BL beat Madlax and Next Level and lost to LI Express 8-4. Mesa beat Laxachsettes white and Lacachusettes Green and lost to Laxachusettes Black, Annapolis Hawks, and Crabs.

That's because it wasn't just crappy Phili teams. Get out of your bubble.

Hey Brotherly Love still struggling to find some offense based upon what I saw. Lot of individual talent but poor decision making and no semblance of structure and continuity. I do have to see that the BL LSM might be the most dominant Pole I have seen at this level. He caused havoc every time he stepped on the field. This kid dominates a game from the defensive side. Impressive. Anyone know what township and is he truly U13?

He is truly U13. No doubt the team struggled, the fact that they 1st practice took place 30 minutes before the game might have something to do with that. Don't worry they have a great coach that will get them going once they start practicing.

I watched them (BL) play when my son was done and I have to agree that kid is a man among boys. He totally controls the middle of the field for them and seems to have a non stop motor. I also agree there offense looked bad, the attack is non-existent they seem small and are there just to move the ball without ever being a threat to score.

U13 doesn't necessarily mean 6th grade. Could be 7th or holdback 6th

He isn't a holdback. he is a sixth grader, and he is from Kennett Township. Frankly plays very little lacrosse prefers football and basketball...if he ever took the game more seriously he would be a top 5 recruit.

haha, there are plenty of big athletic poles when they get to 8 and 9th grade. The bigger faster kids just stick out now. top 5 recruit?

We played BL at NXT and he is legit. I would agree best pole in this age group have you actually seen him play I am guessing you haven't otherwise you wouldn't be yapping. There is nothing wrong with saying a kid on another team is good

Agreed but when you start using the word RECRUIT with a 6th grader?? I'm sure he's a great athlete. These are the types of kids that look so far ahead of the pack at younger ages. I've seen kids like this, i've coached them. Many will always be great athletes but top 5 recruit i'm just saying its early. real early.

I agree with you it is an educated guess at the highest levels. Look at the busts in NBA, NFL, and MLB history. However the kid I saw was clearly the best on the field and dominated from the pole position but it was the intangibles, the motor, heart, desire i was most impressed with. Anyone know his name

He's my son, Julian Sparacino. Thank you for all of the commentary. It's far too early to cast projections, and we keep him very grounded. I am thankful to have a kid who works hard everyday to be the best - push-ups, pull-ups, box jumps and wind sprints daily to gain the edge. He's a great kid off the field too. Thanks again for the recognition.

Long Island dad here. Whatever he is doing keep him doing it. Saw him play at Madlax and he is one [lacrosse] of a player. Kept Brotherly Love in the game. Without him they lose by double digits.

Best poles in 2023 are on Long Island. S2S, Express an 9d1 have the best in defensive teams. Express and S2S win with basically defense and pray offense delivers 4 or 5 goals.

Lolololol

You have no idea what you are talking about...

I would say that the Bandits have the best defense. The reason for that is that the coach selects some of the best middies on the grade level and moves them to defense. Most of them still have dreams of playing middie though.

Bandits win with valuing possession and an outstanding offense. Unless you seen the kid from BL don't add your two cents. We played them at Madlax and no pole on our team was even remotely close. I give credit where credit was due, again without him BL loses by double digits rather than 8-4 I think the score was.

I have seen him. My son has played against BL several times. He's very good. He's also played against the Bandits several times and last I checked, there was more than one player on defense. As a whole unit, the Bandits defense is better because they have 3 very good defenders as opposed to one.

I find it interesting that no one has mentioned that BL beat Next level and Next level beat LI express that same day. BL has many multi sport athletes and haven't had a practice all year , suited up drove 2 and half hours and won 2 out of 3 . The played terrible against LI express, struggled on face offs and when BL did have the ball did not value it, threw it away or took bad shots. With that said the game was essentially 6-4 , the last two goals were in the waning minutes when BL was pressing out. If they play in summer should be a much better good game.

Not a Express fan but you sure did pack a lot of excuses in that post. Lacrosse is a match up game. Some teams don't match up well against others. It's also a possessions game so if BLs faceoff off guy is not better than Express they will have a hard time winning. The score was 8-4 and Express went into stall mode. Could have been worse

sounds like an Express fan

Last year at NXT BL beat Express and the pole left for the beach. The teams are fairly evenly matched like most of top teams at 23...

FYI... 8-4 is a convincing win.

TOOT TOOT!!!
It's the excuse caboose!!!
All aboard!!!
If you line up and take the field, you have no excuse. I can just hear you in your car on the way home with little johnny sobbing in the back seat making these excuses. What are you teaching him.
Drove 2 hours. LOL. Is that your excuse?
Multisport athletes? Excuse #2? That's funny. Last I checked when playing in a AA bracket there's no * for teams with multisport kids. Maybe next time you enter a hockey tourney you should tell all the organizers your kid plays lax too and maybe they'll make a multisport division for you and your team.
You got beat by a better team. Deal with it BL daddy. Tell your kid what the rest of us tell ours: "you got your [lacrosse] kicked. it sucks. do something about it"

sounds like some non athlete living through his kid

So many LAX daddies look like they've never played a sport. Ever. Not LAX, any sport. Mix in a run and maybe lay off 12 refills in the solo cup, bro.
Usually the ones yelling and making excuses.
Usually the ones that think because their kid plays club ball that he should then be the rec team coach.
Usually the ones decked out head to toe in said club's gear.
We are all laughing at ya.
Take the loss like an adult and encourage your guy to get better. Don't make excuses for him or his teammates.

I love watching my son play. He's pretty good and on a pretty good team. I also like to have a few beers with the friends I've made on the team (sorry, no club attire, though). If you want to laugh at me, I'm fine with that. I'm super secure and happy with who I am and who my kids are; however, if you decide to "mix in a run" during the next tournament, please do it away from me. I may just laugh so hard that I spit out my beer!

Yeah, mix in a run, bro. If you need an extra bright, tight-fitting Nike tank top let me know. I always have spares. Then maybe we can go tanning and get our teeth whitened, bro. Sound good, bro?

Any BL parents that can tell me how many 2023 are on the eteam trying to qualify for WSYL?

Good Luck today!

1/2 the team...they made it to the finals.

Looks like they got an invite (BL) tto the WSYL, that's awesome. Look forward to following their performance. Great experience for those kids

So BL doesn't dominate in age based tournaments? What happened to all the top 5 (insert position here) players....

What is the point of this question? No one ever said they dominated anything. Are they very competitive with all the top teams? yes unlike the majority of philly based teams. Does the team have 1 or 2 stand outs like most teams yes, but 5 no....

Hey Numb nuts. They made it to the Championship game. The club has been in existence for 3 years and beat out a field from all over Maryland, NJ, Carolines etc. of top teams ( insert club here ) and you think that BL didn't do well? They didn't even have a 2022 team until this year. Their defense was awesome and they need to work on clicking on offense. Man...just a bitter, bitter individual go crawl back under your rock and such your thumb.

Best lax team in Philly. That's kind of like bragging about being the tallest [lacrosse].

vertically challenged person, please

Philly is definitely the 3rd best "hot bed" area in lacrosse behind MD and LI (and the argument of who is best among those two goes on forever).

Couldn't agree with you more and I am from Philly and son plays for Brotherly Love. There is nothing wrong with being third as a hotbed. Both those areas have more depth of talent; however you could make an argument that if you pick the top kids from each area, Philly can more than hang. The success of Haverford School at the top of the heap in high school, Mesa pre-merger in the club scene as well as Dukes, the success of Philly at the Under Armour Underclassmen games, and the long list of Philly Talent a the very top of the Collegiate levels for years.

However, I think that you could make a case that Canada has supplanted LI and MD. I would take a Canadian Team against both of those areas....Hill School, Culver Academy (loaded with Canadians) U19 National Team... there is a new sheriff in town and it ain't LI or MD.

Let's not pretend that BL also hasn't beaten the Crabs and plenty of other teams from MD and beaten LI Express both of which I would put at the top or close to the top in their respective areas.

Presumptuous. Philly is still behind Connecticut. Probably Cali too. Illinois is blowing up as well.