BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2023 - 7th Grade Fall 2017/Summer 2018

No one wants to hear it but Club Blue and Madlax Capital were missing key players who will not be missing in the spring, but every team could probably say the same. This is like pre-season NFL football. Fools gold for those who put too much into fall results. Terrible field conditions and steady drizzle also helped skew results to favor larger teams like True. Hate Poolesville fields. Horse crap all over the place. Five feet between fields leaving almost no room for parents to watch. More space for tents at tent cities in third world countries. Terrible drainage for most of fields. Never enough portapotties. MDLX needs to find a different location for its events.

You are right no one wants to hear it. All teams played in the same conditions. Both teams were outplayed. One or two players would. It have changed that. BLC looked improved with the extra yellow helmets

yes one of the fields was under water and the players couldn't find the ball for a while.

“Terrible field conditions and steady drizzle also helped skew results to favor larger teams like True.”

If that were the case Club Blue should have dominated too, guess the 6’-3” Warrior All American doesn’t count.

Give credit where credit is due, Club Blue got out played by a much smaller and younger 91 team.

Guess your team lost! Better Luck next time.

Best team by a mile...hmmm, don't think so. Bethesda played them to a 5-4 overtime loss even with the 6'2" defenseman that is normally a holdback on True North's 2022 team.

Guess you didn't notice that the yellow helmets on BLC don't start. There are other reasons they looked better.

It is probably way to early for this but since some of the key fall tournaments have concluded I see some shifts in the rankings going into spring:

Top Tier: (in no order)
Hawks
Crabs
FCA
NL
BLC
Looney's
Middle Tier:
91
Madlax
Club Blue
VLC
Cav's
SR
API
Lower Middle Tier:
FCA-W
Hawks-B
3d
Lax Factory
PLC
PG
G
Not sure of the rest but there will be close games among a host of teams in B
Koopers, Ground Control, Wolfpack, Rock, NL (red), Club Blue VA, Gator....
All in all it is a strong age group. This is open for discussion but my $.02 is that fall does change the rankings, not just the result in tournaments but the changes in rosters after tryouts. Many players moved teams. All teams may have been missing players. Unless the missing player was a team's goalie and the only goalie on the team, that is not an excuse. Top players do play other sports but also do pick up sticks in the fall. Funny to hear the field condition was an excuse for a club that hosted a tournament. The question going into spring will be which teams will move up or down in the HOCO divisions? Which teams surprised this fall? Most improved? Most depleted?

Team 91 parent there and obviously delusional; did you watch your team against BLC and a very average VLC Team? Team 91 scored the second fewest goals (11) while giving up the most (27). Hang your hat on a win over a depleted Club Blue team; anxious to see what they do against you in the Spring. How many out of state kids were you playing with Sunday? This club is a joke but enjoy that win to make yourself feel like you belong with the elite teams.

Very average VLC team? That just got put together, beat Madlax, beat Team 91 by 6 goals and was losing by 1 goal to Bethesda in the 2nd half before losing by 3? Ok lax dad.

OUCH! Lost does sting , Next Spring wont be any different, cant wait

VLC playing against elite competition would get crushed; they are an average A team moving forward.

Chances are we won't see you since Club Blue will be playing in the elite division while you struggle playing A lacrosse.

Please clarify, who are the elite teams?

So Club Blue goes from winning HOCO AA Elite to being a Middle Tier team after a fall season where none of the teams have full rosters. Kind of kills the credibility of everything else you have to say.

HOCO AA Elite should have 8 teams. Easier for final playoff bracket. Your 6 plus Club Blue and Madlax.

Funny how you neglect to mention True beat Bethesda 9-1 in opening round play. So, True was 2-0 with +9 goal differential against Bethesda. Sounds like a mile to me. Only Cavs can beat True.

I will give you the benefit of doubt that CB may just have had a really off day. Missing players?? Maybe but Madlax may be the third best team in N.VA at this point.

I apologize to the rest of the board for responding to and encouraging a troll, but just two weeks ago a short-handed Bethesda team beat the living snot out of Cavs. 10-1 if memory serves. Seemed like good kids and coaches, maybe a program on the upswing, but in terms of the truly good teams in the area, currently a doormat. You are doing them a disservice with your rants and provocation. They should play the good teams to get better and teams at their level to compete, but it's unfortunate that they're apparently saddled with jerks, trolls and lunatics pumping their prospects. They are currently, at best, a middling regional/rec-level team. I certainly hope they get better and wish them the best. The more competition, the better for everyone.

A month ago, Next Level minus several starters beat Cavs by well over 10 goals. Cavs clearly not ready for prime time. But as mentioned above, nothing wrong with that. At least thirty 2023 teams in DMV. Unfair to throw rocks at those who are not Top 5. Play. Have fun. Get better. By the time they hit high school, all these teams will look different with teams moving up and down these untested and unprovable imaginary rankings offered by anonymous dads with nothing better to do.

[/quote] At 2023 age group that was Madlax top team yesterday that went 0-3. Another surprise was that last year's HOCO champs Club Blue 1-2, T91 1-2. The True National team was the best team by a mile.[/quote]
Best team by a mile...hmmm, don't think so. Bethesda played them to a 5-4 overtime loss even with the 6'2" defenseman that is normally a holdback on True North's 2022 team. [/quote]
Funny how you neglect to mention True beat Bethesda 9-1 in opening round play. So, True was 2-0 with +9 goal differential against Bethesda. Sounds like a mile to me. Only Cavs can beat True.[/quote]

Well True North thought enough of BLC's competition to ask for a rematch when they're in town again in a weeks.

fall ball is quickly coming to an end. All the kids that play football will be back. And Club blue(cheater hold backs) will be on top of Hoco again.
Elite
Club Blue king of the castle with the most hold backs
Crabs took a hit
BLC improved with new kids
Hawks solid
Next Level only team with NO HOLDBACK
FCA improved
Looney's who knows
Madlax won't win a game should drop
AA
team 89+2 lax factory API south river cannons cavaliers(best team in Virginia can't hang with any elite teams) PG this will be a fun bracket. Good luck to all

Calling all 2023 kids who are good but not happy with your team!! Madlax has 3 tryouts a year go to the website and sign up for the Spring tryouts. There 2023 team is not good at this time but this team will be playing at all the top events and in front of all the top college coaches. During the next 5 years. No one on here can argue the fact that Madlax will be at the best tournaments. If you are smart this is the prefect grade and time to come to a Madlax team. I promise you other good players from the Cavs and other B level teams will be at these spring and summer tryouts . Get in now. I will sit back and let the Madlax hatters chyme in to this post but there hate should prove to you I am correct and you need to put your son in a better spot.

I agree; Fall Tournaments are very difficult to judge for several reasons but I do agree Club Blue will still be the team to beat once they get the entire roster on the field. I was at the tournament in Columbia a few weeks ago and I th9ought FCA and NL stood out over the rest of the field. Crabs surely did not look like the same team from last year and Looney's looked big and aggressive but was slow and I impressed with ball their ball movement. If I were to rank the Elite teams based on the some of the lacrosse I saw this Fall my ranking would be:

FCA - much improved and well coached; strong at all key positions, FOGO is scrappy and attack is very strong. I felt they were the most complete team.
Hawks - excellent team; need help at the X. Strong Middie play and tough defensively. Hawks could be easily number 1 as well
NL - great team all around but seemed to be inconsistent from tournament to tournament. Strong at the X and fast. Depending on which team shows up they could beat anyone in the elite division.
Crabs - just because they're crabs and I can not see them falling much further than this; in fact I would not be surprised if they ended up the top team at the end of the year. Strong Goalie play and the attack is still their strength. I believe I saw to FOGO's and both were decent.
Club Blue - see above comment. I have to believe they are missing players this Fall. They looked very mediocre against average competition this past weekend; very poor play at the X.
BLC - I think this team may end up surprising a few team this year. A lot of talent with very strong attack play.
Looney's - I was not impressed with this team but I know they acquired some talent from Crabs and my guess is they will be somewhat stronger in the Spring. I just don't think they can compete with the truly elite teams (Top 3-4) above them. I like their attack play.
Madlax - This team may need to move to AA, but who replaces them? VLC I think looked the best of the AA teams and could compete against the lower tiered Elite Teams

Again tough to really know at this time of the year but this is what I saw over the past 4 weeks. And in case you are wondering I am a BLC parent.

What is PG?

Strong commitment to go to Columbia few Sundays ago to watch kids lacrosse when your sons team wasn't playing. I think the teams are all pretty close. Looney's beat CB in regular season and I think beat NL and FCA in summer play. So they shoul compete especially since they added some of the Crabs players. It will be interesting to see how they set up the top division. If they just have Crabs, FCA, CB, NL, BLC, HAwks & Looneys in elite -- all team play each other in reg season and all should be competitive. Madlax, 91, VLC, South River, Cavalier, API, Lax Factory maybe a good 7 team AA

1. Crabs (I am biased) - their FOGO is dominant and they have great attack play - even with the loss of their 9th grade righty.
2. Hawks - If this team gets better at X, they can win HoCo - they could also miss the playoff (again) if they don't find someone better than what they have. They have the highest end talent - best defender, best LSM, best goalie, best attackman.
3. Club Blue - I agree with the above... they have to be missing some kids
FCA/Looney's/and especially NL cannot compete consistently with the teams above.

I am not a Madlax hater and do not have a 2023 age son. I do hate this post for many reasons. First, if you are a parent or part of Madlax why are you saying this team is not good? Compared to what? What message does this send? Invite kids to come because the kids we have are terrible? Why would any kid want to join that? If you are a B level player we can play in high level tournaments that you will not win, but a coach may recruit you blindly? I am not sure if you are a parent or work for the business which is Madlax, either way you are doing any parent a disservice with this advice and do not have a clue how college recruiting works. College coaches do attend top tournaments. However, if you are on a bad team that is playing poorly how will that help? Coaches do not find players, they watch players they already have on a list. If a player is interested in a school, the camp and prospect day is still the best bet. Get good grades, email the coaches. They may not respond but the will check the message and may look out for you at a tournament send them your tournament schedule. UA, Brine, Warrior also provide chances to play to an audience of college coaches. The best thing a player can do is market themselves to schools they want to attend and get good grades. My last point and the item that bothers me the most about this post is the idea that one should only play for a team to get noticed by a college coach. Kids should play for a club because it is fun. If Madlax is not competitive at a AA level maybe play in a few lower tournaments from time to time for the kids to have fun. If you think club lacrosse is some sort of future investment you are doing it wrong. Madlax will not get a player recruited the play on the field will. How about join Madlax because we have great coaches who will help develop a player to be the best he can in a competitive environment, make new friends, and prepare to make your HS team. In addition it is "their" 2023 team not "there" 2023 team.

Obviously you did not see FCA and NL beat the CRABS Team a few weeks ago; this team is far from where they were last year. And if I am not mistaken the Kid that is not a FOGO is much better than their FOGO and I would not call him dominant. This has the making of a FLatBrim post. lol

Another troll. No way a Madlax parent or staff wrote the initial post. Author just taking a cheap shot at Madlax. Unlike 2024, 2023 is not winning tournaments. They went 2-4 in HOCO Elite last year and this year will be similar. 2023 is a few players away especially on the defensive half. The original poster is likely an ex-Madlax dad trying to cause trouble and make himself feel better about the decision to move. A program like Madlax does not need to advertise in the fashion above.

Unless Crabs plan on bringing some HOLDBACKS in I don't see them as a threat moving forward. GO HAWKS!! #ourfogoisbetterthanyours

Wrong. He IS a Madlax dad. He is in love with Madlax and has been posting on this board for years. He is honest, though, and recognizes that Madlax 2023 is not very good. He loves the owner and is obsessed with defending Madlax, even as their teams are declining.

The reason why Madlax 2023 team stinks is because their best 2023's are playing on their 2024 team.

Madlax not the only game in town anymore. VLC Blackwolf Cavaliers Evergreen Club Blue Va Team6 Top Caliber. Revolving door of coaches at madlax who are average at best. Madlax is just a Dinosaur

Not true - those are very good 2023s, but their 2 best 2023's play for other clubs now (Crabs and Club Blue).

Please let me know in 4 years when all the talent is spread out over all these 8 teams. This many teams just makes the parents job 3 times as hard with picking a team and worrying about 4 to 6 kids jumping clubs at the last second and leaving your kid on a crappy team. Ask anyone with a AAU basketball player your team name and roster changes more then your underwear.

The issue I have with the comment is the idea that Madlax is "not good" and new kids should go there. This is fine if a competitor or parent of another team makes a comment, that is what this board is all about. However, what are we comparing Madlax to? Are they not a top team in NOVA? How about the idea of trying to make the team better instead of recruiting new players? what does that say to the players who are there? For that matter I always hate the "we are missing players" excuse used by them and other clubs like CB. I know these are simply random internet comments and hopefully mean nothing but I do hope coaches and parents do not express this to young men. You win and loose with the players you have. Life lessons are far more important than middle schools wins and losses at random fall tournaments. However, I understand the big issue is that some of these teams are now a business and maybe they business reputation and future business at stake is more important than helping young men develop? If this message was by a supporter of MadLax that would be reason for me to stay far away from this program. Profit motive and youth sports do not mix.

Sounds more like same person having a conversation with himself. When BOTC did not allow Anonymous posts, notice how everything got quiet and you did not see these one-man threads against Madlax, Crabs, MM or whatever disfavored cause of the day. While entertaining at first, tiresome and repetitive over time.

Does anyone actually believe anyone associated with Madlax would try to recruit players with such a stupid post? Obviously, the author has an axe to grind and is intentionally trying to bring on the hate.

Funny to see someone talk about "life lesson" and Madlax in the same sentence.

https://deadspin.com/hey-ungrateful-quitter-emails-from-an-angry-lacrosse-660703941

4 years ago..