BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2028 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

MadLax and Hawks are going to MA in July, do t know about NY though.

NAL in Philly June 12-13 will be good test with LI Express, LI Express North, Madlax, True Nationals, BBL, FCA, Sweetlax, Primetime, Sentry, LI Legacy, etc.

Will see how Mid Atlantic stacks up with the NY kids. No Hawks though, they’re still busy beating their chests against one another

Nah, that only lasted for about 10 seconds before they jogged past the Madlax coaches who had their hands on their hips and heads hanging.

What's sadder — the Madlax coach on here posting or that he begrudges a bunch of kids celebrating after winning HoCo?

Good slate of teams and best of luck to Madlax, we will make sure to follow you on the gram’

Hawks have beaten everyone in MD. If the Md teams beat up on the NY teams, Hawks will then know they’re actually #1.

Anyone know anything about True National this year, like which teams will support the team? I know last year they had kids from non True teams, will that happen again or will it be all from the True teams?

Hawks beat LI Express 9-1 and BBL 7-2 in March at a DE play day; but that was early spring … so who knows, a lot can change

Yeah— the Hawks are much improved from then

Hawk parent here - I was talking to one of the LI Express parents. I think at the time we played LIE had something like 4 practices since the fall, due to covid, town stuff or other. I imagine they are much improved after a full spring.

Which LI express team did you play?

No idea. It was in DE in early March I think. Have no idea if it was their A team or not. I think we played BBL, LIE and NJ Express.

Chucks

Hawks parent - why aren’t you playing at NAL next weekend?

Their lack of success in 2020 didn’t garner them an invite. I’m sure they will be at the top of the list next season. Here’s hoping Madlax rolls everyone and it’ll be clear where everyone stacks up.

Way too much competition in the NAL next weekend. The team isn't actually that good.

Not a Hawks parent, but Hogan is putting on the summer exposure tournament in Annapolis that weekend so not surprising are playing there instead.

Hawks are playing in the Hogan Summer Exposure tournament next weekend. Backyard and good competition at 2028 but the year most likely. NAL will great a great tournament and sorry to miss it. Hope to see everyone at NLF in mass which should be most of the NAL teams.

The NAL field isn’t that strong. Madlax is good, FCA is pretty good, LIE and Legacy might be pretty good, and maybe the True National team is decent. But aren’t Team 91 Venom, Two Way, and Eclipse the best up north? Has Sweet Lax gotten a lot better?

I don’t think NAL is going to show much. Madlax should take that tournament. But the better northern teams aren’t there so will be hard to compare until there is more play.

“The team isn't actually that good” guess we’ll see this summer…

FYI- Those are not top LI teams in this age bracket.

Who are they?

This is just some angry Madlax dad with a big ol spoon. I hope Madlax wins the whole thing. They still know they can’t beat the Hawks. 0-3 this year vs Annapolis’ best. Madlax rolls in NAL... those losing teams better be worried about ALL the MD teams at NLF in July.

Then why are virtually every other Hawks team playing in NAL.

Just look at tourney machine. Yes

Not even a Hawks parent, but attempt at a troll… do you really think a team that just won hoco elite is ducking teams? Your obsession is embarrassing.

The fields above 2028 at Summer Exposure are weak which is why the other Hawks teams opted out. For 2028, the field at summer exposure for the games the Hawks are playing are probably stronger in terms of strength of schedule than NAL on a game per game basis.

If you take the fall and spring, the top band of teams on the east coast in this age look like something like Team 91 Venom, Hawks, Eclipse, 2way, and Madlax in no particular order.

Then the next band of teams is something like Long Island Express A, Legacy A, Rush, Mooselax, Rebels, Sweetlax, Freedom A, Mad Dog National, FCA, Next Level, Crabs, and True. Also in no order. Probably another couple teams in this tier.

Hawks are playing Next Level, Crabs, Freedom, Alpha Elite (CO) and then likely whoever of those teams does the best in the final. That’s 4-5 quality wins for the US Club rankings RPI depending on how good the Colorado team is if they can go undefeated.

From the pools for NAL looks like Madlax is playing United (not great, lost to Mesa last week), Igloo (mediocre, lost a couple times to mid tier teams on LI last week), and Express North. So that’s three wins likely against so-so competition. Then in the bracket On Sunday you maybe get a couple of wins against Legacy or FCA or Sweetlax or True. But for a RPI like the club rankings Hawks would likely come out way ahead with the Summer Exposure slate of games.

In any event, the Mass NLF seems the strongest in terms of teams. NAL has a lot of teams, but only a handful of top teams. There’s a lot of weaker teams in the pools which means you’ll only get a few strong opponents.

Every Hawks team is playing NAL next weekend from 2025 down to 2030– except the ‘28’s. Avoiding someone...

Summer Exposure might actually be the better tournament this weekend for the 28s. Who would the Hawks be avoiding? If you want to play them they’ll also be at Young Guns, Naptown, and NLF. Sign up and have some fun.

If you are implying Hawks are avoiding Madlax, you missed their last 3 matchups. The summer schedule was decided a long time for most teams. Hawks will have some good matchups at Summer Exposure and sleep in their own beds, plenty of tournaments coming up this summer. Madlax is the favorite for NAL, unless there is a team under the radar that can surprise them.

The MadLax insecurity is real! Nice troll attempt.

Good luck to everyone in their tourney games this weekends

Great slate of Saturday games. FCA, Madlax doing well at NAL. curious to see a mid Atlantic team play legacy that went 4-0 and if Madlax can close it out. Hawks and Next Level played to a one goal game at summer exposure.

Next Level has their number. Tomorrow will be a comeuppance.

Well NL is clearly their best competition this year so... maybe.

91 venom definitely the best LI team

Scanning tourney machine after this weekend, looks like the three teams that are in the top tier are Madlax, Hawks, and Team 91 Venom.

Then there is a second tier that includes Legacy, BBL, Freedom, Next Level, True Annapolis, Express North, and FCA MD.

Mooselax, Rush, Eclipse, 2way, and Mad Dog National may also be in this group but have played fewer cross region games so far.

So I’d put the top 10 as follows, but 4-10 all seem pretty close in strength:

1. Hawks
2. Team 91 Venom
3. Madlax
4. Legacy
5. Express North
6. BBL
7. FCA
8. Next Level
9. True Annapolis
10. Freedom

Upcoming weekend has Young Guns (Hawks, True, and Crabs), US Club Lacrosse Jamboree (Next Level and Freedom), Summer Slam (FCA and BBL), and Lax Fest (Venom and several NY and CT teams). And then midweek next week Madlax plays a bunch of the Colorado and TX teams in Vail.

Nice try NL dad. 12-4 Hawks in the Championship. Backups scoring goals.

Im guessing that was a ML dad who said NL has their number.

Good list and Crabs is somewhere in the mix around the second tier as are a few of the New England teams that have not travelled yet. 2028 Madlax in Vail is very cool and will really provide a glimpse on non hotbed teams that can hang at the national level. It seems the biggest stage will be NLF in July.

Pretty good set of observations on this ranking of teams. Express North might be ranked a little too high, they were handled pretty well by Madlax over the weekend 9-2. BBL looks vastly improved... curious to know why 91 Venom would be ranked this high, they’ve yet to venture out of their backyard from what I can tell, just a couple of pedestrian wins against a LI Express Chucks team who had a poor showing at NAL (beaten badly by FCA, squeaked by some pretty weak teams, and didn’t play either of the top 2 teams in the event, Madlax and Legacy). That said, 91 is an incredible program and likely very, very good at 2028. Hopefully they’ll see Hawks and Madlax somewhere this summer, fun to see where they’ll stack up against one another...