BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Girls 2027 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

I am not blaming him but I am saying that he is the one person that can fix it but he chooses not to(you can choose the reason)

Agreed, we all know those M&D NGLL championships have big asterisks there.

Take up bowling or golf. I bet your own team has a couple young ladies that wouldn’t meet the date deadline.

Picked last in kickball were you?

As a parent of a “hold back” not on M&D, some of you all will really complain about anything. Born in August, we could have made her the youngest in her 2026 Kindergarten class or oldest in her 27 class. We chose 27 and I can confirm lacrosse had nothing to do with it at age 5.

I almost held by our youngest because of Covid and remote learning which was a wasted year.

It all evens out by high school, you’re freaking out about 7th grade lax, get a life

Make the decision that best suits your kid and your family, not suggesting that shouldn’t be ok but simply put they need to be on an age appropriate team. I understand the august thing but there needs to be some sort of line like EVERY other sport. As for the freaking out, it does even out in high school but my older daughter got a concussion in a game against a girl who was born in January and outweighed her by a solid 30-40 pounds.

If this is just a freak out when it doesn’t matter, why not let boys play girls lacrosse. After all it is a different sport and it doesn’t matter that they would be taking spots on teams from age appropriate girls.

What people often miss in this discussion is that There are enough of these older kids to form 1-2 “elite” teams in any age group/region. But there aren’t enough to support a whole top tier division.

So what happens? M&D and Heros (or the Hawks and Crabs) all dominate their divisions against teams that don’t have the same number of older kids and that same advantage.

And the lacrosse simply isn’t competitive. As a result, kids in the top half of the talent curve simply dont develop as well.

And this, lacrosse continues to be a small, regional-sport. Not growing the way others are.

This is one thing soccer gets right. Age-based is the way to go if you want to grow the game and raise the bar for the sport as a whole, across the country. That only happens with ensuring competitive games for the bull of the kids and pushing the top kids to challenge themselves by playing up, not down.

No one is talking about your Aug 2008 kid on 2027s, lol.

Way to use literally the most tame example though

The Yankees, Patriots, Alabama football, Duke basketball, people love to detest powers. I guess the same thing goes for M&D. People are going to take shots at them because right now they are the best club around.

In the Baltimore area the private schools have kindergarten and pre-first. Many parents choose pre-first for a multitude of reasons other than they want their daughter to be the next Charlotte North. Skywalkers, Coppermine, will join Hero’s and M&D with girls that attended pre-first.

Congrats to M&D with a lopsided win over Madskillz to win the NGLL Championship.

Congrats to M&D great performance all weekend. Wish the final would have been against Aces though. Think it would have been a much better game.

Watched the second half of the aces Madskillz game and it was some of the worst officiating I have ever seen. Came back from a 5-1 deficit driven by 3 questionable free positions calls and 2 nearly unexplainable charges on aces.

Think M and D still would have won, but no way they win by 8

A few months means 30-40 lbs, got it

Soccer stinks ! Lax is growing at all levels. Colleges adding teams. High schools in non traditional states is starting. Lax is faster and more of a spectator sport than soccer. Stop comparing it. The ncaa had a 24 year old win player of the tournament yesterday. I bet some 18 yr old mom is complaining to ncaa today. Your soon to be freshman will complain when she as to compete with sophomores. Take away the winning here but I bet most kids get better playing up in age anyway.

Soccer does stink but the point being made was they use a firm 12-month period - Soccer uses the calendar year (Jan 1-Dec 31) and there is no wiggle room unless the kid is so good he/she can play "up" a year. A school year (Sept 1 - August 31) could be used too, just pick a 12 month period and stick with it. The current "graduation year" sets parents up to make decisions on if they should hold Johnny back or not (Many do so in middle school directly for sports so the whole pre-k vs kindergarten holdback option option is only half of it). If there wasn't an advantage, people wouldn't do it. If you watch a youth travel soccer game, there aren't girls that are a foot taller than others. Just saying... Not sure why this can't be discussed without people having their hair on fire. Probably because their kids would be average if they played with kids their own age.

My kid was late and smaller. It all evened out in high school and played in college.

It doesn’t really even out in HS! The advantages of the holdbacks have already went into play. Already top players on their teams for years before HS and getting the playing time. They are an extra year of skills and age. They get more preference on the younger teams and get the attention. ….It matters.

There is no question there is an advantage …. Duh. I think the bigger question is is it right?

I would argue the bigger reason for parity is soccer (and almost all other club sports) is the regulation around club jumping. Lax is the only sport where a top player can switch clubs every year without any repercussions. Within soccer, you can't just go from one high-level ECNL club to another unless you switch to one that plays in a different association. In swimming, field hockey and ice hockey, you get one club switch in your youth career above the rec level.

If US Lacrosse has an interest in improving quality of play and parity (which I don't believe they do), I would regulate this well before dealing with age limits.

I couldn’t agree with you more, for those of you who disagree please read any study on relative age effect they did in youth Canadian hockey.

Now that the NGLL season is over (Congrats to M&D).......The tournament season gets under way. Good luck to the teams starting up this week. Based on watching the teams this spring, I would say the DMV is well represented and poised for a great spring and summer.

DMV came out this weekend looking really good thanks to M&D strong play. M&D, Hero's and BLC all have to be considered top-5 nationally.

Eaglestix I think is right there.

Anyone watch the stream from M&D game? Announcer was doing her best to not rip into the refs but she didn't hold back on a number of questionable calls or lack of calls.

I think for the most part, the referees were consistent all weekend.

There seems to be a few teams that could win on any given weekend

1. M&D has to be considered the top dawg. Beating Bethesda, Hero's, EagleStix and Madskilz in a row is quite impressive.

2. Eagle Stix. Keeping them at 2 despite losing Semi-final against M&D and then losing by a goal to Aces in the 3rd place game of NGLL

3. Hero's. Still a top 3 team. If they had beaten M&D they would potentially take the top spot. Still really great team

4. Aces. Great showing at NGLL. Lost to Madskilz by 1 and then beat Eagle by 1. Seem to be getting their mojo back

5. Bethesda. Great season so far. Only a late NGLL loss to M&D in the playoffs is the only blemish. But they are really good.

6. Madskilz. Great team. Fast. But in watching the live feed, them seem to be a bit behind on D and goalie. Plus it looked like they lost about 80% of the draws. But they can fly if they get the ball. May not see them up north any more this year.

7. YJ. Possible they are top 5. But they don't participate in NGLL. They will be active going forward though

After those 7, there are a few teams that can cause these teams fits. But right now, the gap seems too big for anyone else to join the conversation. But that's why you play the games. I hope a few unexpected teams make some noise.

YJ is head and shoulders above MadSkillz. Even Aces dominated them before thing feel apart at the end.

I would rank them.


1. M&D
2. Heros
3. Aces
4. Eagle Stix
5. YJ
6. BLC
7. MadSkillz

BLC already beat M&D in NGLL and had them on the ropes in semis, not sure how they are outside top-5 based on that.

Who would you put them above?

M&D -- beat them twice
Heros -- beat them
Aces -- Beat Eagle Stix
Eagle Stix -- Beat M&D once, lost to them once
YJ -- Tied ES, Aces, beat Heros


I agree that there is a MAJOR gap after top 6. But BLC is only top 6 team who hasn't beaten another top six team. That's why i put them 6th.

But BLC did beat M&D and only lost by one to Heros and M&D.

I can't put them outside top-5. I think Aces is a bit high. I'd flip them with BLC in the above ranking.

Across the top 6 nationally, anyone can beat anyone else on a given day.

I think the Maryland team will have an edge in longer games (especially on a hot summer day) where the bench will be used. 1-20. I think M&D is the best team, but I'd give the edge to YJ 1-12. (problem is that YJ has a massive drop when you get to their bench)

In terms of positional ranking, here is how I would rank them.

Goalie
1. YJ
2. Heros
3. Aces
4. M&D

Draw
1. Eagle Stix
2. M&D
3. BLC

Attack
1. M&D
2. Aces
3. YJ

Defense
1. Eagle Stix
2. YJ
3. M&D

Middies
1. Aces
2. BLC
3. YJ
4. M&D

Bench
1. M&D
2. Heros
3. Aces

Goalies I would slide Aces under M&D
Draw goes to Eagle. No question.
Attack I would slide Hero's into top 3
Defense, I would drop Eagle to 3 and create a tie with Hero's
Middies M&D, Hero's and YJ are better than BLC. But BLC does have one real talented girl.
Bench is subjective...but probably accurate

Eagle Stix attack is very good and has to be close to top 3. The one girl (only one on team with a helmet) scored 5 of the 8 goals against us this past weekend. She is excellent. They also have the tall draw girl who plays A and is good.

Aces draw unit is top 3 in my book based on the sheer will of #2. When that ball hits the ground, she is a terror. Best I’ve seen. She’s small so does not usually win up to herself, but is still very effective.

Seems to me Aces added a goalie since the fall? YJ have two very good goalies that platoon.

Among the 6 teams in the conversation, I would say every team is well represented in all facets. Some a bit stronger than others...but all still good. Nobody has a "weakness"

Teams like Nems and Madskilz have good middie programs. LBC has a nice defense. Lots of talent out there. Interesting to see if they migrate to some of the higher ranked teams.

If you have a kid on one of these top 6-8 teams, you should be proud. It can't be easy to make one of them. As we have found out. lol

The only "weakness" I would call out is depth, which to be honest will have minimal impact in summer tourney is bench. YJ, ES and BLC get considerably weakness at the back end of the roster. Shouldn't impact much since those kids really won't play in the summer. Only exception could be at Lax for the Cure where you may have to play 5 games in a day including 3 25 minute games back to back without breaks. If it gets really hot, I could see some teams getting exposed.

YJ goalies won't platoon in meaningful summer games. Expect their new goalie from FLG to get all the games against big teams and all playoff games. Watched her against Heros in the fall and probably the best i have seen at this age group in a while.

That's some high praise. I have not seen her.

Seems not a lot of teams at this age now split goalie time. Some even carry only one goalie, which i am not sure how they can manage that.

Most A+ teams carry two goalies. And if you look at schedules, it is clear which games will be competitive and which won't. For instance, at Lax For the Cure, YJ plays BLC, Heros, Monster and NEMS.

You can bet the backup will play in the Monster and NEMS game but won't play the other two as long as the game is competitive.

In NGLL this year, I don't think we saw two goalies in same game. Every team we played kept same goalie in entire time. I think Hero's roster's one.

Every high school club team has 2 goalies

Please oh please do this.