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

I don't understand this constant shuffle. Kids playing for 3 different clubs in 3 years is odd to me. What are people looking for that they are not finding? Or is it really all about wins and loses? I am asking that honestly. Perhaps one of these FCA to Crabs to whatever club in 2022-2023 playing year can enlighten me.

These teams have high moments with a few wins but will never become great teams because they don’t grow together and play as a team. They are hoping a few good players will make a great team, unfortunately that usually doesn’t work. In the corporate world it’s the equivalent of a “team of experts” versus an “expert team”.

All three Clubs support BL, Loyola, McD and CH ,.. It is called shuffling the deck and see where you end up. Or some would say posturing, Luckily except for another round of holdbacks it will be over for most.

Faceoff kids heading to Predators/FCA.
New coach at Crabs anyway.

Big creepy coach is holding back his son and a few of his favorite players. You could probably find him now on the Crabs 2028 page.

Any 91 helmets at the Crabs tryouts last night?

Yes, a lot.

How many 2027 Crabs are holding back to 2028 Crabs?

Not as many as there are 26s reclassing to 27

Allegedly 5. But who knows.

There are at least 5 holding back. Depends on what you classify as a lot.

DC Express entry at 2027 begins this year. Any information out there?

When are these tryouts? Underway?
Interesting. Good option for a lot of kids.

This site stinks. I posted the question about DCE and got 1 quick response but no information. I guess if it's not bashing Hawks and Crabs, what's the point. I guess the owners of the site have decided they get more clicks from bashing than what actual lacrosse might bring.

What info are you looking for specifically?

Boo hoo. Are you not able to use Google? I just did a quick Google search and found information about the DC Express tryouts. Separately, they are more of a DC-based team it appears and I think there are a lot of Baltimore folks on this forum. FWIW, tryouts are later this month.

They are not really dc.

They practice in Poolesville.
If I’m West of Columbia in Howard or Montgomery Co, I’d be looking. Heck that’s not far from Frederick. That could take a few of those Team MD kids too…

Do we expect them to be any better then the Bethesda 27 team was?

While this post smells like someone in the DCE org just trying to get people talking, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it's a legit question.

Sure, the DCE website gives the tryout dates, but useful info before deciding to attend would be: who are the 2027 Coaches, where are the practice facilities, and what is the cost structure?

They will probably practice in Potomac but that’s still really far for most Baltimore folks. I agree that good questions to ask are who will the coaches be and how much (although they are probably similar to all the other clubs in the area).

The 2026 DCE team did pretty well in HOCO and in their summer tournaments so perhaps they’ll do better than the BLC 2027s.

I’m not sure you’ll really get the answers to all of your questions unless you go to the tryouts.

Interested to see what FCA will look like next year, with their best player holding back. Also heard there may be a lot of movement especially with the defense. Any insight?

Thanks hawks dad

Hearing there will be a little turnover there on defense. They have some kids lined up to come in. Unsure about the rest.

The problem is Hawks, Next Level and MadLax have owned the top 3 spots in HoCo. The Baltimore teams are always fighting for 4th. So this game of musical teams is going on perpetually.

Now that Crabs tryouts are complete any surprises with cuts to accommodate space for the holdbacks?

On a side note and knowing rankings at youth is dense, USCL should tweak their algorithm a little. There's no chance Madlax Capital should be ranked over NL. NL beat them twice handily by a combined 23-11. But Madlax has had a terriffic summer with their summer roster players.

LOL. Those rankings are a marketing hammerhead that are compiled by Madlax, 91, and a few other clubs that founded US Club Lax in 2018. It's not actually an independent assessment, nor is it accurate. But the fact you're discussing it shows what an effective, beneficial marketing hammerhead it is for the clubs who came up with it.

Not really, Couple new players that will make the Crabs a top team. New middies and D pole . Crabs will be a team to beat.

Hope they get some help on attack as well. They are gonna need that to be a “team to beat” next season.

Dude. NL is ranked 7, Madlax is ranked 17. Hammerhead for sure…

What doe Crabs look like at attack? Heard most of them were holding back. Also who stayed for face off and who got cut?

Crabs will be hosting supplemental tryouts this week.

Guess the holdbacks and existing team still isn’t what they are looking for.

For what age groups?

Hawks will continue to dominate the division. In Baltimore, Crabs made some interesting choices with holdbacks. Don’t know that they got better. FCA needs a goalie and some middies. 91 needs more depth but gets the leftovers. Not sure that helps them take the next step.

Will DCE play in Elite in the spring? They didn’t look great at Pinnacle last weekend. Wonder how that 27 team shakes out. Looked like a lot of missing pieces.

Assuming Zingos goes down and Team MD goes up, I can’t see them knocking another team down.

Too early to say. In past years it was easy to put DCE into elite, because BLC was already there, so it was a 1 for 1 swap. But in the 2027 class, BLC was in AAA, so making room for DCE in elite would require HoCo to knock down two teams. Based on Pinnacle, DCE is nowhere near ready for elite, but half of the legacy BLC players were missing, and there is no way to predict what new players will arrive for tryouts. DCE has a history of drawing players from as far north as Baltimore and south as Richmond, plus all the DC teams. They always have excellent coaching. If they get the missing pieces and beat some elite level teams in the fall, then I expect that the Express brand carries enough weight that HoCo would find a way to make room, or at least have a four team play-in tournament as they did for the 2026 class last spring. Two teams in the 2027 elite division (Hawks and NextLevel) have pulled way ahead of the pack, and the other six are pretty ordinary, so if DCE gets it together, it would not be hard to find two candidates who are worthy of moving down into AAA.

-Hawks lost no pieces. They should keep on doing their thing.
-I'm not sure about decisions the Crabs made. But their model is what it is. Logic tells you if these kids were ok for the 8th grade team last year, they might turn into good players for your 8th grade team again. We shall see.
-FCA does need a goalie. And they dont just need middies, they need middies that can beat their man.
-91 is probably a push compared to last year because of their timing. Their starting core is good. They lost a few games when depth was challenged. Their size hurt them.I would try to get some bigger, more athletic kids to push those starters.

Where did the Fogos end up?

New holdbacks are going to be the catalyst here.

So nice to hear a reasonable response.