BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums MID-ATLANTIC LACROSSE MARYLAND FORUM Boys 2026 Grads - Mid Atlantic Region

I'm a 28 dad who mistakenly hit the 26 thread, but my son went to school with said DCE to ML attackman. The DCE attackman that left is one of the best in the DMV. It's a huge pickup for ML. I'm actually surprised he left, TBH.

DCE players were also surprised he roll out on them as well.

Best of luck.

Righty or the Lefty? Fact the righty left for ML but the lefty is TBD.

This is such a funny time of year. MadLax starters at close D, LSM, and a good offensive middie or two were "guest playing" for DCE this summer, which I assumed meant they were switching over. Is that not happening now?

One left DCE for ML, Lefty DCE left for ??? most likely ML in the summer (look out current lefty at ML), DCE gained two attack to replace the two that left. We will see who shows up where next month for fall practices.

But DCE and ML are still chasing Crabs and Hawks in the end.[/quote]

Largely true, but not quite. Yes, MadLax will always be chasing the top teams. A revolving door of great players locally and all the National players who become permanent fixtures in 9th grade, but with a toxic culture and bad coaching, is not a good team. You you got the MadLax part right. As for DCE, you are right they will always be chasing Crabs, but not Hawks. The 10-4 HoCo playoff game was more than just a bad loss for Hawks, it was transformative. A once great team was reduced to a helmet throwing meltdown of crybabies, players, coaches, and parents alike. They dominated HoCo for so many years and ended in humiliation. DCE will always own Hawks.

Pretty sure DCE will be just fine without both of those attacks. Maybe even a little relief that the accompanying sideline antics will also move on to another team.

None of the Madlax D guest played for DCE.

Middie left Madlax for DCE after spring. Also didn't guest play.

Largely true, but not quite. Yes, MadLax will always be chasing the top teams. A revolving door of great players locally and all the National players who become permanent fixtures in 9th grade, but with a toxic culture and bad coaching, is not a good team. You you got the MadLax part right. As for DCE, you are right they will always be chasing Crabs, but not Hawks. The 10-4 HoCo playoff game was more than just a bad loss for Hawks, it was transformative. A once great team was reduced to a helmet throwing meltdown of crybabies, players, coaches, and parents alike. They dominated HoCo for so many years and ended in humiliation. DCE will always own Hawks.[/quote]
Maybe. Maybe not.

Just spoke to a ML friend. both the righty and lefty attack are coming over and leaving DCE. I don't have a dog in the fight. Just adding some color.

Watch out ML. They better allow those kids to score 2-3 goals every game...sidelines will become toxic.

That team's sidelines are already toxic, so adding those two Dads will make for some real good theatre.

The ML goalies should watch out as these two will eventually pull their boy in once they settle in (Rocket).

The two dads will enjoy watching ML #5. Get your popcorn out!

How many teams will that make it?

MadLax was 2-5 in HoCo for a reason, and it wasn’t lack of talent.

The talent was there, just have to balance it with academics.

Will never happen as the goalie is very happy where he is at DCE.

You mean IQ wasn't there? Not sure what you mean by "academics." They just plainly [Censored] and didn't know how to play TEAM lacrosse. Also, not all the fly ins played except once or twice and they still lost. The only thing that changed in the summer is fly ins in attendance "National" team players and that made a difference but not enough when again TEAM lacrosse is not played or instituted by coaches. Then you add the sideline dads with 'wheels', "take him" or 'get it to ____" well that is not going to make for a win against the good TEAMS. They do play good tournaments though and the social media of the players are on point. No other club can touch it.

Thanks DCE Dad. Btw, you went 0-5 this summer against top twenty teams but you looked like a TEAM so you have that going for you.

Sorry not a DCE dad. But ML only beat 2 (Leading Edge and Towerman) out of the top 20 and went 0-5 this summer as well (Express, Upstate, Hawks 2x, 3d NE Red) but we can call it even.

DCE will have trouble remaining competitive long because their main feeder, BLC, is not what it use to be. NL in particular and ML to a lesser degree have penetrated their player pool. Also, one of the main (I'd argue "the" main feeder) elementary schools for BLC players is Mater Dei in Bethesda. The 28s started migrating to ML a while ago. 27s started a little after. Below the 28 year, almost all the best players play for ML down to 31s. NL also has a good grasp on Mater Dei and Landon (at the younger ages), which has mistakenly been labeled an ML school. There are more NL players their now below the 24 grad year.

No dog in the fight, just my observation as a DMV parent with friends across all the teams.

I think this was practicing with DCE to check it out but not guest playing. One middie did leave after spring for summer.

It used to be that MadLax and DCE/BLC were ahead of VLC and NextLevel, but VLC has pulled even, and NL is closing the gap as well. The good thing about the latter two teams is that their rosters stay more constant, while MadLax and DCE are more of a merry go round constantly chasing new players.

Just get your kid on a team that he enjoys and that will get him recruited, if that's what he wants, and stop worrying about which time is ranked what. You will find out that high school club is much different than youth.

So true and todays new USCL rankings of VLC at 56 and NL at 68 totally support your analysis.

Yes, the rankings published by MadLax that are always deadly accurate.

ML 25 ML National 24 and DCE 17. So what does that say?

So true and todays new USCL rankings of VLC at 56 and NL at 68 totally support your analysis.[quote][/quote]

What do those rankings support?

It used to be that MadLax and DCE/BLC were ahead of VLC and NextLevel, but VLC has pulled even, and NL is closing the gap as well. The good thing about the latter two teams is that their rosters stay more constant, while MadLax and DCE are more of a merry go round constantly chasing new players.[/quote]

So true and todays new USCL rankings of VLC at 56 and NL at 68 totally support your analysis.[/quote]

ML 25 ML National 24 and DCE 17. So what does that say?[/quote]



From a national perspective:


Crabs and Hawks are great
DCE and Madlax are good
NL and VLC and every other team in the area are not relevant.

None of this is changing in the next 24-36 months. In order to get in and stay in the the top ten you need a significant number of holdbacks.

If your son is not one one of the top four teams and he is a great player he will still get recruited. Just won’t won win a lot of games if that is important to you.

It’s ninth grade. Focus on the weight room and getting your son on his Varsity program. Spend some time on your sons recruiting roadmap.

Or you can just keep coming here and talking about things that don’t matter.

The Facebook page "Educating Parents of HS Athletes On The College Recruiting Process" is focused on information in the book "Looking for a Full Ride" by Coach Renee Lopez. The book and the FB discussion is a great place to start the process for creating that recruiting roadmap.

So true and todays new USCL rankings of VLC at 56 and NL at 68 totally support your analysis.[/quote]

ML 25 ML National 24 and DCE 17. So what does that say?[/quote]



From a national perspective:


Crabs and Hawks are great
DCE and Madlax are good
NL and VLC and every other team in the area are not relevant.

None of this is changing in the next 24-36 months. In order to get in and stay in the the top ten you need a significant number of holdbacks.

If your son is not one one of the top four teams and he is a great player he will still get recruited. Just won’t won win a lot of games if that is important to you.

It’s ninth grade. Focus on the weight room and getting your son on his Varsity program. Spend some time on your sons recruiting roadmap.

Or you can just keep coming here and talking about things that don’t matter.[/quote]

Thanks Captain Obvious. This is BOTC - nothing posted here matters.

That’s Brigadier General Obvious to you. Hit the wall.

ML and DCE dont have the depth that Crabs and Hawks have and thats the difference.

Then how did DCE beat Hawks 10-4 when it mattered most?

You got lucky. We look forward to the rematch this fall.

Without a large portion of their offense, they will struggle.

Sure they bring in kids, but it will be difficult to replace the quality of talent that they lost. The loss of the 2 attack will be huge when they play quality teams, as they simply will not replace that level of talent

Keep telling yourself that...

I am scratching my head as to why two players that good would move from DCE to MadLax. I do not have a son on either team, but I thought I knew the 2026 age group fairly well. It appeared from both teams' HoCo performance (both W/L records, and watching the teams play) that DCE was on the way up and MadLax was in decline. All reports are that DCE has better coaching at the 2026 level. I was hearing rumors that top MadLax, NextLevel, and VLC players all were trying to join DCE, and I know that some guest played with DCE this summer. And whenever I watched DCE play, those two got plenty of playing time. And starting in HS, MadLax becomes a revolving door for national players, so no matter how good you are, you frequently will be sharing time with some ringer from Texas, North Carolina, etc. So to an outside observer this move makes little sense - what am I missing?

I had the same thoughts as well. DCE on the way up and Madlax trying to figure it out. But from the sounds of it these two players will add for sure at left and the other will be fighting for time vs the locals and whatever comes from other states as National players. As somebody said before one of them will be watching because only 3 play and those two got plenty of time at DCE.

Parents Egos