BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums PENNSYLVANIA LACROSSE PENNSYLVANIA FORUM Main Forum Philadelphia & Vicinity

BM is a good coach; they’ve been running that “zone” for a bit, helps with less talented players (please don’t get upset, Dads). It certainly stifled ANC last year…
Gotta be creative w what you have, I think BM does that.
18-0 against a mediocre St Albany’s though?
Yikes

Pretty odd. In other sports, kids pile into programs to be coached by a guy with his resume and track record. He clearly has the connections to land kids spots on college programs. Has to be administration, right?
Whatever it is, it’s not particularly interesting.

Let’s hear about the first weekend of NXT Spring League. Who are the early favorites in 28AA?

You think calling a kid lazy is positive?

Simple explanation? Author nice to the kids cited who pay for his club? Mean to the one who declined to pay him and his club? Mean to the school coach team that fired him? Mean to the competitor that is a much better coach and better club?

Freedom is the 28AA favorite until someone beats them, seems like they weren’t really challenged yesterday. Looks like Red Hots entered a team but didn’t play on Sunday. You never know who’ll show up for them but they could challenge Freedom if they get top kids to travel to PA.

Duke’s 28 AA is a great team, although one of their players reclassed I heard.
Freedom seems to have their number though so we’ll see…

Conestoga lost to Avon Grove. Not sure what that means. Is Stoga down this year, is GA not good, or perhaps Avon Grove is a good team?

Sounds like there is a backstory. What is it?

Avon Grove seems to be pretty solid this year. Stoga has been down for a few years now.

Haverford and Malvern both working through some early season jitters / sloppiness (failed clears, missed opportunities, etc) but both look strong so far and both had dominate wins over MIAA teams yesterday. Haverfords rope unit combined with their defense make it very hard for their opponents to get possession, build momentum and go on runs. Good luck to both teams the rest of the season. Will be interesting to see how Malvern does against St Anthony's in their early season match up.

Big wins for Philly HS, love to see it!
Fords controlled the FO against McDonough, really impressive to see…
St Anta just took down Culver so that will be a battle

Lasalle with a statement win against The Hill Academy. Just the type of victory RF needed; gonna be a fun season for local HS lax

Good to see the PA holdbacks are beating the MD holdbacks. The Commonwealth is winning the battle of the fool dads.

Real statement. Lasalle and Haverford are top two in Philly. No doubt about it. Best coaching. Most talented players. Add Salesianum to mix if including DE.

Silly not to include Malvern in the conversation of top two in Philly. Malvern could finish number 1 when it's all said and done and for my money they're better and deeper than La Salle right now.

Radnor just said "hold my beer".

Lost to Haverford twice, Radnor, Salesianum and dem losses and behind La Salle, Springfield maybe Marple. Got to win not lose to be in a conversation.

Radnor did not beat Malvern this year. Using last year's head to head results is also silly. McDonogh beat Haverford last year and lost to them this year. New year new teams should go without saying. Leave this conversation to the people that have common sense.

Radnor should never ever beat Malvern. The fact that it happened is embarrassing. Radnor is a great team. But it's public, meaning they don't have the ability to recruit kids from all over the area to form a national powerhouse every year.

What should happen and what does happen are two different things. By Malvern's standards they had a down year last year. Malvern had some major injuries last year, two of their top middies did not play all year. Similar to Haverford School, they played a lot of sophmores last year. Radnor was arguable the top public school team in the nation last year so it is not surprising that they beat Malvern last year. New year, new teams. So far this year, Malvern looks better than last year looking at their games so far and considering all their super sophmores last year are now juniors with more experience under their belt. Radnor will most likely be one of the top public schools in the nation again. Look for Springfield to make some noise as they return two great lefties from injury, one of which is arguable the top player in the 2026 class.

Truth - What Radnor does is amazing!

That’s a silly statement; no private school should ever lose to a public? Those kids have all played together since middle school, I wouldn’t say they are at a major disadvantage. Give me a break

Over statement, yes. Silly statement, not even close. It seems like you are being deliberately dense. Private schools recruit and kids go to them for the sole reason for playing high level sports. The fact that Radnor has been able to keep their talent is really something.

can recruit all you want but if no one is willing to fork over 40K you get what we saw last night.

Radnor 11 EA 5

EA daddies were sad that their little princes were losing and blamed the refs. one dad got kicked out. The refs had too stop the game and gina buggy escorted him to the parking lot.
/chefskiss

EA aint Malvern. nuff said

What Radnor has accomplished is tremendous, I’m not negating that. The issue for the Philly area is, the tea tons of great private schools, so the talent pool is spread out. If you look at other areas, there only a few private schools kids would select; Philly area has tons, making it harder to build a powerhouse, I’d argue it’s similar for the girls as well.
Again, not taking away from Radnor but the idea that private should never lose to a public is silly

I would classify teams that are perennially ranked on the top 25 in country as powerhouses ( Malvern/Haverford). Include lasalle and Sallies in there for catholic options and that is about it for private schools with lax traditions in the area.

For sure this is true. EA is different. Malvern and Haverford put a lot more money into aide for athletes. I suspect (almost know) athletes with less need for aide are still getting it to bring them in. I am not sure if providing scholarships for prep school athletes is a good thing or not. But if you can (and do) buy the talent, it is easier to win.

Miney being given out to athletes to attend private HS
Is so overblown, it’s ridiculous. Public school parents love to conject, it’s simply not true. If money is given, it’s very little and the kid is a multi sport athlete, not just lax. Moreover, 95+% of money given is for kids in need

my job is brining me to the Philadelphia area in a few weeks and to change things up here on the board my daughter was interested in William Penn Charter for girls lacrosse - we were going to look but I see they lost like 10 games last year and 3 games already this year - the home we are living in is in chestnut hill and my daughter was top 2026 midfielder on Long Island for yellow jackets - any idea of other good private schools to consider with good coaches?

Nonsense. It is all couched as "need". I know for a fact of at least one case of a family getting money and the family earning north of $200k. Now $40k a year tuition for a $200k+ family is a lot. Is the family needed? No! Pretend it doesn't happen, but it happens a lot. Maybe these parents are lying, but I doubt it.

Lax ain’t a poor man’s game. The kids that Malvern want don’t need financial aide. They want the ego stroke of getting recruited to a top tier school more than the money. Lax parents are willing to pay up for anything. See national teams and club ball as examples

I think it depends upon the club team your daughter is going to play for and if you want club coach to match high school coach.
The two best private schools for lacrosse near where you are living is SCH Academy or Penn Charter. Both are strong academically. PC - HHH based and SCH - Reigh based. BUT you will see girls from both clubs on both teams. SCH has had more success lately and would be right down the road. SCH has more girls from the area on their team where PC pulls more from outside Philly. Unless you are willing to travel over 40 minutes for school (Episcopal Academy or Agnes Irwin) those are your best bets.

Chestnut Hill is close enough to schools like Agnes Irwin and Notre Dame - which have pretty successful girls programs. Episcopal would be a bit of a stretch for your family but I have seen further commutes. There is a list of girls schools on the main line but AIS and Notre Dame probably have the best lax.

thank you for ideas will definitely look at Springside too / we had heard on episcopal that there is some big politics on the club side with a club called blast pa club and that a girl recently transferred from episcopal to william penn charter because of issues with coach @ episcopal also involved with blast pa club / apparently girl was cut as a freshman and played jv as a sophomore at episcopal even though she was on USA Lacrosse U16 development team / how do other parents allow this to happen / is this the same episcopal that fired their well-known boys coach who also coaches in PLL? / we definitely dont want a coach that is involved with a club / does that change the list / is gernantown viable

Can't speak to any of the EA girls team drama except that team has been #1 in the state and just beat the #1 team in the nation this weekend. Just graduated at girl who is playing at Northwestern...so alot of talent on that team. There was no EA girl on the U16 team. Just from Agnes Irwin. Politics are going to be at every high school. I would be more interested in the academics, the players on the team being welcoming as your daughter will be a junior (can be some drama there). But yes if you want to stay in a 15 minute radius GA, SCH and PC will be great. Can also add in The Mount. If you are willing to travel EA, Agnes Irwin and Notre Dame are at the top. All inter-ac team are top in the area. And SCH EA and AI have gone back and forth the part couple of years with wins.

been on the phone with a few people from pa who are 'in the know' and fact checking - hoping none of them are on this board - I think we are staying away from ea - and win over McD or not (and McD is down this year and our St.A team saw them @ indoor nationals and several of their top girls were out and new coach etc) - heard one of 2025 commits on the ea team that has a sister on an acc team asked unc coaches not to recruit a philadelphiiia girl (also an acc player) who was transferring from a rival acc and considering nw, bc, unc - unc stayed away and the other two heavily recruited her - there is some guy named Bob (who is from L.I. who also had a hand is this plus training the top philadelphiiia girls) and anyway now the ea girl is committed to bc and has to play two years with the girl and both families know - coach from william penn charter is also a club coach and was calling around to the unc and other college coaches for the family of the ea girl trying to dictate who they recruit etc - the same coach runs the committed games in July for a club called hhh - is this really happening and aren't the other families outraged enough to do something? same family apparently threatened to sue a D.C. area club for a foul in a game last summer? I might leave my daughter at St. A's and just commute - we have 29 D1 commits in our program and 11 play JV - think about how tough that is for for those 11 families - but I gotta tell you this other stuff seems unbearable in comparison jeez sorry for monday download - thanks for advices all

I can't tell if this is a joke a this point. This is all too much to even follow. Yes keep your daughter in LI. Sounds like that is the better fit. Good luck to your daughter because if you are really doing this much research to find a team kudos...and sounds like the high school team won't matter because your daughter will be a lock to commit Sept 1st.

Contrary to what you say Malvern, Haverford & EA all want kids who need aide. Maybe not want them, but they will provide the aide to get kids who will help them win. The magnitude of the aide will depend on the wealth of the parents.

Huh?