BOTC - US Lacrosse Community Forum Forums NORTHEAST LACROSSE BOTC MAIN FORUM (LI, CT, WC) Long Island Boys "Hot Bed" Status

Newsday's Sunday, February 12th edition has dedicated a full page to lacrosse and once you get past the Rob Pannell article covering the upcoming season at Cornell, the right margin has the Preseason Top 10 Collegiate teams with their associated key Long Island rooted players.

[1] Virginia - None
[2] Duke - Justin Turri (West Islip)
[3] Cornell - Rob Pannell (Smithtown West), Steven Mock (Huntington)
[4] Johns Hopkins - None
[5] Denver - None
[6] North Carolina - Nick Galasso (West Islip), Steven Rastivo (Ward Melville)
[7] Syracuse - Tom Palasek (Rocky Point)
[8] Maryland - Mike Ehrhardt (Chaminade)
[9] Notre Dame - Sean Rogers (Holy Trinity), Steven Murphy (Floyd)
[10] Villanova - Kevin Cunningham (Kellenberg), Mike Vigilante (Massapequa)

Others were named from Army, Hartford, Lehigh, Massachusetts, Penn, Princeton, and Yale.

Is this a good representation as a Long Island "Hot Bed"? Should we have seen more or do these names anchor the Long Island Boys-side reputation as an on-going hotbed?

Maybe a better way to phrase it is "key players from Long Island". Virginia has 3 LI players on their roster.

We do have 10 players on the U19 USA Team so that alone qualifies LI as a "hot bed"

I do think it is very important to get a "reality check" as only 100-110 LI boys are D1 recruits. On average that would be 1 player from each public HS team.

I attended a college forum where D1, D2 and D3 coaches answered questions. Some points of interest to me were:
- No such thing as a full ride anymore. D1 has 12.5 scholarships for 40+ players.
- Grades are extremely important to get academic scholarships. D1 and D2 schools first go to admissions to see how much academic money the player will get before they consider making any type of offer.
- Quote from the D1 coach "D2 and D3 are NOT dirty words, there are a number of great opportunities at great schools. Lacrosse is supposed to be an enjoyable experience."
- Verbal commitments mean absolutely nothing. Cases where the player is still too young to be recruited by NCAA rules and still verbally commits is quote - "magic"
- Multi-Sport athletes are highly regarded. Quote from the D1 coach "A player being coached on a mediocre football team is still a better experience than a lacrosse player training on his own."
- Behavior and respect for ones parents is more important than talent. If a coach hears a player talking badly to his parents - they are immediately crossed off the recruiting list.
- All HS Players need to be aware of how they act and play at all times. You never know who is watching on or off the field.
- Summer tournaments are the most popular recruiting events because the coaches cannot spend the time during their regular season.
- D2 and D3 schools go after all the same players as D1.

I guess to sum it all up, it seems CHARACHTER is important. Funny reading these posts across the board, it doesn't seem as if morals and values are important to these parents. You never know who is watching, true!!!!!!

I dont think there is any doubt that Long Island is one of the strongest regions in the country when it comes to lacrosse. I think it goes in this order:

Long Island
Maryland
Upstate New [lacrosse]
PA
Tri State: NJ,CT, etc

You can argue the order, but I think thats whos in the conversation.

Virginia has 3 players from Long Island including Nick O'Reilly a NCAA all tournament selection last year
Johns Hopkins has a 4 players most are freshman or sophmores.
Denver has none from Long Island BUT they all are coached by LONG ISLANDERS

Penn has 12 Long Island players on their roster:
Garden City (3)
Manhasset (2)
Half Hollow Hills (2)
Huntington (1)
Cold Spring Harbor (1)
Setauket (1)
Smithtown (1)
Sachem (1)

West Islip Division 1 players:

Division 1


Rob Moore- Jacksonville
Andrew Federico: Fairfield
Brian Hogan: Hofstra
Nicky Galasso: North Carolina
Justin Turri: Duke
Kyle Turri: Duke
Mike Sagl: Quinnipiac
Kyle Carrick: Sacred Heart
Bryan Badalato: Marquette
Liam Byrnes: Marquette
Ian Braddish: Hofstra
Connor Braddish: Colgate
Jerry Nobile: Marquette
Mike Diggle: Stonybrook