Boys Lacrosse: Is It Just A Northeastern US Sport?

(5-24-17) – The 12th-annual Under Armour All-America Lacrosse Game on July 1st will be played at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium.

One of the fastest growing high school team sport in the US is lacrosse.  A sport long accepted in the Northeastern part of the US, the sport has expanded over the past several years.  This year Ohio is holding it’s first OHSAA sanctioned tournament, Illinois will hold an IHSA state tournament starting next season.

Taking a look at the 44 players selected for the All-American game you might notice that the Northeastern part of the country still seems to be the Mecca of high school talent.

Breakdown of the 44:

• Connecticut: 8
• New York: 8
• DC/Maryland: 6
• New Jersey: 4
• Massachusetts: 2
• Delaware: 1
• Around the US: 13 (2-Texas, 2- California, 2-Florida, 2-Indiana, 1-Oregon, 1-Missouri, 1-Michigan, 1-Colorado and 1-Pennsylvania)
• Canada: 2

Connecticut
Ryan 	Lanchbury 	Attack 		Avon Old Farms (Conn.)
Raines 	Shamburger 	Defense 	Avon Old Farms (Conn.)
Alex 	Buckanavage 	Attack 		Brunswick (Conn.)
Adrian 	Enchill 	Defense 	Westminster (Conn.)
Ryan 	Cornell 	Goalie 		Darien (Conn.) 
Arden 	Cohen 		Defense 	Darien (Conn.) 	
Drew 	Morris	 	Goalie 		New Canaan (Conn.)
Ryan 	O’Connell* 	Midfield 	New Canaan (Conn.) 

New York
Colby 	Barker 		Midfield 	Pittsford (N.Y.) 
James 	Avanzato 	Attack/MF 	Sachem North (N.Y.)
Frank 	Tangredi 	Defense 	Chaminade (N.Y.)
Connor 	DeSimone 	Midfield 	Smithtown East (N.Y.)
Chris 	Gray	 	Attack 		Shoreham Wading River (N.Y.) 
Aidan 	Olmstead 	Attack 		Corning (N.Y.) 	
Matt 	Licciardi 	Midfield 	Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.)
Lucas 	Quinn 	 	Midfield 	Niskayuna (N.Y.) 

DC/Maryland
Colin 	Hinton 		Defense 	St. John’s College (D.C.) 
Justin 	Shockey 	Faceoff 	Landon (Md.) 	
Andrew 	Fowler 		LSM/Defense 	Landon (Md.) 
Nate 	Buller 		Attack 		Landon (Md.) 
Alex 	Trippi 		Attack 		Bullis (Md.) 	
Alex 	Rode 		Goalie 		St. Paul’s (Md.) 

Massachusetts
Jackson Caputo 		Defense 	Deerfield (Mass.) 	
Bubba 	Fairman 	Attack 		Deerfield (Mass.)/Brighton (Utah)

Delaware
Mike 	Drake 		Midfield 	Salesianum (Del.)  	

New Jersey 
Jared 	Reinson 	Defense 	Montgomery (N.J.)
Chris 	Fake	 	Defense 	Hun School (N.J.)
Connor 	Morin	 	Attack 		Morristown-Beard (N.J.)
Owen 	Prybylski 	Defense 	Westfield (N.J.)

Around the US
Tucker 	Dordevic 	Midfield 	Jesuit (Ore.) 	
Owen 	Seebold 	Attack 		Highland Park (Texas)
Nakeie 	Montgomery 	Midfield 	Episcopal School of Dallas (Texas)
Bryn 	Evans 		Midfield 	St. Ignatius Prep (Calif.) 
Hall 	Peters	 	Defense 	St. Ignatius Prep (Calif.) 
Harry 	Wellford 	Midfield 	MICDS (Mo.) 	
Matthew Schmidt 	Goalie 		Culver Academy (Ind.) (Ohio)	
Jackson Reid 		Midfield 	Culver Academy (Ind.) (Ontario)	
Tehoka 	Nanticoke 	Attack 		IMG Academy (Fla.) (Canada) 	
Cam 	Badour 		Midfield 	IMG Academy (Fla.) (Canada)	
Carson 	Cochran 	Defense 	Brother Rice (Mich.) 	
Colin 	Munro 		Attack 		Mountain Vista (Colo.) 	
Matt 	Moore* 		Midfield 	Garnet Valley (Pa.) 	

Canada
Riley 	Curtis 		Attack/MF 	Hill Academy (Ont.) 	
Justin 	Inacio 		Faceoff 	Hill Academy (Ont.) 

Below are the Under Armour All-America rosters, teams have been split up into North and South teams.  The North will be coached by Eric Law, while Jeremy Sieverts will lead the South.

Many ‘experts’ say that ‘The Wizard’ IMG’s Tehoka Nanticoke is the best HS player competing in the US, he’s from Canada.

Seniors players were selected by INSIDE LACROSSE along with members of the selection committee.

 

The most recent USA Today National Rankings show that it has a high number of Northeastern schools ranked. Three who are in the rankings (Culver Academy,  IMG Academy and Hill Academy) have players from around the country and Canada.

Maryland
2 Landon School (Gaithersburg, MD) 21 – 0 – 0
8 Calvert Hall (Baltimore, MD) 13 – 2 – 0
9 McDonogh (Owings Mills, MD) 13 – 3 – 0
12 Bullis School (Potomac, MD) 18 – 3 – 0
20 Boys’ Latin (Baltimore, MD) 13 – 5 – 0

Connecticut
5 Brunswick-Greenwich, (Greenwich, CT) 14 – 1 – 0
6 Darien (Darien, CT) 16 – 0 – 0
14 Avon Old Farms (Avon, CT) 13 – 2 – 0
15 Salisbury School (Salisbury, CT) 11 – 2 – 0
23 Taft, Watertown, CT 9 – 6 – 0

Pennsylvania
7 La Salle (Wyndmoor, PA) 17 – 1 – 0
16 Haverford (Haverford, PA) 15 – 6 – 0
19 Episcopal Academy (Merion Station, PA) 11 – 4 – 0
22 Malvern Prep (Malvern, PA) 17 – 5 – 0
25 Conestoga (Berwyn, PA) 15 – 3 – 0

New Jersey
11 Delbarton (Morristown, NJ) 15 – 1 – 0
17 Bridgewater-Raritan (Bridgewater, NJ) 15 – 0 – 0
18 Chatham (Chatham, NJ) 14 – 2 – 0

New York
10 Cold Spring Harbor Cold Spring Harbor, NY 16 – 0 – 0

Massachusetts
13 Deerfield Academy (Deerfield, MA) 13 – 2 – 0

New Hampshire
24 New Hampton (New Hampton, NH) 13 – 0 – 0

Florida
4 IMG Academy (Bradenton, FL) 11 – 1 – 0

Indiana
1 Culver Academy (Culver, IN) 19 – 1 – 0

Canada
3 Hill Academy (Concord, ON) 12 – 1 – 0

California
21 Saint Ignatius (San Francisco, CA) 19 – 2 – 0

It is apparent that many, especially those who follow lacrosse for a living, think that the Northeastern US schools have a leg up on the rest of the country when it comes to boys lacrosse.

The upcoming GEICO High School Lacrosse Nationals  will feature three Northeastern schools, plus IMG Academy, an independent school who has players from across the US and Canada. One team from, Canada, Hill Academy will participate as well, a school much like IMG with a high emphasis on bringing in student-athletes to perform at a ‘high level’ athletically.

• #3 ST. SEBASTIAN’S (MA)
• #5 GEORGETOWN PREP (MD)
• #7 LAWRENCEVILLE (NJ)
• #8 CHRIST SCHOOL (NC)
• #1 IMG ACADEMY (FL)
• #2 HILL ACADEMY (ON)
• #6 ST. ANNE’S-BELFIELD (VA)
• #4 THE WOODLANDS (TX)

According to the team profiles, Hill Academy:

at least 20 Division I recruits mostly from Canada, with three Native Americans and three from the U.S.

IMG Academy:

like the basketball and football teams, attracts talented student-athletes globally

The future growth in the sport needs to increase quality teams from around the country, not just the Northeastern part of the US.  The goal of the sport in the US  should be to produce All-American players and National Championships that will feature players and teams from the around the US.

With state athletic associations and schools making the sport a ‘varsity’ sport, it should help draw top athletes to those programs that have competed in the past as a club program.  Helping to create teams at the younger grades in order to develop their fundamentals of the sport, is a key for the future at the high school level.

Yes, the Northeastern part of the country is very strong in producing top-rated lacrosse players and teams, but the ‘ice’ is breaking and now the entire  country is starting to produce those same type of programs.

Related story:

Meet IMG Academy’s Tehoka Nanticoke, the ‘wizard’ of high school lacrosse