Led by No. 2 West Islip, teams from throughout the region are represented prominently in LaxPower.com’s boys rankings for the 2009 season.
Our friend George Baldassare, LaxPower’s director of high school boys lacrosse, just sent along the links to the final boys and girls rankings.
Final Under Armour/Inside Lacrosse national rankings
Final LaxLessons.com Top 25 regional rankings
You can check them out here:
Reach Joe Lombardi at joe@laxlessons.com.
Posted In: Section 11, Section 8
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They missed the boat on St.A’s. They should be #3.
Yorktown”s way too low. This is a slap in the face. This team just lost three games – to WI and WM and a fluke loss to Wilton in last game of reg season when Town had nothing to play for.
It’s all about quality wins. Manhasset had them, St. A’s didn’t. Manhasset was ranked top 10 nationally in quality wins, St A’s was 40 something.
TownLax,
I’m looking at the coaches/computer ratings right now and I’m wondering who exactly you think Yorktown should be ranked ahead of?
Let’s break it down to a degree:
Yorktown comes in at No, 16, which I believe is more than fair.
The loss to Wilton, as far as computer ratings and opinion polls go, is a hard one to overcome because Town has no margin for error when there are 15 excellent national programs to contend with ahead of them. I don’t want to pretend like I know every loss every team had, but at the time I think the Wilton loss hurt Town more than anyone could have ever imagined, both on the field and in the poll world.
Look at the Inside Lacrosse poll. I think they did a better job this year than in years past but I also think they rank teams based more on hype and personnel than actual performance (that’s okay IMO for a preseason poll, but not once you get into the season).
So, who should Yorktown be ranked ahead of?
I’ll throw a few teams from the list out there because if I do all 15 by the time I’m done the 2010 season will have started. In fact, I’ll break down Nos. 13-15, the ones directly ahead of Town:
* No. 13 Orchard Park (21-2) comes immediately to mind. On the surface one would say, well, who do they play? And the answer is basically not many good teams, but I liken them to the Niskayuna phenomenon. They are a true regional power, one that would likely stand the test of time in any premier section. I’m not saying they win Section 8 or 11 titles, or Section 3, for that matter, but they would have been right there with Town so that makes them legit in Section 1. They’d be No. 2 at least in Section 2 and probably No. 2 overall in Section 5 save for Canandaigua, whom they beat once. They led West Islip for a stretch in the final and lost by the same margin as Yorktown.
Quality wins (LaxPower rating 95 or higher): Canandaigua, Manheim Township, Pa., Webster Thomas, Ithaca
Bad losses (LaxPower rating lower than theirs — 99.4): Corning East (99.2)
* No. 14 Niskayuna (24-1) is probably the fastest growing program in NYS among public schools. The Warriors’ sheer dominance of Section 2 has been well documented. They overcame any talk of a suspect schedule with convincing wins over Somers and Sayville in the state tournament before losing to Canandaigua in the Class B state finals.
Quality wins: John Jay, Somers, Sayville
Bad losses: None
* No. 15 Calvert Hall (14-4) is an MIAA school that is becoming a household name nationally. While the Cardinals may not be known as well as Gilman, Boys Latin or Loyola, they more than held their own in the toughest conference in America.
Quality wins: LaSalle College High (which beat West Genny), Boys Latin, St. Paul’s twice, St. Mary’s Annapolis, Loyola
Bad losses: Hill Academy (to open the season)
Yorktown went 18-3 with four AAs.
Quality wins: John Jay, St. Anthony’s, Chaminade, Darien
Bad losses: Wilton
Yeah, this is all very close between teams 13-16, but at the end of the day it appears Yorktown did its best work early in the season, while the other three stepped it up late. Yorktown nearly lost to Lakeland/Panas and then beat a vastly overrated Guilderland in the state quarters.
I do not believe Yorktown can make a case to be ranked ahead of anyone ranked 1-12.
Apart from the quality of the 3 teams before Town, yeah it’s tough to overcome Town’s losses to teams ranked 60 and 262 (Wilton and Lakeland Panas, respectively). Town’s “attittude” about playing Wilton is irrelevant. Coach should be getting them “ready” for every game.
Slax – I know we easily could have but Town didn’t lose to LP.
I’m fine with 16 by the way.
I think No. 16 is perfect for Yorktown by the way and is hardly a slap in the face in the slightest.
By the way, gang, we once again have a very tight race for the top spot in our regional best defenseman award. This is three weeks in a row, starting with the Galasso/English showdown for the top spot at attack and Froccaro/Ranagan battle for No. 1 at midfield.
Now, it’s Syosset’s Thomas Keith vs. Yorktown’s John Fennessy for No. 1 on defense.
If you haven’t exercised your right to vote, what are you waiting for?
Cuse,
I’d just like to say that Hill Academy is not really a bad loss for CHC…they’re basically a Canadian box team that plays year round and recruits from a wide region in Canada…they might be the best team in the nation if they were actually from the US. They, like most box teams (including, some would say, LaFayette), dont play much defense as they are not used to handling longpoles, but as far as stick skills and offensive ability goes they might well be better than any of the top teams. Of course I haven’t seen them play, but I watched highlights on I believe digitalsports..in their only other game in the US they crushed WRA by almost 10 about a month later. That leaves CHC’s losses as Gilman x2 and St. Mary’s in OT in Annapolis…I believe CHC is a top 5 team, never mind being ranked ahead of Yorktown.
GreenWhite,
Sorry. Yes it wasn’t a loss but I was thinking that given Towns deeper talent and depth,(and taking nothing away from an LP team that played very well), Town should have won by at least 3-5 goals.
#16 nationally is something Town and Section 1 should be proud of!
Calvert Hall would handle Yorktown, I’m fairly certain of it. Having seen both teams play on more than one occasion this year, I think Calvert Hall would win by at least five goals. If there is a defenseman in the nation that can hold JR to a point or two or completely shut out Interlicchio, it’s Chris Lightner (Hopkins) who is the best defenseman I’ve seen since Barney Ehrmann (Georgetown AA). Also, Calvert Hall is so balanced on attack it’s ridiculous, so while Fox and Fennessy are pretty good defenders, I’m not so sure about the rest of the ‘Town defense.
However, I do think Town should be ranked ahead of OP, but I can see the reasoning for OP being ranked higher.
Also, I forgot who, but someone asked me if I was going to the UA AA game on Saturday and I will be there. Anyone from the site planning on making the trip down to Balmur?