Photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com
Junior midfielder Frank Buffalino of Syosset is among the players from the nation’s No. 1 lax hotbed, the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, looking forward to a big week. The Braves, who are coming off an 8-7 double-OT win against Hicksville, have three games this week.
It promises to be an interesting week capped by a couple of big showdowns.
On Saturday, Darien takes on Haverford (Pa.) in a matchup of the consensus top two ranked high school teams from sea to shining sea. The game, part of the third annual Checking for Cancer Classic in Hanover, Pa., promises to be, well, a classic.
Later in the day, John Jay and Manhasset renew their rivalry when the state Class B powers meet in Cross River.
Be sure to check out our latest poll question where you can weigh in with your vote on how those two big games will end up.
On the right panel of this page, just scroll past the “New Comments” and “Popular” tabs and click on “Poll,” and then cast your vote from the choices available, or write in your choice if it’s not listed.
There are also plenty of much-awaited games before Saturday, including Ward Melville at Smithtown West in Suffolk Class A on Tuesday and Wilton at Darien in the FCIAC on Thursday. To name just a couple.
Enough look ahead.
Let’s get to what’s going on right here, right now.
As in today.
Headling today’s slate is the fourth meeting between defending Connecticut Class L state champion Cheshire and Fairfield Prep in the last two seasons. Cheshire won all three meetings last year, including in the state final.
Here’s a complete rundown of the schedule.
Cheshire at Fairfield Prep at Alumni Field, Fairfield University, 4 p.m.
Miller Place at Bellport, 4 p.m.
Trumbull at Fairfield Warde, 4 p.m.
Albertus Magnus at Suffern at Suffern Middle School, 4:15 p.m.
Highland at FDR-Hyde Park, 4:15 p.m.
Pearl River at Edgemont, 4:15 p.m.
White Plains at Yorktown, 4:30 p.m.
Ossining at Croton-Harmon, 4:30 p.m.
Mahopac at Wappingers, 4:30 p.m.
Bayport-Blue Point at Elwood/John Glenn, 4:30 p.m.
Tappan Zee vs. Monroe-Woodbury at Torne Valley, 4:30 p.m.
Sewanhaka at Plainedge, 4:30 p.m.
Eastport/South Manor at Comsewogue, 4:30 p.m.
New Rochelle at Saunders, 4:30 p.m.
Wheatley at Jericho, 4:30 p.m.
Harborfields at Center Moriches, 4:30 p.m.
Hastings at Ardsley, 4:30 p.m.
Peekskill at Kennedy Catholic, 4:30 p.m.
Great Neck North at New Hyde Park, 4:30 p.m.
Haldane at North Salem, 4:30 p.m.
O’Neill at Newburgh Free Academy, 4:30 p.m.
Wallkill at Millbrook, 4:30 p.m.
Pelham at Nanuet, 4:45 p.m.
Scarsdale at Nyack at MacCalman Field, 4:45 p.m.
Brookfield at Bethel at DeSantis Field, 5 p.m.
Horace Greeley at Clarkstown South, 5:15 p.m.
King at Westhill, 5:30 p.m.
Wantagh at Seaford, 7 p.m.
Guilford at Daniel Hand, 7 p.m.
Wilbur Cross at West Haven at Ken Strong Stadium, 7 p.m.
Old Lyme at Branford, 7 p.m.
As always, be sure to post score game info/scores on this thread. Or, if it’s quicker and easier for you, send your updates to info@laxlessons.com.
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This week’s college schedule
For a rundown of this week’s D-I games, and games you can catch on TV, click here.
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Posted In: Fairfield lacrosse, fciac, Gameday, SCC lacrosse, Section 1, Section 11, Section 8, Section 9, SWC lacrosse
Girls Lax – Yorktown plays Lakeland today. This is typically the best game of the year in girls lax. Although the Fox Lane Lakeland game on 4/20 should be good too.
It seems that Yorktown is drinking the same Kool-Aid as a lot of people around here…how in the world did White Plains get on their schedule? I can’t help but think that there are better teams in Section 1 that they would get a lot more out of.
it sthe same as JJ playing this California team I heard they were about at the same level as Hen Hud
I didn’t know Hen Hud had 4 D1 commits going to UNC Syracuse Penn State and Navy. I also didn’t know that Hen Hud would put up 7 goals against Garden City.
Somebody from Jay or Garden City tell us about San Ramon. Between the two games we really don’t have much information on what level they were. I would have to add that they would probably be a little stronger than Hen Hud to put in 7 on Garden City (and hold them to just 14)- but maybe I’m wrong. It is still difficult to tell what is going on with every team at this point. We will know more by the end of April.
San Ramon Valley is much better than a Hen Hud type team (no disrespect to Hen Hud). Starting midfield are junior commits to UNC, Syracuse, and Penn State. Defenseman committed to Navy. Didn’t have as much depth as John Jay (and I would assume GC), but I would think that most teams do not.
It is very hard to compare (especially since they travelled cross country) – but they are a very good team.
you cant say they are a good team when they let in 28 goals in 2 games. If they lost to jj and GC 9-8 or 7-6 i would say they are good
not having seen them I’d be guessing that they try to play a wide-open, push the ball style as opposed to ball-possession, work the clock slowdown style. Coming out here to play good teams not only helps them play a t pace they wouldn’t see from many teams at home but it’s also a showcase for the college programs out this way who get to see those not yet committed in person. Chances are they got the full roster into both games given the distance they traveled.
That said, that was a good win for Jay, a positive step forward in what is still a young season. Plenty of time to continue to regroup before the sectionals.
They are a good team, I didn’t say they are a great team. Lax Novice’s comments are correct from what I saw regarding style of play.
They let up 28 goals against two of the stronger teams in NY State. They didn’t come East and play average teams. I tip my cap to them.
They also scored 17 goals in two games against two very good teams. San Ramon Valley is a good team.
Town plays Shen, Chaminade, St. Anthonys, Ridgefield, Wilton, Darien, John Jay, Lakeland, Smithtown West. It may be the hardest schedule in nation. Darien, Cham, and St Anthonys are top ten in nation. Smithtown is top 25. JJ was 21 when they beat them. Not too shabby. White Plains and teams like that are cross overs. Not every game you play needs to be against top teams. It is good to get other kids in games and keep some legs fresh as well. JJ, LP, and Somers use the same strategy.
Agree. It’s also good for teams like WP to play top teams so that they can be stretched to the limit on their skills and get a sense as to how far they need to improve to beat the best teams.
LI has a great reputation not only due to its perennial best teams but because the quality is good all over LI. Section 1 has a ways to go but the broader the quality becomes (in part by playing “up”) the better for all teams.
that’s correct, just laxin and Slax, it is good for Town and good for WP. SWlax, it’s fundamental that WP should want and have the opportunity to play some high-level S1 teams. All Good!
and dont forget about the indians of mahopac vs ytown on saturday at 2. pac has a solid squad this year and is underrated. they have 3 empire players and all 3 returning defenders. recruits to drexel, siena,keene state, springfield, nazareth, western new england, and assumption. not saying they are amazing but deff have the talent to beats some good teams like town and jj.
no but Hen Hud put up 10 on lakeland.
and Lakeland only beat Suffern by one. Sir I think you need to get your facts straight before you post in the blogs
After this weekend, things are going to get very serious for lakeland. assuming they take care of business this week, they should be happy to go .500 for the rest of the way. that would put them at 10-6 for the season. That is an impressive schedule, and it will start against penn yan.
I think everyone needs to chill out and take a deep breath when it comes to this L/P team. They’re starting an entirely new defense, not one or two kids, every single long pole including the goalie. Not to mention they play 3 freshman, not have 3 freshman on the roster, actually play 3 of them, 2 start. Give their coaching staff some credit for making adjustments at halftime and only giving up 2 goals after surrendering 7 in the first half. There are going to be some growing pains for them along the way, but won thing is always true of L/P teams under Lindsay, you never want to see them at the end of the year come playoff time when your one and done.
Why are the 2 schools combined?. Panas, the smaller school, would by itself still be larger than most of the section 1, B class teams.
I know its one school district, like Clarkstown North and South, but this can provide an advantage with so much more kids to choose from.
The crazy part is that they don’t even have a large picking of kids. Only around 30 varsity and about same for jv, without tryouts I believe.
Agree with all above who say too early to judge.
Also I, like most I assume have always been a very strong advocate of “strength of scheule” factored into rankings. So I don’t put much credence at all at this point in top Section 1 teams who have beaten weak teams–so what–It’s expected. On the other hand if a lower ranked team gets close to or beats a top team, that’s something to note! Let’s see what happens as the season progresses and teams play other top comp.
As a side note to this SOS thought, this is my issue with Bronville. Other then PV this season they don’t play teams that are strong at all. They should be playing top teams! They have a top Section 1 offense with 2 legit high D1 commits (Notre Dame/Gtown) + a few other very good kids but how do you really judge them in the mix when they will not be tested this season except by PV. Not their fault (assume Coach tried to sched stronger) but a fact.
Bronxville tries to schedule tougher games but b/c of there league they can only schedule 5 games. Those 5 games are PV, Greeley, hen hud Fordham prep (which beat Iona prep) and Clarkstown south. Blame it on the stupid league alignments based on geography of the school. Also some teams like a somers, mahopac, rye might not want to play them esp. this year b/c if they lose to them it hurts those teams as a program. This is a perfect reason to bring back the POWER LEAGUE which when it ended Bronxville was in!
Absolutely. Gotta be frustrating. Bring back the Power League. Well at least Bville has a somewhat easier road to win Class C–think only PV realistically stands in the way. And if you get to LI no Manhassat who is in B–probably “only” Cold Spring Harbor who recently lost to Sett by 1 goal. Sure Bville will be scouting the Somers/CSH game later in the season.
Conference I League B looks a lot like a power league. How many more than 8 teams could you have in one league? The leagues are better aligned than last year, for sure.
Sorry slacrosse, but your line of thought is off base on this one, and it’s a little frustrating to learn the way things work in Sec. 1 lacrosse. People claim that it’s good for Town to play WP when Bronxville can’t get a game with Town, and then you fault BRONXVILLE for not having a strong schedule! Incredible. Teams like Town, Rye, PAC, IP and the rest of the ‘power teams’ duck Bronxville this year, and then people harp on the fact that Bronxville has weak schedule.
BVille coach asked all of those teams for games and was shot down by each.
The sun, moon, and stars have all aligned for B’ville THIS season, like it did for their football team last fall. That does not, to me, present cred in the real world with the big boys with storied programs and pedigree coaches. All THOSE teams want to play known quantities with history – not a stars-aligned class C program with 2 incredibly talented seniors and a kick-a$$ private-school transfer that augment a talented group of kids THIS year. The section is theirs if they want it – after that, they will find out if the sun, moon, and stars are enough – I hope B’ville Lax has as much success as their football team did this school year. Some really great, hard working kids on this team THIS year. Go Bulldogs!
Not like you not to read a comment carefully. I specifically made sure NOT to blame Bville/their Coach for their schedule. Had to be frustrating if what you say is true, getting turned down. Guess he may have also tried teams in LI, CT, NJ or upstate NY?
Can’t speak for the coaches but Rye did schedule Putnam Valley an excellent Class C team. Nothing against Byram Hills who has beaten Rye in the past but not sure why Rye is playing them TWICE?(scheduling requirent?). Would luv to face Bville instead of BH twice??
But for cross-over games there is pressure on all teams to schedule the toughest teams they can either in their Class or go up a Class + find new tough out of Section 1 teams to play. I know rye has been under alot of pressure/criticism from Section 1/Rye fans to upgrade their schedule and find the toughest out of Section 1 games they could. Dooleys have done a better job this season and I’m sure ran in “rejections” as well.
Anyway go out and win Class C, then an easy road to LI to face someone like Cold Spring Harbor, a great team. Good luck!!
I get why a team wants to play up to challenge themselves, but what’s the incentive for a team to play down? Because everyone gets a chance to play? So they can try out new plays? Just to be nice?
they play byram twice because they are in the same league…
Thx.
How are any of these teams ducking BXV. I know for a fact that IP plays (Chaminade, St. Ants, Rye, Somers, Don Bosco, CBA, Bergen, JJ, St. Peters (NJ), and more and then add in their league of Holy Trinity, St. Johns, Kellenburg they aren’t ducking anyone
‘Town ducked Bronxville? You can’t be serious.
Fairfield Prep leads Cheshire 3-0 after one quarter, reports Jim Stout of MaxPreps.com. It’s a rematch of last year’s Class L state title game.
It’s 4-0 Prep at the half.
FP leads 8-1 after three.
Town 17-11 over WP, sloppy boring game 9-2 at half with Town mixing in players,
2nd half more mixing on O, played 2nd and 3rd Lines on D and 4th line also in 4th. Changed Goalie for 2nd half, Dan Broderick from WP can play, Legit.
All-state hockey player to boot!!
Town went to Bronxville 2 years ago and won 21 -2. They traveled to Bronxville to boot. Dont want to hear it SWLax. They are a decent team who will have a nice year. They are not at the top level of lacrosse that Town or JJ tries to be. Fact. Enjoy your season and dont think that those boys dont deserve a great year. But lets not start talking about how teams like JJ or Town are afraid to play them. Your right, they should drop Chaminade or JJ should drop Manhasset to play Bronxville. Get a grip.
i was at the game, that wasn’t the score
It was 17-5 according to Laxpower.
Bville knows they are not on the level with ytown or jj. They just want to try and improve there schedule. But it just shows that there should be a power league again. Yes jj and yorktown will be atop that power league but i am sure that bronxville will fall in the top 12 programs in the section. WIthout the power league teams that are middle of the road trying to improve run into a road block to schedule better teams. WIth more school funding being cut and travel budgets going down it makes it tough.
On another note with Ytown i noticed that Ward melville has dropped them and picked up GC. I guess after beating yorktown for the last 10 years straight they decided its not worth making the trip anymore when they can pick up a national power house like GC.
Agreed, thank you for making my point better than I could.
You do not have your facts straight with regard to Ward Melville.
Love townlax
Can you tell us why ward melville dropped ytown from the schedule and how it seems on WM ends they dont look like they are picking that game up anytime soon?
Melville dropped the game due to cuts in travel costs that comes with it. It was a district decision, not the coaches. With that noted, staying on the island playing Gc is a wise choice regardless.
Rip speaks with much wisdom, grasshoppers! Neither school wanted to see tradition (30+ years) end, and tried several options to continue it. Last few years were competitive, ’10 9-4, ’09 8-6, although WM always has a great team and certainly has more ticks in their win column vs. ‘Town!
Bronxville is not even close to the top tier section 1 teams…SWLax…enjoy a program improving, but dont try and compare nationally recognized programs like Town and Jay with that of Bronxville.
For sure I don’t agree either with some of SWLAX’s underlying comments to prove his point on scheduling. Understand how this could result in your and others comments against some of the things he said.
That being said I do sympathize with SWLAX in terms of his GENERAL frustration with scheduling which the traditional nothern westchester powers have never had to face. When you’re trying to build a successful program, have some excellent players and can’t get a really strong schedule to fully test your team,get tough for state play-offs, etc it’s very tough and frustrating.
Another thing I’ve seen Bville play, they have a “for real” O with 2 of the very best O players in Section 1 in Near(Gtown) and McCormick (Notre Dame) + a couple of other real good O players. I believe that they are one of the better teams in Section 1–not a Town or Jay but probably well within the group of teams right below these two.
Not pretending to compare BVille to any of those teams or their storied history, simply stating facts guys. Dropping JJ/Set, never made any mention of that either, but WP? Come on. Good luck the rest of the way boys, must be nice to have everyone WANT to play you.
Any team can schedule tougher opponents. If jay and town wont play you then go to ct, jersey or long island. To say that a coach can’t get a game with top opponents is bs……clarkstown south and greeley??? Come on, and u are complaining town scheduled white plains? It doesn’t make sense. By the way have u seen the top sec one teams schedule’s? Nobody is ducking Bronxville……
Pelham beat Nanuet on Monday, 12-3
P.S. Bronxville is a very talented team. It all counts in the play off. The regular season is just prep for that. Lets see what they do in the play offs, because I’m sure they will go deep.
How is it all the top teams can get games and they cant.May be because coach is not trying to hard.The top teams have there games in place before they have section one games.These teams have played tuff games for years.Now that you may have one good year you start knocking teams because they didnt give you a game.Win year after year and then come back and say the big boys wont give us the ball back.
My 2 cents on the scheduling thing..yes, you need to try to schedule better teams..BUT…in my view, it doesn’t do a team any good to schedule a powerhouse and get pounded…they need to schedule the “next layer up” from them. This is easy to say, but not that easy to do. Seems to me that before you look outside the section, we should take care of our own first. So (totally as an example) I would think a re-building L/P would be a nice match for an upcoming Bronxville team that has a bunch of seniors..
Unfortunately for Bville (or any other team without a challenging sched) the team kind of misses a yr of development. You tend to learn to play on or over the “edge” of your ability and under pressure when you face top teams. Agree that you dont want to play a powerhouse that will wipe you off the field–counter productive.
Up to the coach to scramble. Maybe Bville waited too long. Surprised could not come up with any games somewhere out of LI, CT, NJ, or NYS?
don’t know anyone on the team, but I doubt they waited..I know from experience with my Bears,,coach called 100’s of teams, got one out of state team to commit…and that was in the days of the 18 game schedule…but I bet if the B’ville kids do well in college, they will have a much easier time…
Yeah, wasn’t that the Summit game?
hah…good try…was Chatham, NJ, at the time a nationally ranked team, and they were awesome hosts..also, was like our third game in four days, and we had to play there on a sunday morning…yet another set of things you have to do to play better teams
With the recent cuts in allowed games for many teams in the Northeast, especially NY, it is even harder to get games with out of conference teams, especially teams who have risen to national recognition. A nice buzz surrounding Bville this year may help scheduling in years to come. It takes time. Bcliff and Summit was a one time thing, thanks to Coach Meola’s efforts.
***Bcliff and Chatham, NJ…sorry
Particularly if Bville gets to LI which think they have good chance to do. Feel only PVall stands in way and think Bville can win this season. Next 2 games are usually pretty easy. Then comes LI. No Manhassett but prob Cold Spring Harbor.