Which D1 Team Looks to be in the Best Shape for Next Season?

[DJ Death]

well, i guess the best answer is duke since they might be able to get everyone back for another year, but among the other teams, i'd have to say hopkins. hopkins loses only jake byrne, brendan skakandi, drew dabrowski, jamison koesterer, eric zerrlaut and jesse schwartzman to graduation. the entire first (rabil, peyser, kimmel) and second midfields (bryan, christopher, walker) stay intact. goalie michael gvozden already has got some game experience in the mount saint mary's game, although admittedly, that game wasn't much of a game as much as it was a blowout. steven boyle and kevin huntley will be joined on attack by either tommy duerr or michael doneger, who both saw a good amount of game time this season. chris boland will probably stay on the outside looking in after riding the bench the entire '07 season. matt drenan should be healthy by next season so that takes care of the defense. the only hole is the lsm position, but i'm pretty sure petro will find a solution to that real quick. hopkins is looking real good for next season.

UNC looks solid. they made it to the quarterfinals with a roster full of freshmen and sophomores, so they can only improve in the next couple of years.

maryland will have to rebuild a bit, but they still look to be in good shape. offensively,they've still got max ritz, dan groot, jeremy sieverts, and drew evans. they lose their leading scorer in michael phipps along with chris feifs, thomas alford, defenseman ray megill, and goalie harry alford. they've still got a great goalie in brian phipps who transitioned to the college game well as a freshman.

princeton looks to be a toss-up. they lose their leading scorer in peter trombino, but they've still got plenty of scoring threats in mark kovler, tommy davis, josh lesko, alex haynie, and zach goldberg. they've still got alex hewit in cage, but they've lost zachary jungers at close d. chris peyser and dan cocoziello are the 2 defensemen left from the '07 season.

virginia also looks to be a toss-up. they get the brattons and a goalie who's supposed to be a superstar, but i'm not holding my breath until these guys get some experience at the college level during fall ball. they lose kip turner, ricky smith, adam fassnacht, and drew thompson to graduation.

albany is another one of those teams that is 50/50. they lose frank resitarits, merrick thomson, matthew green, eric wolf, and goalie brett queener, although some people are saying queener might stay for a 5th year. if he does, then albany's stock goes up a bit. even if he doesn't, they've still got a great goalie in dan mckeon, and scoring threats in jordan levine, derek dale, mike ammann, corey small, and john alpizar.

cornell, i think, is just plain screwed. they lose eric pittard, david mitchell, brian clayton, henry bartlett, casey lewis, ethan vedder, mitch belisle, and matt mcmonagle. good luck, guys.

[chsattack22]

notre dame will be good. dougherty, kemp, yeatman are all coming back...they only lose hubschmann. remember they only lost by one goal to hopkins in OT

[ekajsk8er]

Offensively, Syracuse could be one of the best in the country, only losing 1 of their top 11 scorers in Greg Rommel, and Perritt is questionable. The only problems with them is they lack the HHH it takes to win a championship, and their defense cannot stop even mediocre teams from scoring 9+ goals a game. As for the goalie situation, if Coluccini can improve as much as he did from last year to this year going into next, he should be solid. If he remains the way he's been, Galloway should be seeing some serious playing time.

[TrapDoor]

Can't forget Denver.. if not next year then a year or 2 after. They got 4 or 5 really good recruits last season, and as sophs with game experience they should be better. You ever know though. I doubt Duke will get their extra season thing, for reasons that have already been discussed, but they still get Greer, right? If I'm correct thinking he's a junior right now, he'll be a scoring powerhouse again next year, but maybe not as much without Danowski. Quinzani will be more experienced next year as well, and their middies really seem to be shaping up. Of course, they lose Loftus, and he was good. Cornell returns with Seibald and uhh... Seibald. Yep, they won't be near as good next year I predict. Like you said, Hopkins is set, especially at midfield where I expect them to have dominance. Virginia gets Rubeor back, but lose Turner. However, that one goalie they recruited and the one that redshirted this year will both try to get his place. They're freaking loaded with recruits, but all of those recruits will be freshman...

[MC Escher]

Denver is soo overrated...right now I would have to say Hopkins is in the best shape for next year

[LaxIsLife18]

Navy is looking good for next year also.

[Auburn10]

Like said above ND is looking pretty solid for next year, and I heard Virgina is getting an insane recruiting class coming in...

[MC Escher]

Virgina is getting an insane recruiting class coming in...
they are, plus they have Stanwick the year after that, they are going to be set

[laxn]

Hopkins- I think Hopkins has a good chance at a repeat they return a lot and actually could end up being better. They're phenomenal starting midfield returns along with their second midfield, so their set there. On attack they lose Byrne, who was key for them but I have faith that Chris Boland or Tom Duerr can fill the gap well, so they should be solid there. On D, yes they lose Zerlaut, one of their better defenders, but they most likely get Matt Drenan back from his ACL injury. He was going to be their best defense man this year so having him back could give them a stronger defense than this year. They lose Skakandi at midfield, but I think his impact was questionably and they can definitely replace him with Mike Bocklet. In goal Gvozden should be ready. Overall I see them being very strong next year.

UNC. What can you even say about UNC in regard to next year? They return everyone to a team that was young and strong this year. They lose David Ryan and Ben Staines but I don't expect it to be much of a problem. They should develop resulting to a team almost identical to this year's but better. Also not sure about their class of '11 but they could be but don't have to be strong additions.

UVA- They most notably lose Ricky Smith, Kip Turner, Drew Thompson and Adam Fassnacht, but they also have hands down the best recruiting class coming in. They have to have atleast one other face-off man who can win some draws, so Fassnacht's departure shouldn't be huge. Kip Turner will be missed but Ghitelman, although just a freshman should be able to step in and secure the net. For Drew Thompson, they will have the Brattons and a strong group of returning midfielders including Jack Riley, Steve Giannone, Brian Carroll, and Ryan Kelley. On D they lose Ricky Smith, they're best defender but with the development of Ken Clausen and Matt Kelly will help soften the blow, while for the third spot they can look to incoming freshmen Bray Malphrus along with any others in their system that may be flying under the radar. Keeping that attack line of Garret Billings, Danny Gladding and Ben Rubeor will be crucial to their success. I expect a great season.

Syracuse- Although they seem to disappointing no matter how much talent they have on paper, they do return a strong core. They're only noticeable loss being Rommel, Jon Jerome, and Steve Panarelli. Relli was often more of a poison than a star but he was no doubt a strong pole. It shouldn't be too hard to replace him, and Guadagnolo may become a stronger shut-down defenseman by next season. Rommel is the main loss on offense, but the wealth of other talent should make ease his departure. Jerome was a strong face-off men but guys around 50% aren't too hard to find, they will most likely find a solution for the X.

[MYW31]

I think Hopkins will have a legitimate shot at repeating. Even though they are loosing Schwartzman, they have Gvozden, and the still have all of their best players, plus Boyle will be more experienced

[chsattack22]

I think Hopkins will have a legitimate shot at repeating. Even though they are loosing Schwartzman, they have Gvozden, and the still have all of their best players, plus Boyle will be more experienced
i still think that nd will be the team to beat. yea boyle will be good but you have to remember the returners for nd= yeatman, kemp, dougherty and hoff, all outstanding players that will become more experienced by next year. their only real loss is hubschmann, hopkins loss of schwartzman will be an even bigger void to fill.

you people seem to forget that nd lost in OT by one goal to the national champs this year, and they will definately improve since all key players are returning with the exception of hubschmann. mark my words, nd will be in the FF in 08

[scarsdalelax08]

UVa, Duke, JHop, and Gtown
definetly the final four next year

[Hard2Fit]

Hopkins, UVA, G'town, and UNC. For some reason I thought Cornell had more people coming back. If Mitchell's a sr this year (thought he was a jr) they are in trouble. Tambroni's a great coach but you need horses. Anyone know how they're recruiting class looks? Btw, who's the stud goalie going to UVA?

[pmr149]

I think JHU is gonna be unreal. They loose Bryne who is purely a shooter and thats basically it on the O.....for Defense no matter who they loose JHU will have good D every year because of there coaching. In my mind defense at that level is all about the coaching, discipline and understanding of the players....the d just play into the system so I think theyll be fine on D.

[LaxIsLife18]

Mike Gvozden is the real deal. He will pick up right where Jesse left off if not better then Jesse. Gvozden is a monster in that cage and you will all see next year. He plays really good under pressure it doesn't even seem to phase him. I truly believe he could've started this year and done just as good if not better then Jesse in the cage.

[SYR_Garebear]

Syracuse- Although they seem to disappointing no matter how much talent they have on paper, they do return a strong core. They're only noticeable loss being Rommel, Jon Jerome, and Steve Panarelli. Relli was often more of a poison than a star but he was no doubt a strong pole. It shouldn't be too hard to replace him, and Guadagnolo may become a stronger shut-down defenseman by next season. Rommel is the main loss on offense, but the wealth of other talent should make ease his departure. Jerome was a strong face-off men but guys around 50% aren't too hard to find, they will most likely find a solution for the X.

Syracuse is quite set. Peter made a big improvement between this and last year. Although another improvement like that is doubtful, he has high potential to make first team all American.

[gfkeeper28]

UVA probably won't be using Ghitelman right away in goal. Bud Petit was recruited the same year as Turner, but he redshirted his freshman year. He played in 12 games in '06, splitting time with Turner. So, Virginia will probably give the more experienced player the starting nod before a freshman.

[merrychristmas]

Zeerlaut has another year and will play as a grad student according to someone on the team.
Skakandi is out standing and likely will be drafted this year.
Bocklett moves to LSM to make room for Drennan. That close D could be awesome. Hopkins loses no middies, no defensemen, one attackman who shoots but doesn't do much else and a big game goalie.

I think they will be fine.

Duke probably does not get anyone back and they lose too many key seniors to repeat next year.

UNC still has not shown they can put it together although this year showed potential. Hopkins won a title with as many young players. They may need someone else to get them over the hump.

Notre Dame could be a final four team next year.

Virginia has a great class but it has been so hyped introducing reality in to the discussion is virtually impossible. Their defense is not scaring anyone regardless of goalie. They should thank Duke for Clausen because otherwise they lack a star.

The midfields were a major disappointent and failed to develop. They have a top attackman in Rubeor but Billings is not Greer and Gladding is not proving to be a first teamer either.

Georgetown is young but has the same flaws next year they had this year.

Maryland has excellent attackmen coming in but some of them got there because they could not crack the starting lineup at other schools so you have to wonder. No doubt they will be scoring more goals but they lose a lot on defense.

[kingwolf]

georgetown looks pretty good they have some good potential and some of there best players are staying

[laxn]

georgetown looks pretty good they have some good potential and some of there best players are staying
Very good point. I heard that Lambe is fifth-yearing so the defense will stay the same, otherwise they lose Trevor Casey and Garret Wilson at midfield but with freshman like Brancacio, Dowd and Kocis all having game experience and contributing this season they should be strong at midfield. They return everyone else but Christian Trunz and Ryan Still, but with Brian Tabb coming in they should be set for face-offs and they definitely have or can develop another good defensive midfielder.

i still think that nd will be the team to beat. yea boyle will be good but you have to remember the returners for nd= yeatman, kemp, dougherty and hoff, all outstanding players that will become more experienced by next year. their only real loss is hubschmann, hopkins loss of schwartzman will be an even bigger void to fill.

you people seem to forget that nd lost in OT by one goal to the national champs this year, and they will definately improve since all key players are returning with the exception of hubschmann. mark my words, nd will be in the FF in 08
I think they're still just not deep enough.

[warriorlax99]

Do NOT sleep on DENVER!

[terpsfan00022]

UVA all the way

[UVAlaxer432]

UVA all the way

And yet your name says Terpsfan...

Anyway, UVA does look exceptionally good keeping their entire Attak line and having a great freshman goalie coming in. plus in Defense they got the 2 top defensive recruits last year in Clausen and some Russian guy,and Tim Shaw. plus they have have Michael Timms at LSM/Defense

[dugout]

Maybe a look at next year's Freshman may help, here.

Men's DIV 1 Recruits (http://www.laxpower.com/recruits/recruits.php?db=recruits2007&action=viewRcd&order=College)

[Vermont Laxer]

Do NOT sleep on DENVER!
yes denver can make some noise they still have some work to do, i mean after all they lost to UVM (vermont) and vermont lost to canisus

[shakerlax222225]

hopkins and georgetown look the best for next year

[laxgthreeone]

I think theres a possibility of a ncaa champ. rematch to make it duke vs. hopkins for the 3rd year out of 4 years that is IF the ncaa grants duke the seniors eligibility to play next year

[goalie1215]

princeton looks to be a toss-up. they lose their leading scorer in peter trombino, but they've still got plenty of scoring threats in mark kovler, tommy davis, josh lesko, alex haynie, and zach goldberg. they've still got alex hewit in cage, but they've lost dan cocoziello and zachary jungers at close d. chris peyser is the lone close defenseman from the '07 season.



dan coco is definatly a rising senior/ just finished his junior season. i wouldnt be terribly worried about jungers though, because princeton will always have a great defense. peter trombino is the biggest problem to tackle though.

[big52daddy10]

if the duke seniors get eligibility, then duke is gonna roll next year......they will win the title

[laxn]

dan coco is definatly a rising senior/ just finished his junior season. i wouldnt be terribly worried about jungers though, because princeton will always have a great defense. peter trombino is the biggest problem to tackle though.
Not too mention they also lose Scott Sowanick (4th leading score) and Whitney Hayes (6th leading score), but they will probably be able to get a decent attack going with Tommy Davis, Alex Haynie and either Rob Engelke or Bob Schneider, and they return Kovler on midfield with a possible breakout season from Lesko, a heralded recruit.

[MC Escher]

I'm saying JHU wins the finals next year,they are returning Evans, Peyser, and Rabil among others and already have experience.....I think UVA has potential to be good, but they will be young...I hope UMD and Towson step it up some...

[Rosie411]

if the duke seniors get eligibility, then duke is gonna roll next year......they will win the title

Thats a pretty big IF. I think georgetown or hopkins are gonna be the big teams next year-- i would love to see maryland up there but i just dont see them going anywhere

[ADKlax24]

Ualbany will not be losing brett queener. He grades were terrible this year and he will be staying at Ualbany for one more year of studies. He still has the eligibilty to play for another year because he was at penn state before he flunked out so he still has one more year to play.

[8-ball]

i think some of the GWLL teams will start picking it up next year. Notre Dame definately. Denver always has a pretty big pressence. OSU loses a couple seniors, but also played with a really young squad this year. JHU, Georgetown, and UVA will all be big next year, and syracuse will probably get their act together.

[Hard2Fit]

Uhh. . . Duke. Can anyone doubt they're the fav now that most of the team has another year of eligibility?

[faceofflax15]

Yah, Duke looks good, but are their seniors going to stay?

[COLORADO_LAX]

yeah duke definately looks good for next season if their seniors decide to stay.

[Rosie411]

how many will stay though? thats the big question. my guess not many at all

[BLUEJAYSFAN9]

Hop is looking real good. same with Duke

[DJ Death]

dan coco is definatly a rising senior/ just finished his junior season. i wouldnt be terribly worried about jungers though, because princeton will always have a great defense. peter trombino is the biggest problem to tackle though.
yeah, my mistake, i thought coco was a senior this year.

[WAHOOWA_LAX]

And yet your name says Terpsfan...

Anyway, UVA does look exceptionally good keeping their entire Attak line and having a great freshman goalie coming in. plus in Defense they got the 2 top defensive recruits last year in Clausen and some Russian guy,and Tim Shaw. plus they have have Michael Timms at LSM/Defense

In two years they will have myself at LSM/Defense so I don't know how they will lose. I emailed the coach and told him to start speeding up the practice pace so everyone can run with me when I get recruited.

[BamaMid]

tbh, I think hopkins still looks the best. I mean like everyone has said, their not losing many players. and they all have alot of experience, except for their new goalie, but that will come quickly.

Other than that, syracuse if they can manage to pull together a functional offense.

[1nerual]

hmm. i think duke. none of their seniors registured for the MLL so it seems like maybe most will be back.

[LAgoalie]

i think it all depends on duke's defense. they have solid goal tending, Tony McDevit is good, from the defensive midfield stand point they have O'Harra, and there is some longpole recruit coming in who is supposed to be great, but still, close defense is going to be tricky without Caroll, he should decide to come back. McDevit will still be a solid preformer, O'Harra will get tons of groundballs, McFadden will keep on hitting people like he has, but Caroll will be a big loss if he doesnt come back.

[cannon]

Georgetown is young but has the same flaws next year they had this year.



I disagree. They only graduated Trevor Casey and Garrett Wilson off the starting line. Their attack will be led by B Cannon, with Dowd now a sophomore and Samperton a Junior. Kocis, Kahoe and Brancaccio in the midfield and they return Jerry Lambe on D. If anything the only place they are weaker is face off. Losing Christian Trunz leaving a fight between Dubas and Vinson for the starting spot.

[laxmister22]

Duke will in my opinion be the strongest team because like said already they're defense is still pretty good, and there offense will continue to dominate. They still have matt danowski and zack greer on attack with Quinzani, and middies like Crotty and Fred Krom. I think that really there only loss on the offensive end would be peter lamade. He i believe is transferring to virginia. He was the one who gave greer the perfect pass to win the semis.

[budman_30]

If Duke keeps some of their seniors then they will be a competitive team in my opinion

[hvlacrosse311]

OSU will be very good, they have alot of good OCC players coming in.

[westlakelax17]

OSU will be very good, they have alot of good OCC players coming in.

I doubt that OSU will be good anytime soon.

[THALAX]

I think the 3 strongest teams next season will be Duke, Hopkins, and UNC.

Duke's seniors are coming back, so they are basically last years team excluding a few guys.

Hopkins is returning almost all of their midfielders and attackmen. They have a solid goalie to replace Schwartzman.

UNC only lost one starter, and everyone else stays. They had a strong team last season, and next season should be pretty much the same. Maybe even the final 4.

The strongest of those three are, in my opinion, Duke. They had so much talent last season, and next season should be much of the same.

[laxplaya9]

top offensive teams in 08.
1.Duke
2.Hopkins
3.Virginia
4.Syracuse, possibly a stretch but i know for a fact that Perritt will be returning for the spring semester and will play along witht the rest of their offense and 'Cuse should be in good shape

[JLLOMMER]

Hopkins all the way. A starting defense of Zerlaut, Evans, and Drennan will be insane. Plus there whole first 2 midfeild lines and Donovan coming in, that midfeild is insane too. At attack you return huntley, boyle has that year of expereince, and you have doneger or duerr or even boland if he's not injured anymore. plus goodrich coming in. They lost koesterer but pick up the best faceoff recruit in the country to take his place. And gvozden in goal replacing shwartzman. They are loaded. I smell a repeat!

[bee_laxer5]

Hopkins and Duke def. but the third i don't know. I want to say UNC but I don't think they'll be it. probably virginia

[RockfordAttack9]

Duke, Hopkins, Syracuse all look very good. Maryland could be very good as well (Terps definatley have the talent).

[laxer6]

The Syracuse defense is extremely suspect i doubt they will make the Final Four.Duke is going to have alot of freshman step up for them at the midfield and I think Mike Manley will grab a starting spotWith Hopkins I would be worried about how Gvozden performs in front of 50,000 people. North Carolina could make the Final Four dependng on how the seedings go same for Georgetown.

[cbhslacrossemid]

I doubt that OSU will be good anytime soon.

That statement is very closed minded. They have been recruiting quality players for the last few years. There is rumors of a Chris Boland transfer to OSU as well. Look for them to get to the postseason soon.

[laxguy123]

Duke, Virginia and yes I said it Hartford, I think they could make the tourament if not this year next year for sure

[8-ball]

i agree on hopkins, duke, and virginia. i would like to see maryland and syracuse have a good season. i also agree on the last statement about OSU. They have a really good program, and we have to keep in mind, they made it to the post season in 04. the last season before they extended the amount of teams to be in the post season. their largest vice to get around every season is UNC, and they always play well against them.

[Rosie411]

dont count out cornell-- they lost alot of their seniors but if this years upperclassmen step up to where they need to be you'll be looking at a pretty nasty team

[SuperDuper46]

Duke- judging by their roster they posted they are still going to be amazing with the best scoring duo in the country Danowski and Greer, also they basically have everyone from last year so their going to be great

JHU-they still have rabil and peyser, who beat arguablly the best face-off guy in college last year holding him under 50% for the first time in 19 games

hopefully this will be the re-match next year in the championship with duke wining and i think it will be virginia and either syracuse or maryland rounding out the final four.

[destructivelax]

Duke- judging by their roster they posted they are still going to be amazing with the best scoring duo in the country Danowski and Greer, also they basically have everyone from last year so their going to be great

JHU-they still have rabil and peyser, who beat arguablly the best face-off guy in college last year holding him under 50% for the first time in 19 games

hopefully this will be the re-match next year in the championship with duke wining and i think it will be virginia and either syracuse or maryland rounding out the final four.

alex was at 50% because hopkins was jumping early all day.

[laxkid891]

alex was at 50% because hopkins was jumping early all day.
yea i absolutely agree....if they did a DU v. JHU rematch with alex smith and peyser at the X again with this new faceoff rule, smith would destroy peyser, no offense to peyser, hes a great player but they were jumping early the whole game

[DashLAX18]

To be honest, I know that Dano is the man at Duke, and I'm not trying to take away from what he has accomplished (and will accomplish) at all, however with his foot injury and defenses starting to figure the Danowski/Greer combo (See hopkins in final) I almost expect Quinzani to have a slightly better year than the other two because he will be able to feed off the fact that he will draw the weakest defense man and will have Dano and Greer looking for him when the slides come on them.

[LAgoalie]

To everyone who keeps saying Hopkins is going to win it all again, thats what everyone said about Virginia in '07, and look how that turned out. Hopkins will be good, but not that good. In my opinion, Hopkins didnt win the championship, Duke lost the championship. Duke could have played so much better, but they choked. I just dont think Hopkins has the attack power they need, and Duke is amazing no matter how you spin it. Duke returns the Tewarton winner, and Tewarton winners are always seniors, the only one to ever win it as a non senior was Powell. Duke has two returning first team AA attackmen, Danowski and Greer. Hopkins cant come close to that.

[BLUEJAYSFAN9]

Hop, kimmel is are future mid. We got so much depth

O ya, and we got some guy called rabil :)

[Espositos Chops]

just saw UVA route Navy - scary - fastest team I've seen in yrs. Any team doubting the Brattons will be jolted. They were amazing in the scrimmage. Navy didn't know what hit 'em.

Rubeor and Glading beat Navy defenders at will - it was like watching a varsity team play a high school club team