Florida Lacrosse '08

[AquinasLAX]

just thought i would do the honors. also the old thread was getting way out of hand and way to long.

anyways, i know its obviously very early but who do you guys think look good for this upcomming year.

obviously SA will be ridiculous again this year, with 2 returning all americans (melzer and desouza).

who looks good in the club division this year? i know douglas won last year but they are losing alot of talent.

[laxanalyst]

Because of Goldberg, SA will be very tough, regardless of their talent. They work extremely hard and are well coached. I think Nease has a chance to be strong with Angerer. Lake Brantley is returning many players including AA Bernhardt.

I think the Central will be very strong: Timber Creek was very good under a first year coach and I expect they will build on that. Lake Highland was young last year and played great so they should be even better with Vaughn /Proeschel, even with the loss of Cook.

Winter Park lost a LOT of players - entire defense & attack but they have some very good players with Snure, Appel, Ricci, Chomic and Boswell - and a very good goalie in Den Beste. A very good offense there.

Winter Springs should be good again as well.

GP was pretty young last year so they will probably have a good showing, too.

[LotsOfLax]

Aquinas, there already was a florida club lacrosse o8 thread started. Keep this alive as the Florida Varsity thread, as per note above, don't encourage discussion on Club Teams. By the way, your team is playing Varsity now, what difference does it make to you about who looks good in Club? You guys are playing with the big boys now and first couple of years is going to be painful. About the only team last year in Club that was on a varsity level in Broward/Dade was Douglas (maybe Palmetto?) and you guys weren't ready for them. Point is that Club lacrosse in Dade - Broward will be in decline mode with very few good teams - the best teams will have nobody to play other than games in Palm Beach County and on the West Coast...be happy your team was able to cross over, that is the future of the sport in this area, all the best players will be recruited away from Douglas and Palmetto, mark my words...

[AquinasLAX]

first off this thread was started before the club lacrosse thread was (granted it be 1 minute lol) so i didnt know he was going to create the club one. secondly yes obviously st. thomas will have some growing pains the first couple of years but for their first year of ever having a team making it into the 2nd round of the playoffs last year shows they arent entirely empty. and with the great amount of athletes that sta has the down period wont be long. clearly first couple of years they wont be on the SA, or gulliver levels but i say give us 2-3 years and you will start to see a drastic change. now this is not just some kid saying his school is the best bla bla bla but i think now that sta has lacrosse and with the half decent showing they had in their first year (yes we know it was club level) that alot of people think the future of lax at sta is very bright and that alot of kids who would normally go to SA, pine crest or maybe even as far down as gulliver will go to sta now because they also want to play competitavely in other sports like football and at sta they have the best of both worlds. to sum it up, this next year or so will be so-so for sta lacrosse but with the great athletes they have they will soon rival SA, lake brantley and winter park for fla powerhouses. sory for the long post

[middleman69]

yeah hopefully cardinal gibbons is getting a coach that used to coach a college club team. Doug Britt. I cant wait till we play you guys at sta.the last couple of lacrosse games were really exiting

[AquinasLAX]

yall played our jv team last couple times you played...but none the less they were exciting....

also does anyone have any info on pine crest? i know they had a down year compared to recent years but who are they returning and will they be back to their normal winning ways?

[CBgoalie64]

sta i gonna be so bad this year....they were so lucky they even made it into the playoffs..the only reason they did that was because all the other team clubs were still learning how to play the game while they were spoiled with evrything, getting football kids to play and other stuff...the only other reason that yall even made it to the varsity level was because your a private school and have all sorts of money but its straight though because once lacrosse season comes youll see who will be at the bottom and those of you who dont understand why i dont like sta so much and would do this...1 because i have nothing else better to do right now and 2 i go to cypress and play football to so theres alot of hate.. and dont even go there on how you guys beat us bad it was because everyone was a rookie and i mean everyone and are whole starting defense was hurt...so im calling ya out right now right here how bout if we could schedule a little scrimmage and ill show you whats its like when where at full strenght and everyone knows what there doing...well with that said for sportsmanship good luck because yall goin 2 need it

[AquinasLAX]

haha wow, cbgoalie thank you for that. i needed a good laugh....

1. when sta played cb the scores were 11-3 and then 14-2. with the 14-2 game being your 2nd to last game of the season. by that time in the season even if that was everyone on the teams first day of playing lacrosse they shouldve put up more of an effort. remind you we took our starters out end of 3rd quarter. cb wound up winless on the season so thats all im going to have to say about that. our only losses included 2 to douglas (state champs), 1 to jupiter in a double overtime, and 1 to miami palmetto who lost to douglas late in the playoffs. we also won over miami killian a team that beat you 21-4 so please dont start on this we "didnt deserve to be in playoffs business"

2. obviously one of the main contributers to the fact that we are going varsity level is because we are a private school. but yet again look at all the major powerhouses in varsitly level lacrosse, SA, gulliver, pine crest. all private schools. also another reason is because the administration at sta sees the very bright future that sta lacrosse has. in our first year be it club lacrosse or not we went 11-4 and lost to the state champions in the 2nd round of the playoffs. no one can argue that sta doesnt have athletes. hell we were ranked #3 athletic program in the nation by sports illustrated in 03 ill provide the link if you want it. so like i said with all the athletes we have and the coaches we have, coach lenny coy (played at maryland), and coach hart (played at uva), the future is bright. also there are kids out there who are athletes and want to play say football or basketball but also want to play lacrosse, all at a competative level. right now you have to pick and choose, either lacrosse go to SA, football go to sta or schools like that. now that sta has a promising lacrosse program those type kids will be attracted to attend aquinas.

3. i also heard you saying that half of your team had not played lacrosse before. what do you think we were....all american transfers from maryland? lol like you we had a handful of kids who played with the weston warriors club program before but thats it. and when i say a handful i mean like 4 or 5 maybe at max.

4. dont even start with me about yall had some kids injured. yall couldve had mikey powell, john grant jr. and kyle harrison and it wouldve of dont you guys any good. granted you guys have some athletes on your team/in your school and it was your first year and you guys will def. improve. and we dont need to "scrimage" yall off season. the two victories we had this season did the talking for us.

in conclusion, (sorry for long post, this cbgoalie rly got me ranted up), sta lacrosse obviously will not be up by the SA's this year, but you would have to be an absolute fool to not see the bright future this program has and they will def. turn some heads this season as they do not lose 1 starter.

[CBgoalie64]

bright future?...ehhh maybe.. but you should know the main reason you moved up to varsity is like i said your a private school..if thats not the case then douglas, plant and palmetto maybe some other teams should of been up a long time ago..what im saying is that you beat us when we had nobody yea you guys might of had a handful of players that played before.. and yall had a bunch of athletes alot of schools didnt...and on top of that i just want to say if you guys are playing a preseason game like last year make it cb cause im the new goalie alot better then the old one so lets get it

[LotsOfLax]

CB, nothing to be upset at Aquinas about, that decision is a very smart one for STA, that was the plan, the only question was whether they would spend another year at Club before making the jump. Varsity is only in the Private Schools in Broward/Dade, the politics prevent the public schools from going varsity, unlike in other counties in the State where that is not an issue. The top players in Broward and Dade will want to play at the best level and teams will begin to recruit for lacrosse. Hotbeds like Weston and Parkland and Palmetto, all with youth lacrosse programs will feed those private schools. I heard that Palm Beach County might go varsity in a couple of years.

[AquinasLAX]

besides SA, who do you guys will think be strong in the south? gulliver? miami country day?

[amotes711]

deleteeeee

[CB_HeADBUssA]

Wow all i got 2 say iz dat reguardless of whoz betta i bet 60 million $z alot of ur lil aquinas are gone be put on dere behindz haha lol cuz hea at CBHS "We SuM HeaDbuSSaZ !!!"

[laxobsessed]

^^cant you get a warning for that.. because i think he should thats just annoying^^

Anyways once again the central Florida area teams like Brantley and wp will be great contenders along as the upcoming teams such as timber creek and lake highland. on a sidenote is matanzes returning jeff ocampo? he was a pretty solid player.

[AquinasLAX]

Wow all i got 2 say iz dat reguardless of whoz betta i bet 60 million $z alot of ur lil aquinas are gone be put on dere behindz haha lol cuz hea at CBHS "We SuM HeaDbuSSaZ !!!"

haha wow. glad to know we have some straight up "thugs" at cypress bay high school in weston which is one of the richest cities in broward.

but does anyone know where wyatt melzer, the d pole for SA, has committed to? he was a junoir all american and i know some major d1 schools were looking at him

[laxgthreeone]

haha wow. glad to know we have some straight up "thugs" at cypress bay high school in weston which is one of the richest cities in broward.

but does anyone know where wyatt melzer, the d pole for SA, has committed to? he was a junoir all american and i know some major d1 schools were looking at him

Wyatt is approaching his senior season this year, so does he have to commit already if not he may not have commited yet. I can find out as I have friends that play for SA who's sticks I do for them.

[AquinasLAX]

technically no, he wouldnt of had to commit yet. but the majority of the top schools are already closing in on topping off their recruiting class for the 08 class. and unless your someone like the bratton brothers or travis reed or steele stanwick they arent going to hold your scholarship most likely

[TheLaxLife]

According to the Team Florida website, these are the recent commitments after their run at the Hotbeds:

http://www.teamfloridalax.com

And for the earlier question, yes Ocampo is returning for Matanzas

Wyatt Melzer (ST. ANDREWS) VIRGINIA
Christian Napolitano (ST. ANDREWS) COLGATE
Jeff Ocampo (MATANZAS) URSINUS
Jake Bernhardt (LAKE BRANTLEY) MARYLAND
Bobby Stockton (NEASE) UMBC (Graduated 2007)

[Eagle Middie]

Please someone tell me that there are more B division teams or just plain new teams. I heard a few rumors about certain school and I would love to hear of any info you guys have

[AquinasLAX]

wow congrats to those guys, those are some very good schools. virginia just keeps pulling in the big guns. their recruiting is insane. its going to be fun to watch melzer at uva and also bernhardt at maryland

[aquinasgoal16]

sta is goin to be a whole new team with new defensive players and all but 2 returning starters and a year of experience under our belt...well see how it goes

[amotes711]

deleteeeee

[fllax17]

Bishop Moore is going to be good also. Along with wp and lake brantley. how does winter springs look?

[Buddha]

According to the Team Florida website, these are the recent commitments after their run at the Hotbeds:

http://www.teamfloridalax.com

And for the earlier question, yes Ocampo is returning for Matanzas

Wyatt Melzer (ST. ANDREWS) VIRGINIA
Christian Napolitano (ST. ANDREWS) COLGATE
Jeff Ocampo (MATANZAS) URSINUS
Jake Bernhardt (LAKE BRANTLEY) MARYLAND
Bobby Stockton (NEASE) UMBC (Graduated 2007)

Yeah Jeff is pretty sick im played with him and bobby crazy good to bad im on Bartram we gonna blow this year and im captain so ....yeah down with the ship i go

[TitansGoalie11]

NOVA TITANS GOING ALL THE WAY THIS YEARR WATCH OUT

[LotsOfLax]

Hey Nova, this is the FL Varsity thread, there is one for Club Lacrosse, fyi. With all due respect, not sure what makes you think this is your "yearr" and these are the kind of posts that make me crazy. Give us some reasons why you expect to be an improved version of the one win team from last year. Did a Maryland High School relocate?

[CBgoalie64]

yea sooo.......besides st.thomas and my team cypress bay who else is movin up to varsity and would there be a new division.......how will it work

[AquinasLAX]

i heard douglas is going varsity this year as well

[CBgoalie64]

r we gunna have r own division or r we joinin miami schools in there division

[CBgoalie64]

hows your squad lookin over at st.thomas

[aquinasgoal16]

our squad looks better than ever witha year under our belt and more experience on both sides of the field i think we have a chance to compete

[TitansGoalie11]

u have no chance against nova st. thomas... they call me the wall

[CBgoalie64]

hey nova on the real where do you even come from lets be real m team wasnt good last year because it was all first year players and we didnt have nobody now wee goin to be raw but yo guys ummmmm noooooo

[AquinasLAX]

can you guys please grow up and if you want to talk pointless, substanceless (is that a word?), smack talk then please pm each other, and save this forum for actual discussion concerning the upcoming lax season.

and long story short....nova yall team was horrible last year, no offense. when we played you we had like 2 kids each who had 5 goal games.and we took our starters out at like halftime. and as for cypress bay, yall did have some some first year players ill give you that, but so did we and we managed to finish the season 11-4. but yall should be pretty improved from last year so ill give you that as well.

[eddrico29]

This really doesnt help the game if this continues :nono: . What we should be doing is actually trying to attract new players into the sport than driving them away from it. Its only a game guys, no need to talk smack.

[LaxFL07]

yes i hope everyone realizes that the top teams in florida (SA WP WS GP PC LB any of them you name it) are not on here beefing up their teams to say how good they are because everyone knows they are the best teams and that them saying how theyre going to kill everyone in a forum just makes everyone want to beat them

[CBgoalie64]

in 1 way you can look at it as drving some players away but in another way you can look at it as attracting nore players because of the competetiveness that is going on and were not even it season

[aquinasgoal16]

im with fl lax 07 and my boy aquinaslax here...noo need for smack talk...but if you are then do it in private or just show your goods on the field...that is the best smack talk there is

[Lefty14]

St. Thomas Aquinas is going to get blown every game unless they play heritage or pines charter. Just an outlook for 2008 The best best teams in the south in order are going to be
1. Saint Andrews
2. Gulliver
3. Country Day
4. Ransom
5. Pinecrest

[AquinasLAX]

lefty14, i agree with you on everything except for the statement that STA would get blown out every game. also i agree with your rankings except for pine crest. obviously SA and Gulliver will be at the top in south florida but having watched some of the PC games last year, their lax program is def. on a steady decline.

obviously no one expects or even dreams that STA is going to come out and be able to compete with SA or teams like that but I think we will def. hold our own against a great number of teams and we are going to shock alot of people. (not just saying that because its my high school and im trying to smack talk) but we have a very solid team returning every starter (except for 1, but his replacement is better) and with the athletes STA has it will only be a matter of time before we are able to compete with the big boys.

either way it is great for the growth of lacrosse in south florida. i was kinda dissapointed to hear that Cypress Bay and Douglas are not moving to varsity this year, as previously was discussed, and will be club again this year

[Lefty14]

Pinecrest had a down year compared to previous years but they were solid last year. They will be a solid team next year the only other team i could have put at 5 instead of them would be cardinal newman I'm not trying to be an ******* but you will not shock anyone. When you go to Country Day, Ransom, even pinecrest it will get ugly fast. The sad thing is that you will probably wind up in the district championship game with a 1-15 record just because Fhsaa is so stupid with districts.

[NOOB]

everyone here seems to be focused on the south, however Central Fl is stacked this year.
Powerhouses:
Lake Brantley- returing bearn's, johnson (absolute nasty goalie), and a lot of depth
Winter Springs- returning 2 of their attackmen that probably had the most fluid offense last year and many more
Winter Park- no need to even comment

Contenders:
Lake Highland- young team with a lot of talent with a good year's worth of experience under their belts
Timber Creek- suprised winter springs last year and is returning a good amount of guys
Lake Mary- stuck with TC and LH last year. returning whole team but needs to clean up little problems
Bishop Moore- after a ho hum season BM returns with more experienced players
Nease and Matanzas- both losing some players but return a solid team

Sleepers:
Oviedo
Lyman(*supposedly* they have a batch of talent hidden there)
Dr. Phillips (just joking these guys are a joke)

[AquinasLAX]

NOOB, if you have any info about Oviedo could you please "spill the beans". i went to a camp with a kid who plays for them i think he said and he kept going on that they were going to be half decent this year

[NOOB]

I know ever since noonan left oviedo has been struggling to pull things back together. When noonan was there he was sooo damn good all their plays revolved around him. Literally, their coach would yell at his players if they held the ball to long and did not give it to noonan. So ever since his departure they have been looking for the next "noonan". They found this one kid but he is not special at all. So I dont think there really is any need to worry about Oviedo. Dont get me wrong, these guys always come every season and have at the very least a mediocre season.

[TheLaxLife]

Look for the top three Central Florida teams this year to be (in no particular order):

Lake Brantley - On paper they are the favorites, although they must find a way to get the WP monkey off their backs
Winter Park - New coach + a program that always reloads
Timber Creek - Hands down the best coach in CF + solid returners

After that, these teams will be in the mix and can pull off a win against the three above:

Nease, WS, BM, LHP, Mantanzas, Episcopal

Possibly nipping at their heels will be:

Lake Mary, Oviedo, Boone, Olympia

It would be suprising if a team outside of these 11 finish in the top ten positions, but sometimes one year can make quite a difference. Of last year's top ten finishers, only Bolles has really fallen off to a large degree.

[LaxFL07]

NOOB....good thoughts but not entirely accurate....here are my preseason rankings and why

WP-best team by far....ricci, snure, appel and i believe boswell is back for the 08 season.....tons of offensive talent....lost most of their poles but keep mckeever....Dembeste (sp) will have to step into the goal to replace varga but he was on the inaugural team FL roster so he is no pushover. Big question is how they will respond to the new coach and my guess is they will be a better program by the end of the season.
LB-no depth...lots of talent on the starting roster but teams would be able to kill their second midfield if bernhardt ever came off the field....attack has little power but have a good offensive midfield and strong poles in front of the top north FL goalie
LH-George, DJ, Vaughn....lots of offensive talent....struggled on D last year behind an above average goalie....new coach as well who all the players seem to like
TC-loss of Foy and King (top f/o guy of 07....i say this because he handled gallo easily in reigonals)....best coach in north FL and will build any talent given into a very competitive team
Mantanzas-Return top goal scorer and AA Ocampo.....another coaching situation as this will be West's first full size graduating class so expect a lot from this program
Nease-Lost top midfielder in stockton but keep carson and other legit players....another great coach in francis that has building a team that has gotten consistently better every year
WS-only returns 1 attackman (which is roop....lost all conference calabro and all american drehoff)....return 2 starters at midfield (lost gallo at faceoffs)....have possibly the BEST pole in north FL in Gard but they do not have any goalie that i know of
BM-large class of juniors who got legit playing time last year...will be competitive and better than last year but look for them to peak again in one more year

[amotes711]

deleteeeeee

[Flaxflax]

Lake Highland- young team with a lot of talent with a good year's worth of experience under their belts
Timber Creek- suprised winter springs last year and is returning a good amount of guys
Lake Mary- stuck with TC and LH last year. returning whole team but needs to clean up little problems
Bishop Moore- after a ho hum season BM returns with more experienced players
Nease and Matanzas- both losing some players but return a solid team

Sleepers:
Oviedo
Lyman(*supposedly* they have a batch of talent hidden there)
Dr. Phillips (just joking these guys are a joke)

You can't be serious. Oviedo and Lyman as sleepers? Not with their coaches, no chance. LHP is returning all, but have a new coach and he's abandoning the zone that kept them in most games. TC lost a TON of guys. LM got lucky against TC and LHP and they have more to clean up than "little problems", like their coach. BM is always good, they recruit. Nease will be solid and Matanzas will also.

[bigfootprep53]

Matanzas returns all there guys unless some people moved away but Ocampo will be back i know that. i know all the guys at Matanzas since i played with most of them their freshman year, my junior year at fpc. and Matanzas will have a really good team.

also what do u all think of the new districts. it should be interesting to see who wins between Matanzas and WS since they r in the same district now

[bigfootprep53]

anyone know who won the elite kickoff hosted by Team Florida

[AquinasLAX]

so the season is pretty much starting up for everyone this week. who do you guys open up against?

we open up with north broward prep on wed. (i go to st. thomas aquinas)

[chattlax2]

I'm sure many of you already know this but Notre Dame and Dartmouth are coming to Atlanta to play on March 15th for a REGULAR SEASON game..hope there are a lot of people there... http://bagatawaylax.com/breakaway.html link at the top

[bigfootprep53]

Also Delware and UMBC play feb 16th at Fletcher high school in jacksonville. should be a very good game. u can get tickets at jaxlaxsports.com i believe they r still selling tickets for the game.

[middleman69]

how was the aquinas-nbps game

[AquinasLAX]

we (sta) won 19-5 i believe the final score was. the game was pretty much over after the first quarter. one of the few bright spots for NB was their attackman steven hammel. kid is a flat out player! put him on a better program and he would shine. also for sta attackman alex samartino looked pretty good, scoring 8 goals i believe it was

[middleman69]

yo my school cardinal gibbons played them yesterday and they play mad dirty.
but that attackman hammel was pretty good.

[radlacrosseguy]

What about upsets?
Does anybody think there are going to be any major upsets to "powerhouse" teams like WS, LB, WP?

Also, is Edgewater any good this year??

Hail Seminole!

[AquinasLAX]

ya i heard about your gibbons game with NB. you guys were down like 8-1 at half and came back and won like 10-9 or something. congrats

anyone know anything about gulliver this year? besides SA, are they the team to beat this year in the south?

[takowill]

Gullivers looking real good. There is a lot of talent on that team. I think the team to beat this year will be Palmer. I hear they are nasty.
(just kidding)