Sallies, St. Marks, Friends, Tower Hill, Cape, Archmere, CR

[laxkeep98]

So if you take their wins and losses against each other you get, THS>St. Marks>Arch, THS>Friends, Cape>Friends, Cape>St. Marks>Archmere, St. Marks>CR, Friends>Arch...giving you this:
1. Sallies



2/3. Tower Hill/Cape

4/5. Friends/St.Marks
6. CR

7. Archmere

On the outside you have DMA and Tatnall, who can definitely beat the top 5 teams (outside Sallies) on any given day.

Now being a former goalie, I have to talk about each team's respective netminders.

Kern (Sallies)- He's shown the state that he's very talented, not that he makes a difference against the in-state teams that sallies beats by 12. I couldn't tell you for sure whether he is better than the senior class of goalies this year, but I can assure you that he will outpace their current talents by his senior year.

Shorey (Tower Hill)- I've only seen him play once and he didn't seem to have his best game. I can't say anything after only seeing him play once.

Gillan (Cape)- He's out for the season, and I only saw Cape play Archmere up at Archmere, where Cape's third string goalie was in (and actually didn't play too badly).

Davis (Friends)- He seems to shore up his defense which graduated a lot. His d is much better than I thought they would be, and slides very quickly, but the 2 slides aren't great. He's very good in close and pretty solid all around. He's definitely a candidate for that 1st team spot.

Manges (St. Marks)- Very solid. He's got a solid defense playing in front of him, with the exception of the tower hill game (16 goals). They do a pretty good job of forcing outside shots that he eats up. The all-state vote will be tough on him because of kern and the senior goalies, but his team is definitely lucky to have him.

Smith (CR)- I haven't actually seen him play, but I believe he's either hurt or ineligible for some reason because I haven't seen his name in the paper. He's a solid senior goalie so I'm sure his team is missing out on his services.

Russell (Arch)- His defense is pretty weak. They have losses to Friends, Cape, and St. Marks and in every game he's been the only person who keeps them relevant. He's a solid goalie who occasionally gives up bad goals but makes up for them with saves in close. I'm sure that it's tough to face so many inside shots a game but he manages to hold his own.

 

[laxdeusa]

Tower Hill just handled DMA easily 14 to 6

 

[outside view]

Have to ask DMA and Tatnall can beat any of the top 5 - really? Have you seen them play?! You have to play teams that are competitive before you can be considered legitimate - not just because TH beat DMA, (badly) but because the gap is so much bigger than you note.
Unfortuneately Cape will face the Sals in the championship...and it won't be pretty, but at least they've played the Sals hard and never gave up.
Just noticed tonight how big the gap really is.....good luck to everyone, maybe someone will play their best and have a shot to at least be competitive with the Sals......look out "Tower" your number is up!!!

 

[laxkeep98]

Easy there, I never said it was likely. I said it could happen. For example, Tatnall only lost to Friends by 2 and the game was tied up until the very end.

 

[laxpro99]

Funny "outside view" must be from "inside" the Cape locker room. They have not beat Tower Hill for years! I am sure they are a good team....BUT they were last year and lost twice to them. It will be interesting how the playoffs shape up. Sals verses someone......

 

[biglaxfan]

TH is a team you can never take for granted or rule out. Coach DuPont always finds a way to get the most they can give in big games and they don't make mistakes. Delaware high school lax is still at the place where one or two players can make all the difference and TH has those players. I look for a close TH-Sals game next Friday.

 

[WoodenStick]

Running clock, second half. Watch.

 

[laxdeusa]

I just don't see any in state team staying close to Sallies this year. Sallies had close loses to Malvern and Saint Stephen & Agnes but they have hammered everyone else. And this is not a soft schedule we're talking about. I did not think it possible but the Sals are even better this year than last year.

 

[outside view]

Agreed, having watched them last year and watching the Sals this year, they are better this year.
Through 10 games, in my opinion, 1. they've played a much better schedule with much better results, 2. the offense has been explosive led by the Mids, 3. the defense has been suffocating with a lower goal total (including the garbage goals when the game is over), and 4. through same number of games compared to last year, they've shut down much better teams from out of state (see LaCosta Canyon, St. Augustine Prep, Shawnee and St. Stephens/St Agnes)
Position by position this team is stronger than last year.

 

[biglaxfan]

Sals - TH game on Friday will tell much about future TH - Cape game. Cape hung with Sals for 3 quarters and the game didn't get to a continuous running clock. Look for a similar game or even closer from TH as in recent years TH plays Sals tougher than Cape does.

 

[laxdeusa]

Tower hill did beat the Sals in OT a few years back in a huge upset and they came close to upsetting them in an early round game a few years before the OT win. I did not see the Cape Sals game but I have seen TH a few times and while anything can happen on game day my gut tells me this will be a running clock game.

 

[laxdeusa]

Lax Power shows the Sals beat Georgetown Prep 7 to 5. Another huge win against a national class team.

 

[laxkeep98]

No team truly has a chance to beat them to be honest. The only reason that Cape came close is because of a tremendous amount of penalties by the Sals.

 

[WoodenStick]

Huge victory by Salesianum at GTown Prep. Ryan Kern in goal was phenomenal. The D was as good as it gets and superior to Prep. Middies provided strong scoring power and ball movement - more physical and faster than Prep. Attack is the weak link - only vulnerability. Moves Sals up several notches nationally.

 

[laxdeusa]

Sallies 17 Tower Hill 5