Lax Factor Lacrosse Podcast

College lacrosse is officially upon us with a solid slate of early games. I'm going to start right off by talking about Syracuse trying to bounce back after a terrible show last season with Joey Spallina and their new look offense. Jacksonville is going to be looking to take that next step against Hopkins and actually pull off a win this time around. What will Maryland, Rutgers and Ohio State all...

Lacrosse season is almost upon us.  This upcoming Saturday we will have a near full slate of games to watch and entertain us.  My original plan was to preview those games today, but I’m going to do that Wednesday, and today I’m going to dive into more of a “full season preview” and make some predictions so I can look back and question my intelligence.\ Virginia is the clear favorite in t...

In this first episode of Lacrosse Lines, I'm going to talk a bit about futures odds for college lacrosse and where I think the smarter money is. This will never be betting or financial advice.  I'm not telling you what college lacrosse games to bet on.  I'm just sharing my views on the odds and my own experiences as a terrible sports better.  This isn't not financial advice and neve...

Today's episode will bring my preseason top 20 poll coverage to an end.  We'll talk about my top 5 teams, listed here in no particular order so as to not ruin the surprise... Cornell, Maryland, Virginia, Georgetown and Princeton. These teams all return huge names like Connor Shellenberger (Virginia), CJ Kirst (Cornell), Brett Makar (Maryland), Jake Stevens (Princeton) and Will Bowen (Georgeto...

Continuing on with the LaxFactor college Lacrosse Division I Pre-Season Poll, I'm going to rip through my #6 through #10 picks. I won't give away the order until you either read on, watch or listen, but today we'll talk about Penn, Notre Dame, Yale, Rutgers and Duke. View the blog post... https://www.laxfactor.com/2023/01/laxfactors-college-lacrosse-division-i-pre-season-top-10-5-through-10-laxfac...

Todays episode we’re going to talk about my #13, #12 and #11 picks, getting us ready for the episode this Sunday covering the top 10.  The season is close so I have to rip through these, and of all my picks so far, I’m really questioning two of them I’ll talk about today and may end up making an adjustment to my list before handing in my first poll. #13 Denver: Denver was a team last season t...

Continuing on with the LaxFactor College Lacrosse Division I Pre-Season Top 20, I’m ripping through #17, #16, #15 and #14 in today’s podcast/blog post. Like Army, North Carolina has to deal with losing a guy that put up 6.3 million points in 2022, Chris Gray and many of his fellow top scorers for the Heels are also gone leaving a number of holes that must be plugged in order for UNC to stay ranked...

In this episode I'll talk about legendary lacrosse coach Bill Tierney announcing his retirement after the 2023 college lacrosse season.  We'll also talk about USA Lacrosse Magazine's Preseason All-Americans for 2023.  Lastly, I'll do a run down of the NLL and PBLA action with a quick highlight of the Syracuse Spark's Skkylar Thomas as he has turned some heads in the Spark's first two los...

I've been blessed with a vote in Inside Lacrosse's D1 Media Poll for the 2023 season and in this episode I want to rip through and talk about my "first team out" as well as my picks for #20 through #18. I won't waste any more of your time and will let you dive right into my first team out... #21 Syracuse: My first team out because they were terrible last season and despite an improved offense in 2...

The Binghamton Bombers defeated the Elmira Renegades by a score of 15-14 at the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton this past Friday and I was in attendance and had an incredible time. Read the full blog post... https://www.laxfactor.com/2023/01/binghamton-bombers-defeat-the-elmira-renegades-in-binghamtons-first-pro-box-lacrosse-game-laxfactor-podcast-227/ Support the channel, buy some s...

My top three picks for the goalies in 2023 that are most likely to snag the top three all-american spots are pretty solid and I presume that many if not most will agree with me, at least for 2 of my 3. No question, Logan McNaney of Maryland has benefited greatly from having one of the best defenses in the game standing in front of him. But what I like about McNaney is he’s up to the task and he ca...

The Team USA Roster was announced and there were a couple of surprises in terms of guys that got cut.  In the end I think that the roster they went with is solid as hell. Could you argue that some of the guys that were cut could potentially outperform some of the guys that made the roster? You bet. But the roster they went with is still 100% certifiably filthy and I can get behind it even wit...

Talking about how Luke Wierman, Zach Cole, Mike Sisselberger, Petey LaSalla, Tommy Burke and James Reilly are my top six favorite returning face-off guys for 2023. Support the channel, buy some swag... https://www.laxfactor.com/ Watch the show w/ video on YouTube... https://www.youtube.com/laxfactor/

College lacrosse teams are finalizing and releasing their 2023 schedules and I couldn't be more excited about how Syracuse's 2023 schedule looks and sets this young team up to have a little bit of success. Syracuse's schedule last season was a disaster in terms of flow. They opened with an easy one against Holy Cross before playing #1 Maryland, #2 Virginia and #13 Army West Point. A terrible way t...

Time to discuss the three defenders that I believe will end up being the 1st-Team All Americans in Division I come the end of 2023. No hot takes, just some good ol fashioned prognostication that I think most will agree with overall. We're going to talk about a guy from Georgetown (Will Bowen), a guy from Cornell (Gavin Adler), and a guy from Maryland (Brett Makar). All three of these guys were 1st...

In this episode I want to go back and look at my 2021 Way Too Early ACC Lacrosse Conference Prediction and see how “smart” or how “dumb” I really am.  SPOILER ALERT, this one didn’t go all that well for me.  First prediction I missed on, the ACC would be the toughest lacrosse conference in the country.  I was way wrong, the Big Ten was the best lacrosse conference in 2022 followed b...

My picks for the college lacrosse midfielders that have the best shot of snagging up one of the three 1st Team All-American spots in 2023 include Penn's Sam Handley, Georgetown's Graham Bundy Jr. and Villanova's Matt Campbell. I think Sam Handley is the top returning midfielder overall and I have him as one of my top 3 returning players, period. Handley is a beast.  Graham Bundy Jr. isn't far...

My picks for the college lacrosse players that have the best shot at eating one of the three 1st Team All-American spots in 2023 on attack include Yale's Matt Brandau, Virginia's Connor Shellenberger and Ohio State's Jack Myers.  Matt Brandau is a guy that I personally think is the best returning player in all of college lacrosse.  He's a threat with and without the ball and is overall t...

Virginia lacrosse has been a dominant force since Lars Tiffany took over as head coach. 2023 won't be any different because guys like Connor Shellenberger, Payton Cormier, Cole Kastner, Cade Saustad and Matthew Nunes are all back and eager to prove their early NCAA Tournament exit at the hands of Maryland was a one-off fluke. Shellenberger, Cormier and Griffin Shutz will look to anchor the attack...

When we look at college lacrosse attackmen that are heading to new destinations via the transfer portal in 2023 there is no doubt that Georgetown dominated picking up Tucker Dordevic (Syracuse), Jacob Kelly & Nicky Solomon (North Carolina) and Brian Minicus (Colgate). Right behind the Hoyas was North Carolina who picked up Sean Goldsmith (Mercer), Logan McGovern (Bryant) and Harry Wellford (Bu...

North Carolina commit Brevin Wilson has a “not quite right” way of carrying his stick, which you see a lot in oddball killers that finish far beyond what most players can. Reminds me of a Kavanaugh, small, but you almost never notice his size playing into the game. He’s fully willing and capable of leaning on a defender at a near 45 degree angle to gain leverage and soak up their efforts to be phy...

The Premier Lacrosse League has an incredible crop of rookies that have had amazing seasons thus far in 2022. In this 215th episode of the LaxFactor Podcast I'm going to talk about these PLL first years including Brendan Nichtern (Chrome), Logan Wisnauskas (Chrome), Chris Gray (Atlas), Asher Nolting (Cannons), Matt Moore (Archers) and Jack Hannah (Waterdogs). Each has had a great rookie campaign,...

***SEE THE BLOG POST*** https://www.laxfactor.com/2022/07/maryland-terps-2023-scouting-report/ The Maryland Terps lacrosse squad has been “rinsing and repeating for some time” and for the last few years going into the off-season it was pretty clear who would be leading this team offensively. After Chanenchuk it was Matt Rambo. After Rambo it was Connor Kelly. After Kelly it was Jared Bernhardt. Af...

Maryland completed the season a perfect 18-0 and gave coach John Tillman his second NCAA Tournament Title by defeating Cornell on Memorial day, 9-7. It was the Terps lowest scoring game of the season as they only put up 9 goals on the day. But their defense held Cornell to just 7 goals, their lowest scoring game of 2022 and that proved to be enough on Monday. Logan McNaney was named the MVP thanks...

Our NCAA Lacrosse Finals matchup is set. Cornell will face Maryland on Memorial Day in what will hopefully prove to be a fun game to watch on Monday. Cornell advanced by beating up on Rutgers 17-10. John Piatelli, Michael Long and CJ Kirst combined for 12 goals and 3 assists on the day, Piatelli was good for 5 goals, Long scored 4 and Kirst put up 3. Each of them had a single assist. Maryland adva...