The nation’s No. 1 hotbed for lacrosse, the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region, is well-represented in Inside Lacrosse’s Under Armour preseason national power rankings.

Garden City, a 2010 Class B New York finalist, checks in at No. 2 behind top-ranked Pennsylvania’s Haverford. Darien, the six-time Connecticut Class M state champs, is No. 3. Darien faces Haverford in the Checking for Cancer Classic in what should be, well, a classic.

The teams that have met for the CHSAA championship six straight years are ranked No. 4 (St. Anthony’s) and No. 6 (Chaminade), respectively.

Salisbury (Conn.) checks in at No. 7.

Other Long Island teams are well-represented, including two-time New York Class C state champ Manhasset (No. 15) and West Islip (No. 17), which has won four New York Class A state titles the last five years, as well as Ward Melville (No. 18), Smithtown West (No. 20) and Cold Spring Harbor (No. 22).

John Jay drew the No. 21 ranking.

You can view all the rankings by clicking here.

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Posted In: CHSAA lacrosse, Fairfield lacrosse, fciac, General, Section 1, Section 11, Section 8, Section 9

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34 Responses to “GC is No. 2, Darien No. 3 in IL preseason national rankings”

  1. Lion Town says:

    West Islip #17. Pretty insulting

    • LI101387 says:

      I completely agree, and I think that the rankings under-estimate Suffolk Class A in general (and this is coming from a Nassau guy). I honestly think that two-thirds of the teams ranked ahead of West Islip would fail to win the Suffolk A title. The league is that deep this year.

  2. RRLax says:

    Talk about insulting. Jamesville DeWitt CRUSHED #2 Garden City in the state finals last year and isn’t even ranked. Not having them somewhere from 10-15 is clueless as well as insulting.

    • Lax Novice says:

      At first glance I’d say that the demotion of both Jamesville-DeWitt and West Islip has more to do with the graduation of their stars than anything else, Bratek in JD’s case and Galasso and Hodgson in West Islip’s. I think you’ll see those two schools in the Top 25 for most if not all of the actual season once it gets going.

      Nice to see the Baltimore publication showing much love for teams in our area, some more earned on the field than others.

  3. Pork Chop Serum says:

    Pre season rankings are just to get people riled up which they did. Lets not take this too seriously and wait for the the first few games to be played before we get that upset

  4. slacrosse says:

    “PG” schools don’t belong in these rankings–apples and oranges.

    Hey at least IL didn’t feel obligated for once to represent the whole country and include teams from Ca, Tx, Fla, etc. No doubt some GREAT AA type kids on some of these teams but NO WAY any of those teams belong in a top 25 due to their WEAK local competition.

    Agree with RRLax on omission of JDW. Understand despite some departures, they are still loaded–they go from #3 end last yr to nothing?? Glaring.

    • Class A says:

      Just to clear up, apples and oranges are very similar actually. To start, they’re both fruits. That’s a pretty easy comparison.

      It seems to me you could have picked almost anything else with apples. Maybe say “”PG” schools don’t belong in these rankings-apples and airplanes.”

      • Joey says:

        Yeah, that’s a great point Class A. You really hit it right on the head (no sarcasm). Don’t know what Slacrosse was thinking.

  5. Pequa says:

    With St. A’s minus Schrieber I think #4 is a bit high.

  6. Long road says:

    Finally something to talk about. This list coupled with two Spring like days in a row will get everyone fired up. I see Jay moving up and perhaps Y-Town moving onto this list. Jay makes sense at #21. Good season last year under a new coach. Lots of returning starters (7 or so). Yorktown is always competitive and seems to find ways to beat some big team during the season (St A’s last year). Any idea as to why Y-Town chose this year to play B instead of A. Based on Section 1 competition A would be an easier path out of the section and into states and B is stacked in and out of the section. i.e #2 GC. As for the Blue Wave they seem to high at #3 but BOD (body of work) is hard to argue. They play a few of these top teams this year so time will tell.

  7. kr says:

    A little surprised at Darien, St A’s and Chaminade ranking so high…especially Chaminade.

    I’m another Nassau guy who is surprised #17 is the highest a Suffolk team can rank, and once again Suffolk B gets no love

  8. Ram Tough says:

    Let’s remember JD also beat John Jay in 07 so they’ve won two state titles in four years and are coming off an unbeaten season which they ended ranked #3. What am I missing? Of course they should be ranked. Could it be as simple as IL not doing due diligence and simply forgetting about JD? Scary thought!

    • Laxtime says:

      Actually I think they didn’t take what teams did last year into account enough. I’m sorry – if a team goes unbeaten and wins the NY State championship and beats your current #2 ranked team they HAVE to be ranked. They just have to. Period.

  9. Todd Rd. says:

    Who thinks Darien is not better than JJ now?

  10. Todd Rd. says:

    JJ had a number 9 ranking the year they went to the state champ.

  11. Upstate Lax says:

    The omission of JD makes these rankings utterly meaningless.

  12. Lax Novice says:

    John Jay is entirely deserving of this kind of respect in the preseason. It’s the post season where you won’t be seeing any mention of the 2011 Indians. I’ll be interested to see where the NY State Sportswriters poll puts them at the start of the year. The Section 3 schools will have a bit more to say about where they belong then.

  13. Indian J says:

    IL Rankings, seem to be based on the history of the program, the noteworthy college players the team has produced lately, who is returning from last year’s squad ( all star juniors and sophs) and the degree of success that the team had last season. In addition, a curve seems to be in place to acknowledge ( and further promote) the expansion of the sport. Without question, there are serious contenders for such cherished titles as the NYS championship that are not listed in the top 25. But it seems to cause some grief amongst the knowledgeable and faithful. Keep it in perspective. It certainly does not affect the outcome of games that will be played two months from now.

    Let’s go Jay.

  14. WestLax says:

    NYS Section 1 Pre season (A, B and C)

    1. Yorktown
    2. John Jay
    3. Mahopac
    4. Lakeladnd/Panas
    5. Somers
    5. Rye
    7. Bronxville
    8. Suffern
    9. Pelham
    10.Putnam Valley

    H/M. North Salem, White Plains, Fox Lane and Mamo.

    Obviously one person’s view.

    • tom says:

      I’d put Mamo at 8. North Salem doesn’t belong in the top 20-25 let alone 12. Don’t even know who H/M is. Greely? Cause they belong somewhere there. Also, I think you forgot Pleasantville.
      Finally, I think you’re overrating Pelham. They have Landis, who else? Last year, they had a very talented offensive player heading to UAlbany, but I thought he graduated. How else are they going to score/ defend? Those questions aren’t rhetoric. I don’t know too much about Pelham.

      • WestLax says:

        H/M is honorable mention. North Salem is well coached and has very talented midfielders and a good goalie. Pelham will be playing in the section 1 class “C” playoffs for sure. Mamo has a great goalie and top 5 LSM probably deserves a top 10.

    • upstate says:

      did you seriously say that north salem was an honorable mention in your section 1 top ten? seriously? no offense to north salem, but seriously?

    • Pac Lax says:

      Top 10 IMO

      1). JJ
      2). Lakeland/Panas
      3). Yorktown
      4). Mahopac
      5). Somers
      6). Rye
      7). Suffern
      8). Greeley
      9). Put Valley
      10). White Plains

      HM-BVille, FoxLane, Mamo, Pville.

  15. Maze Lax says:

    Duke 11, ND 8

  16. upstate says:

    you know what is interesting, long island newsday’s ranking of suffolk has smithtown west in front of ward melville by several places. inside lacrosse gives WM the edge because they have a higher national profile.

    • WM fan says:

      You know whats interesting, Ward Melvilee beat Smithtown West TWICE last year and beat them in A Fall tournament. Maybe Inside lacrosse bases their rankings on the FACTS.

  17. SWLAX says:

    By class, IMO

    Class A
    1. L/P
    2. PAC
    3. Scarsdale
    3. W/P
    3. Mamo

    Class B
    1. JJ
    2. Rye
    3. Somers
    3. Town
    5. Greeley
    5. Fox Lane
    5. Brewster

    Class C
    1. Put Valley
    2. B’Ville
    3. Byram
    4. P’Ville
    4. Pelham

    By class

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