Animated Lacrosse
Plays and Drills for
your Team

It’s the busiest time of year for recruiting news.  Get caught up right here, right now by visiting LaxLessons.com’s groundbreaking, imitated, but never duplicated Lacrosse Insider. It’s the No. 1 source and unparalleled leader for recruiting news, analysis and information in the NY/NJ/CT tristate region and the entire lax galaxy. Few varsity programs in the tristate region have had the […]

Great expectations await Smithtown West High School (N.Y.) as it prepares to start the 2014 varsity season. The Bulls, who made final roster cuts this week, enter the season at or near the top in the preseason rankings, beginning with the first released anywhere, the LaxLessons.com Tristate Top 25 preseason rankings. We got our first […]

If you checked out LaxLessons.com’s Tristate Top 25 preseason team rankings, you couldn’t help but notice Smithtown West. The Bulls, after all, are close to the top spot not only in New York, but the nation’s No. 1 hotbed for lacrosse, the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut tristate region. While Smithtown West has six college-bound seniors, it […]

It’s been a tumultuous fall for the Cornell University men’s lacrosse program. A hazing incident resulted in the Big Red pulling the plug on its fall event schedule. Then, head coach Ben DeLuca was relieved of his duties. Cornell suffered another setback earlier this week when one of the top defensemen on Long Island, Smithtown […]

Syracuse University and Smithtown West High School (N.Y.) both broke into the Class of 2016 earlier this week. Joe Lombardi broke the news earlier this week on our LaxLessons.com special coverage section, Lacrosse Insider, that faceoff specialist Danny Varello will be following his brother Joe’s path to Division I lacrosse. Joe Varello, a standout for […]

MaxPreps photos by Dave Anderson Chaminade players celebrate after beating archrival and four-time defending CHSAA Long Island AAA champion St. Anthony’s 7-5 in the title game on May 23 at Hofstra University. Click here for the complete photo gallery. Chaminade’s J.J. McDaid unleashes a shot on the run against Evan Doodian. McDaid battles for possession […]

It was a day Joe Varello and thousands of players from through Long Island had been anxiously awaiting. And it came today. Varsity practices and tryouts officially got under way. For Varello, the 2013 season comes with especially high expectations. After all, the senior faceoff midfielder plays for Smithtown West, which has emerged into one […]

It was a race that went right down to the wire. We just wrapped up our latest poll question in our latest “You make the call” feature which asked who you thought would win the always heated race in Section 11 (Suffolk County) Class A. Your choice – defending New York State Class A champion […]

The race for the top spot in Suffolk County Class A is attracting a lot of discussion — and votes in our latest poll. One team that is always in the hunt but has lacked some preseason buzz in 2013 is Sachem North. For more on the Flaming Arrows, we turn to Mike Calvagna. The […]

JJ Foley emerged as one of the top defensive recruiting targets of many of the nation’s top programs this past summer. One of the main reasons for that is the fact that the Smithtown West (N.Y.) junior has not always been a defenseman. He made the switch from midfield two years ago on the advice […]

Duke, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, UNC, Maryland, Virginia and Penn State. Those were among the schools Ryan Keenan considered before making his college choice. Keenan, a sophomore lefty attackman at Smithtown West, decided on Penn State. Keenan made an immediate impact on the Bulls’ varsity squad last year, starting after his brother, current Duke freshman Kyle […]

While much of the attention of the lacrosse world has been focused on the  US Lacrosse National Convention, which got under way yesterday in Philadelphia, another noteworthy event was also held. Major League Lacrosse’s annual collegiate draft. Former Smithtown West standout Rob Pannell  (pictured at left), coming off a 42-goal, 47 assist season at Cornell, was selected […]

Photo by Gene Morris/Smithtown Patch There has been no shortage of talent at Smithtown West the last few years. Brett Madarasz, Jordan Stevens, Kyle Keenan and James Pannell are just some of the names that come to mind. Alex Dodge knows them all very well. Especially from practicing against them. The dodging midfielder was able […]

Christian Zawadzki didn’t have to look far to see what attributes it takes to be Division I lacrosse player. His brother, Anthony, is a junior midfielder at Lafayette. He also learned at an early age the dedication and commitment it takes to reach the highest level in a sport. His father, Tony, is a football […]

We just reviewed a busy week for commitments among members of the Class of 2013. For a recap, be sure to check out our weekly column on lax in the tristate for InsideLacrosse.com. Slowly the number of commitments among current sophomores is rising. Earlier today, I received word of the latest. Christian Zawadzki of Smithtown […]

 Photo by Gene Morris/Smithtown Patch There are just a few hours to go before the Fall National Letter of Intent Early Signing Week for current high school seniors is one for the books. Be sure to check back first thing tomorrow for a rundown of those seniors who are now officially signed and sealed. For […]

UMass is making quite an impression among junior standouts in the region. The Minutemen have received verbal commitments from Fairfield Prep defenseman James Marusi, Yorktown attackman Nick Mariano and Sachem North defenseman Tyler Andreassi. Well, add another player to the list. Smithtown West’s Dylan Gruder is the latest Class of 2013 star to decide on […]

Photo by Jim Stout/MaxPreps.com As we get set for the final weekend of the month, it will be a busy Saturday with some big preseason tournaments mixed in with a fair number of regular-season games in Long Island, highlighted by the showdown between Garden City and Smithtown West as well as a matchup between Wantagh […]

West Islip has dominated Section 11 Class A the last five years. There are no two ways about it. The Class A race in Suffolk is up for grabs. For starters, you’ve got West Islip, which, despite huge graduation losses, has still won four state titles the last five years. There’s also Sachem North, which […]

West Islip has dominated Section 11 Class A the last five years. But there could be a new sheriff in town. In addition to traditional power Ward Melville, Sachem North, which handed West Islip its only loss last season, looks strong, along with East Islip and Connetquot. So too does Smithtown West. After all, the […]

Earlier this week, we told you about how Johns Hopkins has been picking up steam landing commitments from some of the top players in the region, which also happens to be the nation’s No. 1 lacrosse hotbed: Hudson Valley, Long Island and Connecticut. Well, it should come as no surprise that defending national champion Duke […]

We hope you are checking out the “Updated recruiting review and commitment rundown” thread each day, gang, because new names are popping up at a feverish pace. Today, we learned of two more major commitments.

For the last five years, the West Islip Lions have been the dominant force in Suffolk County lacrosse. But next season, the Lions will be minus two of the top 10 graduating seniors in the nation in Nicky Galasso and Andrew Hodgson. So how will Suffolk look next season. Yes, it’s early, but that hasn’t […]

The Fairfield Stags are coming off one of the biggest wins in program history and former Smithtown West star Joe Marra is a big reason why. The senior, who had a career-high 17 saves in a 10-8 win over then No. 3-ranked Notre Dame, was just named the NEILA Player of the Week. To read […]