NGLL 2028 A (Girls Lacrosse)
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Anonymous
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NGLL 2028 A division currently has three DMV teams:
Next Level Pride Red Stars Light Blue All three teams have good players, but not a complete set and are struggling to compete with the top Maryland teams (M&D, Coppermine, Hero's, etc.). See link to current NGLL 2028 A standings where all three teams have losing records and will not make the playoffs -> http://www.nationalgirlslacrosseleague.com/mid-atlantic2019.html. In the coming years, certain of the top players from these teams are going to leave for the top Maryland teams. This is likely to impact Next Level most, as the Montgomery County girls can more reasonably make the commute to Howard County, Baltimore, etc. Realistically, the Maryland team headquarters are just too far away for the Pride and Stars girls, and they will lose fewer top girls as a result. Losing any girls will make each of the local teams even weaker and they will either struggle more next year in the A division, or be forced to move to the B division. The topic of this thread is to discuss how to bring together the remaining top girls to create a team that can better compete in the NGLL A division. Please share any thoughts on the quality of the local clubs and current team talent so parents and girls can better assess their options for 7th and 8th grade years. |
Anonymous
If you are worries about wins and losses for a 6th grade team you need to get a life. It doesn't matter (even if they want to playin college). |
Anonymous
I agree that wins and losses are unimportant. Being able to develop skills while competing at a high level is important for these girls and is why they chose to play for these teams. Perhaps none of the girls on the three DMV teams belong in the A level and should move to B teams where they could find some better matchups. But after seeing each of the three teams play, I think they each have a talented group and are each just a few good players away from having a team that can compete at the A level. |
Anonymous
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Don’t worry, in 9th grade all the best girls will join up on Capital. History has already proved that out. Let them enjoy 6th grade before it gets serious.
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Anonymous
| I think the OP is saying is the girls aren’t enjoying being in 6th grade lacrosse with not being able to compete and losing. Trying to join forces would allow the girls to develop and compete at top level. And let’s be honest, winning does create some form of happiness |
Anonymous
| Pride and Stars play this weekend. If there are parents from both teams reading this forum (sounds like yes) why not put our “pride” away and have a discussion about how we can combine talent for next season. |
Anonymous
That has normally been the case, but all 3 teams are weak now. How much better would the Capital team/s be even if you took the best 3-5 from each team? In the past, you had much stronger feeders coming into Capital. There's no one on BLC or MCE that would come close to making Capital Orange let alone Capital Blue. There's maybe 10-12 across the 3 teams right now that would be the caliber of Capital Blue. A lot of the talent is leaving the DMV and not coming back. Winning is not everything but the weak teams are not developing talent as they have in years past. |
Anonymous
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As someone who has a daughter on one of the older teams you mentioned, I would give it another year or so. The Maryland teams are formed VERY early (early Elementary school) so they are ahead of any team coming from VA. My daughters team used to get killed in 4th/5th grade when they played the M&D's of the world. Look at the 2026/2027 Pride teams and the 2026 Stars teams. They are all very competitive vs. the top clubs from Baltimore. Things tend to even out once the VA teams learn to catch/throw and play at a more competitive level.
It could be a talent thing but as long as the kids are good athletes, they will close the gap. |
Anonymous
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Developmentally most girls will improve more starting on Next Level or Pride than getting 5 minutes a game (at most) on a big 3 Maryland team.
Moving to a "better" team and sitting the bench is seldom a good move. |
Anonymous
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If you’re in VA and willing to go to the St James for lax, it’s not that much harder to cross the Wilson bridge and play for teams in Anne Arundel, like Maryland United.
There are also more NoVA teams with talent that Pride and Stars. VA Metro has some solid teams and good coaching, for example. There are a number of players that have gone from VA Metro to Capital. If you are solely focused on NGLL, you are missing the forest for the trees. However, if the idea is to organize a parent-led merger of Stars and Pride, go for it! I like the initiative. |
Anonymous
Boy that would be something if they merged especially since Pride and Cavs just became one. While the Pride 28 team appears weak Prides 26 and 27 teams are pretty strong and if they win this weekend would both make the NGLL playoffs. That being said even if VA only had one team at these tourney's and NGLL I doubt they would ever consistently beat Hero's, M&D and SKW. |
Anonymous
Generally agree with the above. At least for '26 it is not because the teams stayed entirely static and improved together - there was consolidation and shifting both between Stars/Pride and with a few from MoCo and ironically up north as well when Hero's White fell apart joining VA teams. Those teams improved because talent was consolidated. '26 is also a really strong year across the board it seems and bet many will go to CLC for HS - they have gotten stronger in part because top players found a way to play with other strong players. Many teams benefited in VA and up in MD from strong players leaving MC Elite around 7th grade. Not really about "winning" but get better quality practices and good coaches can do more when there are not big skill gaps on a team. As the girls get older the strong athletes cannot dominate or run and gun alone - needs more teamwork on attack and defense. I don't have a '28 but completely get OP's point and many on the sidelines of lots of age groups have had these discussions given that there is not one strong, well-organized club from elementary through HS around DMV. It stinks and makes hard decisions for good athletes who like the sport. |
Anonymous
Stars and Pride are not going to merge. Parents may decide to switch teams, but that would be a clumsy situation with an uncertain outcome unless there is some agreement to join forces and create a strong local team. Assuming there were some agreement to consolidate talent, it is not entirely clear to me which of the programs should be the beneficiary. Conventional wisdom, I think, is that the Stars program is on the decline, and the Pride program is on the rise, but I don't know if that is true. What do you all think? |
Anonymous
| Beg to differ a pride on rise and stars on decline. They are prob very close to being on level field. Both have issues to work on. I give nod to Stars for facilities. |
Anonymous
The 26 Stars team is only good because the top Pride players crossed over and are now on Stars. The Pride 27 team is head and shoulders better than the Stars 27 team. The 28s are probably about even with maybe the Stars 28 team having a slight advantage. The last statement is the issue. The teams just don't have the talent or athletes. The gap will continue to exist. Agree on the last poster, the idea of a merge is just not happening. There's too much hatred across both clubs. VA Metro is a good club, but not the talent level of the other 3 mentioned in this post. Saying that NGLL doesnt matter is just trying to justify not playing in it. NGLL has the best competition out there, even in the B divisions. Playing against some of the top teams and players in the country goes a long way to player development and competition. The only way any kind of merge or consolidation happens is if the parents of top players choose to go from Pride to Stars or Stars to Pride. NL has some great talent as well, but why they wouldn't just go to HoCo for those teams instead of fighting 495. |