VHSL Boys Lacrosse 2026 Season

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Riverside and Battlefield will be competitive and close. Most importantly as mentioned it's a scrimmage.

Battlefield parents are actually on Haymarket Urban and Moms so doubt it's one of them.

It’s a really good scrimmage for the most part every year. 2 really well coached programs who will make sure everyone gets in. Usually with scrimmages I like to look at the eye test instead of the score you usually can get a sense if a team is good or not at the end of the 1st quarter.

[Anonymous]

Stopped by the tri-scrimmage tonight between Woodson, Oakton, and Freedom South Riding. Interesting format. The first hour all three teams were running 6v6 on two ends of the field, rotating matchups. Then the final stretch each team played each other for two quarters.

During the 6v6 portion honestly no team really stood out. All three looked very similar talent-wise. Good athletes across the board and some solid offensive looks, but nobody really dominated that segment. Felt pretty even between the three programs.

The first full scrimmage was Woodson vs Freedom South Riding. After the first quarter Woodson was up 2-1 and honestly could have had a few more. They hit pipe around five times in that quarter alone and generated a lot of good looks. For the second quarter Woodson pulled their starters and ran pretty much their entire second group while Freedom South Riding kept their starters in. I believe the final ended up either tied or Freedom South Riding up by one. Hard to read too much into it, but when starters were going against starters in the first quarter Woodson looked slightly sharper. Overall though those two teams looked pretty evenly matched.

Next game was Oakton vs Freedom South Riding and both teams kept their starters in the whole time. Oakton jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first quarter, but Freedom South Riding got hot in the second and went on a 4-1 run to win it 5-4. Pretty competitive back and forth game.

The final matchup was Woodson vs Oakton. Woodson won that one 2-0. Offensively and defensively the teams looked fairly even overall, but the biggest difference maker was goalie play. Woodson’s goalie was lights out. He pitched the shutout with 10+ saves across the two quarters and made a handful of really strong stops.

On the flip side, it looked like Oakton may have a serious goalie issue this year. They rotated two goalies during the scrimmages and neither seemed able to stop much of anything. A few shots hit them right in the chest and there were a couple pipes, but outside of that I honestly do not remember seeing a clean save in the four quarters I watched. If they cannot get steadier goalie play that could become a major problem for them this season.

Overall though all three teams looked pretty competitive and fairly even in terms of talent. Should be some good games between them this year. Despite the freezing rain it was great to see NOVA lax back in action. Definitely got me fired up for the season.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the write up assessment. Kudos for enduring the weather to watch.

[Anonymous]

how did the fab 5 do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how did the fab 5 do?

They all played on the JV team. Didn't sound like oakton looked amazing... I'm sure they could of used them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stopped by the tri-scrimmage tonight between Woodson, Oakton, and Freedom South Riding. Interesting format. The first hour all three teams were running 6v6 on two ends of the field, rotating matchups. Then the final stretch each team played each other for two quarters.

During the 6v6 portion honestly no team really stood out. All three looked very similar talent-wise. Good athletes across the board and some solid offensive looks, but nobody really dominated that segment. Felt pretty even between the three programs.

The first full scrimmage was Woodson vs Freedom South Riding. After the first quarter Woodson was up 2-1 and honestly could have had a few more. They hit pipe around five times in that quarter alone and generated a lot of good looks. For the second quarter Woodson pulled their starters and ran pretty much their entire second group while Freedom South Riding kept their starters in. I believe the final ended up either tied or Freedom South Riding up by one. Hard to read too much into it, but when starters were going against starters in the first quarter Woodson looked slightly sharper. Overall though those two teams looked pretty evenly matched.

Next game was Oakton vs Freedom South Riding and both teams kept their starters in the whole time. Oakton jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first quarter, but Freedom South Riding got hot in the second and went on a 4-1 run to win it 5-4. Pretty competitive back and forth game.

The final matchup was Woodson vs Oakton. Woodson won that one 2-0. Offensively and defensively the teams looked fairly even overall, but the biggest difference maker was goalie play. Woodson’s goalie was lights out. He pitched the shutout with 10+ saves across the two quarters and made a handful of really strong stops.

On the flip side, it looked like Oakton may have a serious goalie issue this year. They rotated two goalies during the scrimmages and neither seemed able to stop much of anything. A few shots hit them right in the chest and there were a couple pipes, but outside of that I honestly do not remember seeing a clean save in the four quarters I watched. If they cannot get steadier goalie play that could become a major problem for them this season.

Overall though all three teams looked pretty competitive and fairly even in terms of talent. Should be some good games between them this year. Despite the freezing rain it was great to see NOVA lax back in action. Definitely got me fired up for the season.

[Anonymous]

Full disclosure... my son plays for Freedom-SR. I would agree most of the assessment from the previous poster about the teams being fairly even, and the Woodson Goalie made some great saves throughout the scrimmages. Freedom mixed and matched all night, and never had all of what could be considered their Day 1 starters out there at the same time. Only standout player that I saw was #24 from Woodson. He seemed to be the offensive leader, and even when defenders were draped all over him, he still got shots off, with most being on cage.

With all three teams having less than a week of practice, it was what anyone could expect. Some good, some bad, but all three teams have talent and can score and defend. All three teams should be on the + side of wins this year.

[Anonymous]

My Riverside vs Battlefield score prediction is Battlefield 20 Riverside 5. Riverside has lost a lot of key players and I don't think they will be good this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Full disclosure... my son plays for Freedom-SR. I would agree most of the assessment from the previous poster about the teams being fairly even, and the Woodson Goalie made some great saves throughout the scrimmages. Freedom mixed and matched all night, and never had all of what could be considered their Day 1 starters out there at the same time. Only standout player that I saw was #24 from Woodson. He seemed to be the offensive leader, and even when defenders were draped all over him, he still got shots off, with most being on cage.

With all three teams having less than a week of practice, it was what anyone could expect. Some good, some bad, but all three teams have talent and can score and defend. All three teams should be on the + side of wins this year.

Looks like Freedom-SR was using green days to practice, not really just one week - https://www.instagram.com/p/DUr1lktl4W5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Full disclosure... my son plays for Freedom-SR. I would agree most of the assessment from the previous poster about the teams being fairly even, and the Woodson Goalie made some great saves throughout the scrimmages. Freedom mixed and matched all night, and never had all of what could be considered their Day 1 starters out there at the same time. Only standout player that I saw was #24 from Woodson. He seemed to be the offensive leader, and even when defenders were draped all over him, he still got shots off, with most being on cage.

With all three teams having less than a week of practice, it was what anyone could expect. Some good, some bad, but all three teams have talent and can score and defend. All three teams should be on the + side of wins this year.

Looks like Freedom-SR was using green days to practice, not really just one week - https://www.instagram.com/p/DUr1lktl4W5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

This has to be a joke right? You went and found receipts to show kids practice their sport outside of the start and end dates of their spring season??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Full disclosure... my son plays for Freedom-SR. I would agree most of the assessment from the previous poster about the teams being fairly even, and the Woodson Goalie made some great saves throughout the scrimmages. Freedom mixed and matched all night, and never had all of what could be considered their Day 1 starters out there at the same time. Only standout player that I saw was #24 from Woodson. He seemed to be the offensive leader, and even when defenders were draped all over him, he still got shots off, with most being on cage.

With all three teams having less than a week of practice, it was what anyone could expect. Some good, some bad, but all three teams have talent and can score and defend. All three teams should be on the + side of wins this year.

Looks like Freedom-SR was using green days to practice, not really just one week - https://www.instagram.com/p/DUr1lktl4W5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

This has to be a joke right? You went and found receipts to show kids practice their sport outside of the start and end dates of their spring season??

Seems silly that you even made the "with less than a week to practice" claim since lots (most?) teams use Green Days. I knew off the top of my head that Oakton played Fierce Nation.

Took about 8 seconds.

[Anonymous]

Riverside 10-5 after 3. Their best player didn’t play. Both teams looked good but sloppy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Full disclosure... my son plays for Freedom-SR. I would agree most of the assessment from the previous poster about the teams being fairly even, and the Woodson Goalie made some great saves throughout the scrimmages. Freedom mixed and matched all night, and never had all of what could be considered their Day 1 starters out there at the same time. Only standout player that I saw was #24 from Woodson. He seemed to be the offensive leader, and even when defenders were draped all over him, he still got shots off, with most being on cage.

With all three teams having less than a week of practice, it was what anyone could expect. Some good, some bad, but all three teams have talent and can score and defend. All three teams should be on the + side of wins this year.

Looks like Freedom-SR was using green days to practice, not really just one week - https://www.instagram.com/p/DUr1lktl4W5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Well, since your allowed to practice of Green Days, your quite the detective.

[Anonymous]

Chantilly 16 - Loudoun County 6… or about that after 4 quarters. Looks like both teams played backups in the second half. I had chantilly 9 loudoun county 2 for the first half with starters. Is loudoun county going to be competitive in 4a?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Riverside vs Battlefield score prediction is Battlefield 20 Riverside 5. Riverside has lost a lot of key players and I don't think they will be good this year.

great guess, close enough!