Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To get recruited for Ivy you still need the grades, test scores, etc. Lax gives you a little edge. Maybe there are just more qualified girls who want to go to an Ivy League in the DC area who happen to play lacrosse. I don't think it has anything to do with the club.

This could be correct. Or along the same lines, maybe the strong lacrosse culture in MD prioritizes top lacrosse schools over top academic schools. Either way, the difference is undeniable.

I think there may be something to this comment. Frequently see lax players choose better sports schools over academics and I don’t understand it.

The trend you’re observing with Capital Lacrosse athletes prioritizing Ivy League/high-academic schools likely stems from a combination of regional culture, institutional priorities, and recruitment dynamics unique to the DC area:

1. Academic-Centric Culture: The DC region is heavily influenced by politics, policy, and academia, which often translates to families prioritizing educational prestige. Many student-athletes (and their families) in this environment may view lacrosse as a pathway to elite academic institutions rather than an end in itself, valuing long-term career/networking opportunities over purely athletic accolades/National Championships or playing for a top 10 program that uses 5th years and heavy transfer portal making the ability to get playtime even more competitive. Many Ivy lacrosse programs are consistently ranked in the top 25-30 each year.

2. Ivy League Recruitment Strategy: Ivy League schools actively recruit players who balance top-tier athletics with exceptional academics. Capital Lacrosse may be advising players to meet these high academic standards (e.g., emphasizing GPA, test scores, and leadership), making their athletes attractive to Ivy coaches? These programs also value “fit”—players who thrive in rigorous academic environments—which Capital’s culture might cultivate more intentionally than clubs focused solely on lacrosse performance.

3. Possible Club Philosophy?: I am guessing here a bit but Capital Lacrosse could emphasize academics, preparing athletes for the whole admissions processes of Ivy/High-Academic schools. This contrasts with clubs in regions where lacrosse is more culturally dominant (e.g., Maryland’s traditional lacrosse hotbeds), which might prioritize relationships with sports-focused D1 programs with less focus on academics.

4. Non-Scholarship Model: Since Ivy League schools don’t offer athletic scholarships, they attract athletes who are intrinsically motivated to excel in both academics and sports. Capital’s athletes may be self-selecting into this model, whereas other clubs might steer players toward schools where athletic scholarships or lacrosse prominence are bigger factors. Also, many have parents, family members or relatives who have attended Ivy league/high academics. For example, the two players going to Harvard also have a brother that plays on Harvard Men’s lacrosse.

It’s not just about DC being “less focused on lacrosse”—it’s about the aspirations/goals of its players, and the specific recruiting niches of Ivy/High-Academic institutions. Each year is slightly different between classes. 2026 Capital Blue was heavy on the brainiacs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids who want ivies need good grades, scores, money to afford tuition, and the skills to play at a high level. Problem is there are hundreds and hundreds of girls in each recruiting class around the country who check these boxes aiming for a limited number of spots (just 50 or so). The questions to ask are: why does Capital send so many girls to these schools compared to other clubs? If attaining one of these spots is *entirely* up to the player, why haven’t a significant number of players at other top clubs reached similar numbers as Capital?

This is a great question that I have also seen asked on other forums. The top Baltimore teams obviously have good players and many or most attend expensive private schools. Why do those teams send a relatively low number to high academic institutions? I don't know and I have never seen a good explanation for it.

What are you talking about??? I just looked at M&D’s commit list for 26s and 25s; stanford, army, navy, notre dame. I would say those are high academic schools, and great, cap blue had twins that got into harvard, good job. The other ivy kids were going to dartmouth and columbia. Great schools, dookie programs. They also had kids going to AZ St and Cincy, bum schools. So much cap blue cope here. The 28s stink and the 29s won’t be a top 10 team, you can try to spin it, but the MD programs send kids to top flight schools at the same rate.

Here are the 2025 and 2026 D1 commits to US News Top 20 National Universities: Capital had 16, while the combined total for Hero’s, M&D, and Skywalkers was 18. Although definitions of high academic schools may vary, Capital placed more students at these universities than did the Maryland clubs.

Capital
Columbia
Dartmouth x2
Duke x3
Harvard x2
Johns Hopkins x2
Notre Dame
Princeton
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Yale x2
Total 16

Hero’s, M&D, and Skywalker COMBINED
Brown
Columbia
Johns Hopkins x3
Northwestern
Notre Dame x3
Penn
Princeton
Stanford x3
Vanderbilt x2
Yale x2
Total 18

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids who want ivies need good grades, scores, money to afford tuition, and the skills to play at a high level. Problem is there are hundreds and hundreds of girls in each recruiting class around the country who check these boxes aiming for a limited number of spots (just 50 or so). The questions to ask are: why does Capital send so many girls to these schools compared to other clubs? If attaining one of these spots is *entirely* up to the player, why haven’t a significant number of players at other top clubs reached similar numbers as Capital?

This is a great question that I have also seen asked on other forums. The top Baltimore teams obviously have good players and many or most attend expensive private schools. Why do those teams send a relatively low number to high academic institutions? I don't know and I have never seen a good explanation for it.

What are you talking about??? I just looked at M&D’s commit list for 26s and 25s; stanford, army, navy, notre dame. I would say those are high academic schools, and great, cap blue had twins that got into harvard, good job. The other ivy kids were going to dartmouth and columbia. Great schools, dookie programs. They also had kids going to AZ St and Cincy, bum schools. So much cap blue cope here. The 28s stink and the 29s won’t be a top 10 team, you can try to spin it, but the MD programs send kids to top flight schools at the same rate.

Here are the 2025 and 2026 D1 commits to US News Top 20 National Universities: Capital had 16, while the combined total for Hero’s, M&D, and Skywalkers was 18. Although definitions of high academic schools may vary, Capital placed more students at these universities than did the Maryland clubs.

Capital
Columbia
Dartmouth x2
Duke x3
Harvard x2
Johns Hopkins x2
Notre Dame
Princeton
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Yale x2
Total 16

Hero’s, M&D, and Skywalker COMBINED
Brown
Columbia
Johns Hopkins x3
Northwestern
Notre Dame x3
Penn
Princeton
Stanford x3
Vanderbilt x2
Yale x2
Total 18

To avoid any confusion for anyone, here are the breakdowns for the MD clubs:

Hero’s had 5, which is 33% of the Capital amount
M&D had 5, which is 33% of the Capital amount
Skywalkers had 8, which is 53% of the Capital amount

I still don't know why this difference exists and would welcome any theories.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To get recruited for Ivy you still need the grades, test scores, etc. Lax gives you a little edge. Maybe there are just more qualified girls who want to go to an Ivy League in the DC area who happen to play lacrosse. I don't think it has anything to do with the club.

This could be correct. Or along the same lines, maybe the strong lacrosse culture in MD prioritizes top lacrosse schools over top academic schools. Either way, the difference is undeniable.

I think there may be something to this comment. Frequently see lax players choose better sports schools over academics and I don’t understand it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It also matters that your club in in the important tournaments.

This matters more than people are willing to accept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To get recruited for Ivy you still need the grades, test scores, etc. Lax gives you a little edge. Maybe there are just more qualified girls who want to go to an Ivy League in the DC area who happen to play lacrosse. I don't think it has anything to do with the club.

This could be correct. Or along the same lines, maybe the strong lacrosse culture in MD prioritizes top lacrosse schools over top academic schools. Either way, the difference is undeniable.

Anonymous wrote:It also matters that your club in in the important tournaments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids who want ivies need good grades, scores, money to afford tuition, and the skills to play at a high level. Problem is there are hundreds and hundreds of girls in each recruiting class around the country who check these boxes aiming for a limited number of spots (just 50 or so). The questions to ask are: why does Capital send so many girls to these schools compared to other clubs? If attaining one of these spots is *entirely* up to the player, why haven’t a significant number of players at other top clubs reached similar numbers as Capital?

This is a great question that I have also seen asked on other forums. The top Baltimore teams obviously have good players and many or most attend expensive private schools. Why do those teams send a relatively low number to high academic institutions? I don't know and I have never seen a good explanation for it.

What are you talking about??? I just looked at M&D’s commit list for 26s and 25s; stanford, army, navy, notre dame. I would say those are high academic schools, and great, cap blue had twins that got into harvard, good job. The other ivy kids were going to dartmouth and columbia. Great schools, dookie programs. They also had kids going to AZ St and Cincy, bum schools. So much cap blue cope here. The 28s stink and the 29s won’t be a top 10 team, you can try to spin it, but the MD programs send kids to top flight schools at the same rate.

Remember last time you counted out that 29 team haha, how did that turn out for you?

Anonymous wrote:To get recruited for Ivy you still need the grades, test scores, etc. Lax gives you a little edge. Maybe there are just more qualified girls who want to go to an Ivy League in the DC area who happen to play lacrosse. I don't think it has anything to do with the club.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids who want ivies need good grades, scores, money to afford tuition, and the skills to play at a high level. Problem is there are hundreds and hundreds of girls in each recruiting class around the country who check these boxes aiming for a limited number of spots (just 50 or so). The questions to ask are: why does Capital send so many girls to these schools compared to other clubs? If attaining one of these spots is *entirely* up to the player, why haven’t a significant number of players at other top clubs reached similar numbers as Capital?

This is a great question that I have also seen asked on other forums. The top Baltimore teams obviously have good players and many or most attend expensive private schools. Why do those teams send a relatively low number to high academic institutions? I don't know and I have never seen a good explanation for it.

What are you talking about??? I just looked at M&D’s commit list for 26s and 25s; stanford, army, navy, notre dame. I would say those are high academic schools, and great, cap blue had twins that got into harvard, good job. The other ivy kids were going to dartmouth and columbia. Great schools, dookie programs. They also had kids going to AZ St and Cincy, bum schools. So much cap blue cope here. The 28s stink and the 29s won’t be a top 10 team, you can try to spin it, but the MD programs send kids to top flight schools at the same rate.

Here are the 2025 and 2026 D1 commits to US News Top 20 National Universities: Capital had 16, while the combined total for Hero’s, M&D, and Skywalkers was 18. Although definitions of high academic schools may vary, Capital placed more students at these universities than did the Maryland clubs.

Capital
Columbia
Dartmouth x2
Duke x3
Harvard x2
Johns Hopkins x2
Notre Dame
Princeton
Stanford
Vanderbilt
Yale x2
Total 16

Hero’s, M&D, and Skywalker COMBINED
Brown
Columbia
Johns Hopkins x3
Northwestern
Notre Dame x3
Penn
Princeton
Stanford x3
Vanderbilt x2
Yale x2
Total 18

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids who want ivies need good grades, scores, money to afford tuition, and the skills to play at a high level. Problem is there are hundreds and hundreds of girls in each recruiting class around the country who check these boxes aiming for a limited number of spots (just 50 or so). The questions to ask are: why does Capital send so many girls to these schools compared to other clubs? If attaining one of these spots is *entirely* up to the player, why haven’t a significant number of players at other top clubs reached similar numbers as Capital?

This is a great question that I have also seen asked on other forums. The top Baltimore teams obviously have good players and many or most attend expensive private schools. Why do those teams send a relatively low number to high academic institutions? I don't know and I have never seen a good explanation for it.

What are you talking about??? I just looked at M&D’s commit list for 26s and 25s; stanford, army, navy, notre dame. I would say those are high academic schools, and great, cap blue had twins that got into harvard, good job. The other ivy kids were going to dartmouth and columbia. Great schools, dookie programs. They also had kids going to AZ St and Cincy, bum schools. So much cap blue cope here. The 28s stink and the 29s won’t be a top 10 team, you can try to spin it, but the MD programs send kids to top flight schools at the same rate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids who want ivies need good grades, scores, money to afford tuition, and the skills to play at a high level. Problem is there are hundreds and hundreds of girls in each recruiting class around the country who check these boxes aiming for a limited number of spots (just 50 or so). The questions to ask are: why does Capital send so many girls to these schools compared to other clubs? If attaining one of these spots is *entirely* up to the player, why haven’t a significant number of players at other top clubs reached similar numbers as Capital?

This is a great question that I have also seen asked on other forums. The top Baltimore teams obviously have good players and many or most attend expensive private schools. Why do those teams send a relatively low number to high academic institutions? I don't know and I have never seen a good explanation for it.

What are you talking about??? I just looked at M&D’s commit list for 26s and 25s; stanford, army, navy, notre dame. I would say those are high academic schools, and great, cap blue had twins that got into harvard, good job. The other ivy kids were going to dartmouth and columbia. Great schools, dookie programs. They also had kids going to AZ St and Cincy, bum schools. So much cap blue cope here. The 28s stink and the 29s won’t be a top 10 team, you can try to spin it, but the MD programs send kids to top flight schools at the same rate.