Best classes for future seasons

25 - Bullis
26 - SJC / Prep
27 - SJC / Landon

Bullis will remain relevant as long as Jebb Bellistri is the HC, despite commentary from the PP, Bellistri is a very good coach and does a great job of developing his players.

While Bullis will remain strong and can play the dark horse in the IAC, these Bullis teams are a fraction compared to what they had during the Boarman Headmaster era. The previous headmaster as it has been well documented, was sports-obsessed and put a huge emphasis on Bullis' boy's lax and football teams. Lax team had more resources, a larger FA budget and could get applicants through admissions quickly. Bullis a few years ago was bringing in 5+ plus junior/senior transfers every offseason providing them with plenty of depth.

Having watched Bullis play this spring a few times, their starters can run with anyone in the area however unlike previous teams from 3 - 5 years ago, the Bulldogs have little to no depth. Bullis still recruits but not nearly as aggressively as they once did during the Boarman era.

The Spring of 2025 will be interesting for the Bulldogs as they have likely the best 25 class in the DMV... Rumors have been circulating Coach Bellistri might also retire after next season.

Time will tell...

Anonymous wrote:Coach was not “pushed out” by Coach Bellistri. Can assure you of that.

He stepped away for his own reasons, none of which was a lack of love for the program. You can go direct with him if you need to know more about his life.

Well they certainly missed him, or someone in that roll. Bellistri, as the HC, has to take the hit for this failure. 2 goals in first half was the killer last night. Prep played well on D, but 2 goals doesn't cut it, I don't care who is playing D. No rotation to keep players fresh. As mentioned above, me-ball mentality when it comes to shooting, no accountability when players made poor decisions or mental errors. All of this killed Bullis this season.

Coach was not “pushed out” by Coach Bellistri. Can assure you of that.

He stepped away for his own reasons, none of which was a lack of love for the program. You can go direct with him if you need to know more about his life.

Why did Bellistri push out his offensive coordinator this past Fall who was a Bullis alum? Shaun Crowe I believe had been the OC for nearly a decade.

lack of coaching on offensive side and lots of club mentality "me-ball"

Anonymous wrote:final prep 9 - bullis 7

Bullis done. Another disappointing year and they had the opportunities to win all of the games they lost this season.

Anonymous wrote:DeMatha wins over PVI in overtime.

Wow! that makes it 4 in row for DeMatha under the guidance of Mitchell. DeMatha is hot!

PVI moves on to VISAA where they will try to repeat last years championship.

Anonymous wrote:SSSA needs the addition of an assistant coach who has connections/coaching within the local lacrosse club scene. This will help in attracting skilled players to the school. In their trophy year 2022, SSSA had commitments heading to UNC, Harvard, Drexel, Loyola, Air Force, UMBC, and several others. This year only two notable commitments Yale & BU. It feels like the current Athletic Director has less enthusiasm for lacrosse compared to their predecessor, and the entire administration seems focused on non-sport admissions. Maybe DEI driven? Many parents wonder if it is a gradual dismantling of SSSA as a dominant force in lacrosse by the current administrators and admissions team. They should prioritize
lacrosse because most of their Ivy League admissions are through lacrosse players and we all know prospective parents like to see that even if they have no desire for their child to attend an Ivie.

There is a degree of truth to this.

St Stephens historically has always attracted a more traditional "right of center" crowd. I recognize schools have had to shift to the "left" and appear more progressive to appease all of their constituents but there have been some "questionable" decisions made in recent years.

Its also worth nothing... St Stephens has always had stronger LS and MS teams where they could develop their younger players however it appears to be a shell of its former self.

Hopefully, the admin recognizes they are starting to piss off some deep-pocketed families, who unfortunatly might look elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SSSA needs the addition of an assistant coach who has connections/coaching within the local lacrosse club scene. This will help in attracting skilled players to the school. In their trophy year 2022, SSSA had commitments heading to UNC, Harvard, Drexel, Loyola, Air Force, UMBC, and several others. This year only two notable commitments Yale & BU. It feels like the current Athletic Director has less enthusiasm for lacrosse compared to their predecessor, and the entire administration seems focused on non-sport admissions. Maybe DEI driven? Many parents wonder if it is a gradual dismantling of SSSA as a dominant force in lacrosse by the current administrators and admissions team. They should prioritize
lacrosse because most of their Ivy League admissions are through lacrosse players and we all know prospective parents like to see that even if they have no desire for their child to attend an Ivie.

Why an Assistant Coach? Doesn’t the head coach recruit? how can he keep the job if the program is so dismal now with no plan to turn it around?

I don't know what SSSAS head coach does on a day to day basis with respect to recruiting, but my sense has always been that he is not very plugged in to the local club lacrosse scene and has no interest in changing that. If SSSAS is going to get any better, the head coach is going to have to find a way to start pushing numerous young players to Next Level, Madlax, DC Express in lower and middle school. Without that, there is little chance of competing with Landon, Prep, Bullis, with or without recruiting.

Zero chance that SSSA crowd will let boys lax become an IAC bottom feeder if the problem can be fixed by a new HC

Anonymous wrote:SSSA needs the addition of an assistant coach who has connections/coaching within the local lacrosse club scene. This will help in attracting skilled players to the school. In their trophy year 2022, SSSA had commitments heading to UNC, Harvard, Drexel, Loyola, Air Force, UMBC, and several others. This year only two notable commitments Yale & BU. It feels like the current Athletic Director has less enthusiasm for lacrosse compared to their predecessor, and the entire administration seems focused on non-sport admissions. Maybe DEI driven? Many parents wonder if it is a gradual dismantling of SSSA as a dominant force in lacrosse by the current administrators and admissions team. They should prioritize
lacrosse because most of their Ivy League admissions are through lacrosse players and we all know prospective parents like to see that even if they have no desire for their child to attend an Ivie.

Why an Assistant Coach? Doesn’t the head coach recruit? how can he keep the job if the program is so dismal now with no plan to turn it around?

Anonymous wrote:SSSA needs the addition of an assistant coach who has connections/coaching within the local lacrosse club scene. This will help in attracting skilled players to the school. In their trophy year 2022, SSSA had commitments heading to UNC, Harvard, Drexel, Loyola, Air Force, UMBC, and several others. This year only two notable commitments Yale & BU. It feels like the current Athletic Director has less enthusiasm for lacrosse compared to their predecessor, and the entire administration seems focused on non-sport admissions. Maybe DEI driven? Many parents wonder if it is a gradual dismantling of SSSA as a dominant force in lacrosse by the current administrators and admissions team. They should prioritize
lacrosse because most of their Ivy League admissions are through lacrosse players and we all know prospective parents like to see that even if they have no desire for their child to attend an Ivie.

The biggest issue compared to years ago is that SSSAS is impacted by the demise of Alexandria Lacrosse Club and Fort Hunt Youth Lacrosse. A fraction of young SSSAS kids are playing lacrosse compared to years ago. The 2022 UNC, Harvard, Drexel, Loyola, and UMBC players you mention were lifers or entered long before high school. Earlier teams were similarly stacked with homegrown players, with just a few Blackwolf recruits sprinkled in. The Blackwolf pipeline is not producing the players it used to and, even if it were, it would not be enough to make up for the lack of an existing talent base. The admin has not changed its approach. SSSAS has never supported bringing in 4-5 boys lacrosse players per year, and that's what it would take at this point to field a team at a level similar to the past 10 - 15 years.

SSSA needs the addition of an assistant coach who has connections/coaching within the local lacrosse club scene. This will help in attracting skilled players to the school. In their trophy year 2022, SSSA had commitments heading to UNC, Harvard, Drexel, Loyola, Air Force, UMBC, and several others. This year only two notable commitments Yale & BU. It feels like the current Athletic Director has less enthusiasm for lacrosse compared to their predecessor, and the entire administration seems focused on non-sport admissions. Maybe DEI driven? Many parents wonder if it is a gradual dismantling of SSSA as a dominant force in lacrosse by the current administrators and admissions team. They should prioritize
lacrosse because most of their Ivy League admissions are through lacrosse players and we all know prospective parents like to see that even if they have no desire for their child to attend an Ivie.

what’s happened to SSAS? they lose two very talented senior D1 commits and then don’t see much more on the horizon at all - is admissions not letting them recruit anymore?