It's time for a brand-new Fab Five
-
- May
- 6
They say the calm comes before the storm.
But in terms of unpredictability, last week was about as stormy as it gets.
Now, comes the calm after the storm.
Also known as “The Fab Five.”
Amid a roller-coaster ride of a season filled by highs and lows and plenty of things that make you go “Hmmm,” we hope we have provided some semblance of normalcy by clearly and concisely outlining who the top five teams in the LoHud are each week.
Where will Nick Alfonzetti and the Brewster Bears find themselves in the latest Fab Five? Read on. (Photo by Dave Kennedy/The Journal News)
Of course, it’s not exactly scientific.
So chime in and let me know if you think I’m on the mark or if I’m way off base. (Actually make that way outside the box.)
Now, without further ado, let’s get to this week’s Fab Five.
5. Iona Prep: Since falling to Chaminade 16-6 to start the season, the Gaels have lost just twice — to Rye and Kellenberg — with each of those games being decided by one goal. Next Monday, they are likely to come away with the CHSAA championship. For more on the CHSAA playoffs, check Goldie’s report here.>
4. Brewster: After starting the season with three losses in their first five games, the Brew Crew has gone 6-1 since with the lone loss coming by a goal against Yorktown.
3. Rye: Can the Garnets give John Jay the kind of scare they gave Yorktown in a 6-3 loss earlier this season? Or can the Garnets actually go out and stun the Indians? We’ll know soon. The teams meet Thursday at Rye. It should be a good one.
2. Yorktown: The ‘Huskers appeared ready to go into cruise control at the start of the fourth quarter, leading Lakeland/Panas 8-4 in the Murphy Cup. But they learned quickly what can happen if you lose a few big faceoffs in a row. After falling behind 9-8 late in the game, they were able to regroup and pull out a 10-9 win in a game practically no one gave the Rebels a chance to win. Now, Yorktown is looking to build momentum heading into its May 16 game — I forget against who, but I’ve been told it’s sort of a big one.
1. John Jay: That the Indians lost to Niskayuna is not a huge shock, but the fact they managed to score just five goals is — even though the Silver Warriors’ defense is regarded as one of the best in the state. It will be interesting to see how John Jay responds on Thursday when it plays another top-notch defensive squad in Rye.
All righty then. There you have it.
As always, be sure to weigh in with your thoughts on this week’s Fab Five, gang.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 12:16 am by Joe Lombardi.
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Hey Joe;
I think you're right on with your Fab Five.
With Teams getting better, anything can happen on any given day, as we recently saw last week, on both the Collegiate and High School levels.
This makes for more exciting games and is why LAX is so popular. Thanks for your excellent coverage.
Joe,
Agree with rankings.
Rye has been playing strong O and D, with great face-off success. It can make it a good game assuming above is clicking BUT they improve their transition play which has been very spotty at times (passes!).
Good players and the coaches will get them as prepared as possible.
Before the "big one" good test for Town vs Wilton and really tough test for JJ vs Comsequoge
VAS –
It's definitely a new landscape in lacrosse. The days of writing in the traditional powers as champs — whether in HS or college — are pretty much over. Keep in mind too, even if No. 1-seeded Duke wins in college, it would be the Blue Devils' first national title.
Slacrosse – Those games Saturday will be big tests for both Ytown and JJ. Both games are home games so folks may want to check them both out. Yorktown hosts Wilton at 1 p.m., John Jay hosts Comsewogue at 7 p.m.
I dont think much of the CHSAA. It's kind of a joke championship. Iona Prep, for as good (or bad) as some people think they are, will never really get any competition in that league and will never be a "true" champion. That hurts their credibility…a lot.
I think it's sort of impossible to rank these teams this week any other way. For blog purposes if some teams had changed positions it would have created some pretty awesome back and forth on the board, but I can totally understand why you ranked them the way you did.
I still think Yorktown is the best team on paper, and has bigger wins than any other team in our area. Maybe Saturday will change things. Wilton and Comeswogue appear to be at the same level.
Wilton is like a carbon-copy of Yorktown in that its a program that used to be the undisputed king of Connecticut, but now finds itself trying to re-establish itself. I compare them to Town because comparing Section I to all of Connecticut is very fair and given year. Connecticut is extremely top heavy, with the FCIAC far and away the best conference in the state. Teams like Fairfield Prep and Simsbury, New Fairfield and, in past years, Glastonbury, give the rest of the state some stature.
Wilton is only 6-5 and is coming off an 11-9 loss to St. Anthony's (then again, the Friars have been up and down as much as Yorktown). Wilton got smoked by Darien 10-2, Greewich 20-11 and lost to New Canaan 5-4. They also lost to Ridgefield early.
This is a must win for Yorktown. Absolute must.
Comeswogue is a program that has risen dramatically in the last 10 years, having won Class B state titles in 1998 and 2002 (beating Yorktown 5-2 in the state semis that year as well). This year, they are 9-2 with their losses coming to Mt. Sinai (3 OTs) and Rocky Point (handled 11-5). Many believe Rocky Point could be this year's Bethpage or South Side, a smaller Long Island program that pulls an Arizona D-Backs by winning a state crown in basically its infancy.
You are looking at Garden City, Comeswogue or Rocky Point making it to Hofstra. This will be a great test for John Jay.
I agree with the first four. But there never really is a solid team in the fifth spot so i guess agree with that one too…
Also, saying that jay losing to Nisky wasn't a surprise is pretty much false. Jay was ranked 16th and Nisky was 25th. According to rankings Jay should've won. Not that rankings are usually ever right outside of the top five, but it i guess it was kind of a surprise.
good to sell Brewster in the #4 spot – would definitely be 3 if they could play Rye again. Haven't heard much about Alfonzetti this year although it looks like he is second only to King in points for Brewster. Know him from hockey as a solid consistent player – is he playing in college next year? Brewster has had a good showing from many of their seniors this year, and scoring distributed among several – Alfo, Stubbs-Stroud, Meyer, Flasz – in addition to the King hype. Hope to see this group of kids finish the season strong. The defense will make or break them in the end.
Strong Island – I never said Nisky beating JJ wasn't a surprise. I said it wasn't a huge shock. Big difference.
What do you think the rankings would look like if Rye lost to JJ?
Rye losing to JJ by more than 5 might make you consider a change. If that doesn't happen, Rye stays 3 until they lose to somebody else in Section 1.
Rye better wake up. They have looked awful since returning from their questionable spring break trip. It will be interesting to see what team shows up on thursday; the pre-break team that was smoking the rest of section 1, or the post break team that needed 3 overtimes to dispose of Hen Hud.
If Rye has a poor showing the rest of the way out it will be extremely disappointing-throwing away the season for a few days of partying in Bahama.
does rye move to #1 if they beat jj, joe? and nylax10 u obviously know u wat ur talking, tool.
Matt – JJ can extend its win streak to 47 games today if it beats Suffern. So if Rye beats the Indians, I think we can all pretty much do the math. However, it could still be argued that Yorktown should be No. 1 because it beat Rye.
Thoughts?
Joe – do you really believe that Rye has any chance against JJ?? I have seen both teams play this year and Jay is on another level.
Insider –
A lot would have to go right for Rye to pull off what would be one of the biggest upsets in Section 1 in the last few years. Do the Garnets have a chance? Absolutely. But I am predicting John Jay to win 10-5. Check out this week's previews and picks.
OK, fair enough, although I do not think that they have a chance! My prediction, Jay 12 Rye 6.
Rye needs Dino Garr on the sidelines for this one!
alfo and meyer from brewster are going to Union, and i think stubbs-stroud is playing somewhere, too
Rye betta than u…..yeah garr would really help the garnets win…what are u talking about
Is Dino Garr up for sainthood??? I don't think the Dooley brothers need his type on their sideline…they're doing just fine without any help.
My only prediction for the Rye-John Jay game is that I will eat at least 3 cheeseburgers before the game.
hey NYLAX10 y dont u shut up wiht all this talk about bahams partying u have no idea what u are talkin about just keep ur talk about lacrosse
mjb,
So if there was a replay of the Brewster loss to Rye (at Brewster) Brewster would win pushing them into #3? Thought we were done with "woulda, coulda, shoulda".
Lots of teams would like another shot at games they lost.
Brewster is a very good team and I wish them the best GOING FORWARD.
Slacrosse,
I agree 100% with that. I am sure Iona Prep would love to replay that Rye game again as would Brewster. The best they can do is move forward and finish their seasons strong with good playoff runs.
Also Joe, what do you think about a possible Fieldstone, Iona Prep rematch in the Metros?
Matt Cohen,
No even if rye UPSET JJ no way they move into #1 even if they had beaten Town. Maybe a chance to go to #2. A one time win vs JJ + Rye loss to Town + Town beating mutual opponents alot bigger then Rye rightfully works against rye automatically even going to #2.
But would be great for all of Sect 1 showing that comp is getting much stronger in power league. Aside from playing strong out of section comp would be even better for preparing for state playoffs if Section 1 competition was at a high level.
slacrosse,
i think it's more of – is Brewster finishes out the year strong, and Rye doesn't, Rye cannot claim their stake based on a game that happened earlier in the season. It is absolutely all about where they are right now.
MJB – If Rye loses to JJ, but wins out the rest of the season, they stay at 3. The one loss to JJ cannot knock them down. You should not lose ground if you lose to a team ranked above you unless you get blown out. Also Rye will be playing in June, Brewster won't.
mjb and laxwatcher,
Agree with both of you in terms of your "rest of the season" comments and need to see how the W's and L's fall out.
But my specific comment (to Matt Cohen's question) was only referring to waht happens to rankings JUST AFTER the JJ game.
Hassel… Drew Stubbs-Stroud is going to Quinnipiac. Can I assume you're from Brewster?
Stong Island – John Jay isn't ranked #17 anymore.
Brewster – yea, just a fan
New New York State Rankings are out:
Rank Class A Rank
= ================ = =
1. Ward Melville-11 12-0
2. West Islip-11 10-1.
3. Chaminade-CHSAA 10-2
4. Yorktown-1 8-3
5. Orchard Park-6 9-1
6. Canandaigua-5 12-0
7. Syosset-8 9-2
8. Niskayuna-2 11-0
9. Penfield-5 9-0
10. St. Anthony-CHSAA 11-3
(Missing??? West Genny. When was the last time THAT happened?)
Class B
= ================ = =
1. Rocky Point-11 11-1
2. Lynbrook-8 10-1
3. Garden City-8 8-3
4. Jamesville-DeWitt-3 10-2
5. Carthage-3 11-1
6. John Jay Cross River-1 9-3
7. Rockville Centre South Side-8 8-3
8. Chenango Forks-4 10-1
9. Hamburg-6 10-0
10. Comsewogue-11 9-2
(Brewster is No. 14)
Class C
= ================ = =
1. LaFayette-3 11-1
2. Manhasset-8 8-2
3. Mount Sinai-11 10-2
4. Cold Spring Harbor-8 10-2
5. Rye-1 10-2
6. Corning East-4 9-3
7. Homer-3 12-1
8. Syracuse-CBA 8-2
9. Salmon River-10 7-0
10. Cazenovia-3 8-2
(That's a strong evenly-matched top 6)
i agree with the first 4 but iona isnt worth to be in the top 5 of anything, the only reason trhey seem good is because they are in a city league, they shouldnt be in the league since they are pretty far out of the city, they dont have a 718 or a 202 area code, and they all live no where near the city, those kids have been working together since they were 7 while most of there competition from the city didnt know wat lacrosse was untill there freshman year in hs