Position U - Lacrosse All Stars https://laxallstars.com/tags/position-u/ Grow The Game® Powered by Fivestar Sat, 06 Nov 2021 23:08:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://laxallstars.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/cropped-LAS-SQUARE-1024.png Position U - Lacrosse All Stars https://laxallstars.com/tags/position-u/ 32 32 Goalie U: Who Has Produced the Best Goalies? https://laxallstars.com/goalie-u-who-has-produced-the-best-lacrosse-goalies/ Wed, 03 Nov 2021 13:12:08 +0000 https://laxallstars.com/?p=328887 Goalie U: Who Has Produced the Best Goalies?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse goalies, a.k.a. Goalie U. When trying to […]

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Goalie U: Who Has Produced the Best Goalies?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse goalies, a.k.a. Goalie U.

When trying to determine which schools have a reputation for producing the best players at a certain position, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. It’s easy enough to just create a list off the top of your head, but in an effort to try and be as objective as possible, I of course lean on my old friend: math! I needed to find a way to consistently note which players could be considered better than others while also doing so in a manner which could be calculated in some way.

The result was making a formula that took into account All-America votes (via USILA), Postseason awards, and also success at the Pro Level. For that last piece, I considered draft picks and rounds, but depending on the year, too many players get drafted and never play, or play a limited amount of time. So instead, I looked at All-Star rosters across the MLL and PLL to give an additional nudge.

The next question was how far back to look. Since we’re dealing with college, going beyond 4 years was a given. One great recruiting class does not mean your school is all of a sudden the best at producing defenders. We need a long enough trend to make a real pattern emerge. So, I went to 10 years, but the year 2020 kind of stuck out. Because, well, *you know why*. To make up for 2020’s lack of postseason awards and all-star games, I added 2011 to the mix as well. More is better, right?

The benefit of going all the way back to 2011 for pro all-star games is it gave some of those wily vets a chance to impact the rankings of their schools as well. That way there’s a small nod to the true history of a program in addition to the heavily weighted recent past. So mashing all these numbers together produced a list of the top programs to produce players at each position. Goalies are an odd position, much like the LSMs and FOGOs we already covered, because there are so few to deal with.

Even though the top spot was clear, the rest of the top 10 was heavily impacted by the career of one or two players who saw a ton of success. So, which lacrosse program have produced the best goalies in recent history and gets to lay claim as “Goalie U”?

GOALIE U: WHO HAS PRODUCED THE BEST Lacrosse GOALIES?

3: Albany & Brown

These two schools are both ones I knew should be on the list, but I honestly thought Albany had a real shot at the top spot. For Brown’s case, it actually has produced a few pro and All-American goalies, headlined by Jack Kelly. Joining him were Jordan Burke and more recently Phil Goss. What really allowed Brown to jump up this high in the rankings was Kelly winning Goalie of the Year in 2016, something the Albany goalies also did just once.

Speaking of the Danes, their pro accolades are really what vaulted them to this spot. As good as Blaze Riorden is as a pro (and he’s *really* good at that), he only had a single USILA All-American year in college. The Albany crew also got a boost from Brett Queener’s All-Star nods, as well as JD Colarusso’s Goalie of the Year and All-American honors.

2: Penn State

While it didn’t shock me to see Penn State on the list, I was surprised to see the Nittany Lions at No. 2 spot, because I could only think of Drew Adams and Austin Kaut off the top of my head.

The funny thing? They’re on the list because of those two names – okay, and Colby Kneese. But it was mostly Austin Kaut making All-American every year he was in college (something almost no goalies have done) and also picking up the Goalie of the Year award in 2013. Meanwhile, Adams was an All-Star Game regular for years, which boosted the Penn State score even more.

1: Maryland

Out of six categories, the Terps are bringing home their FOURTH Position U title with this distinction of producing the best goalies in men’s college lacrosse in recent history. Is it any question that this has been the most consistent team over the past decade at this point?

But when it comes to turning out goalies, this is not a mere “vote for the Maryland guy.” The Terps also had more Pro All-Star nods than any other school in this time frame. And to be honest, we just missed the window of Brian Dougherty being in the pro ranks, so it’s safe to assume that even going back further in time could have yielded the same results.

One of the big names that put Maryland on top was Brian Phipps, who was not only a 2011 All-Star but also in a starter in the PLL Championship Game this year. Alongside Phipps are other All-American and pro goalies Niko Amato, Kyle Bernlohr, Dan Morris, and Logan McNaney from this past season.

It’s safe to say that Maryland can reliably produce some pretty good keepers year in and year out.

Honorable Mentions

Didn’t see who you thought you would up there? Here’s how the next bunch finished in our Goalie U standings, in order:

4: Johns Hopkins, Syracuse & Notre Dame

5: Virginia

6: Georgetown

7: Princeton

8: Loyola

9: Hofstra

10: High Point & UMass

Position U Series

You can find the rest of the Position U series here, which includes Attack U, Defense U, Faceoff U, Midfielder U, LSM U, and Goalie U.

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Goalie U: Who Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Goalies We took a look at which men's college lacrosse programs have produced the best goalies in recent history, declaring a Goalie U. Albany,Brown,Goalie U,goalies,Maryland,NCAA,NCAA DI,Penn State,Position U,best lacrosse goalies
LSM U: Who Has Produced the Best Long Stick Midfielders? https://laxallstars.com/best-long-stick-midfielders-lsm-u/ Wed, 27 Oct 2021 16:12:02 +0000 https://laxallstars.com/?p=326484 LSM U: Who Has Produced the Best Long Stick Midfielders?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. Now, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse long stick midfielders, a.k.a. LSM U. When […]

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LSM U: Who Has Produced the Best Long Stick Midfielders?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. Now, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse long stick midfielders, a.k.a. LSM U.

When trying to determine which schools have a reputation for producing the best players at a certain position, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. It’s easy enough to just create a list off the top of your head, but in an effort to try and be as objective as possible, I of course lean on my old friend: math! I needed to find a way to consistently note which players could be considered better than others while also doing so in a manner which could be calculated in some way.

The result was making a formula that took into account All-America votes (via USILA), Postseason awards, and also success at the Pro Level. For that last piece, I considered draft picks and rounds, but depending on the year, too many players get drafted and never play, or play a limited amount of time. So instead, I looked at All-Star rosters across the MLL and PLL to give an additional nudge.

The next question was how far back to look. Since we’re dealing with college, going beyond 4 years was a given. One great recruiting class does not mean your school is all of a sudden the best at producing defenders. We need a long enough trend to make a real pattern emerge. So, I went to 10 years, but the year 2020 kind of stuck out. Because, well, *you know why*. To make up for 2020’s lack of postseason awards and all-star games, I added 2011 to the mix as well. More is better, right?

The benefit of going all the way back to 2011 for pro all-star games is it gave some of those wily vets a chance to impact the rankings of their schools as well. That way there’s a small nod to the true history of a program in addition to the heavily-weighted recent past. So mashing all these numbers together produced a list of the top programs to produce players at each position.

Long stick midfielders were an odd position to track for this as well. In college, most teams are good about noting who their LSMs are, and the USILA does recognize it as a standalone position for All-American honors. But even with that, they can qualify for postseason awards in two spots – they can be either the McLaughlin Award recipient as the nation’s best midfielder (like CJ Costabile and Joel White did), or they could be the Schmeisser Award winner as the country’s top defender, like John Sexton. The other interesting part of this is that because you really only have one major player at this position on a team, the sample size shrinks quite a bit, making the impact of a single player very large on the rankings.

So, which programs gets to lay claim as recent history’s “LSM U?”

LSM U: Who Has Produced the Best Long Stick Midfielders?

3: Villanova

That thing I said about one player really affecting the rankings? That would be Mr. Brian Karalunas.

The man was a monster in his prime. He was an MLL All-Star in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018 and was also a First Team All-American in 2011. Some of the best long stick midfielders played at schools lower on the list, so it was just BK who brought the Wildcats up to three. He also had help from John LoCascio, who was also a First Team All-American in 2014 and a Third Teamer in 2013.

2: Loyola & Syracuse

A tie? Shenanigans! I demand a ground ball drill to decide the winner!

Actually, can we do this, please? Even though Joel White just retired following this PLL season, I’d still love to watch him and Scott Ratliff battle in 1:1 ground ball drills for longer than I’d like to admit.

But I digress. Yes, there was a tie, and yes Ratliff and White were a major reason for that. Ratliff went from Third Team to Second Team All-American to perennial All-Star in the MLL and PLL. The only All-Star Game he didn’t play in since 2015 was last year when there wasn’t one. But what pushed Loyola up to No. 2? Ryan McNulty with his 2019 Honorable Mention and 2021 Second Team All-American distinction.

For the Orange, White absolutely led the way with his 2011 First Team All-American award (his previously mentioned McLaughlin award was in 2010, so that didn’t factor into the rankings) and repeated pro All-Star accolades. Also helping to elevate the Orange were Brett Kennedy over the past three years and 2015’s Honorable Mention for Peter Macartney.

1: Maryland

Bringing home their THIRD Position U title is the Terps. They also topped the midfield and defense lists, so it would make sense that their top defensive midfield specialist is also typically very good. Maybe Maryland is really good, too? I should look into that, it could be big news.

Starting things off for the Terps back in 2011 was Second Team All-American Brian Farrell. That was followed with 2012 Second Team All-American Jesse Bernhardt, who then gained a First Team nod in 2013 before turning in some All-Star awards to boot. Then in 2016, Greg Danseglio earned Third Team honors, followed by Matt Neufeldt’s Honorable Mention in 2017. And then to cap it all off, you have Michael Ehrhardt and his All-American awards preceding his dominant pro career. Given all of that, I would definitely say that Maryland deserves the top spot here.

Honorable Mentions

Didn’t see who you thought you would up there? Here’s how the next bunch finished in our LSM U rankings, in order:

4: Virginia

5: Duke & Notre Dame

6: North Carolina

7: Johns Hopkins

8: Brown

9: Georgetown

10: Penn

Position U Series

You can find the rest of the Position U series here, which will include Attack U, Defense U, Faceoff U, Midfielder U, LSM U, and Goalie U, with a new one coming each week into early November.

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What School Has Produced the Best Long Stick Midfielders? We took a look at which men's college lacrosse programs have produced the best long stick midfielders in recent history, declaring an LSM U. long stick,Long stick midfielder,Loyola,LSM U,Maryland,NCAA,NCAA DI,Position U,Syracuse,Villanova,Best Long Stick Midfielders
Midfield U: Who Has Produced the Best Midfielders? https://laxallstars.com/best-lacrosse-midfielders-midfield-u/ Wed, 20 Oct 2021 14:20:56 +0000 https://laxallstars.com/?p=319888 Midfield U: Who Has Produced the Best Midfielders?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse midfielders, a.k.a. Midfield U. When trying to […]

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Midfield U: Who Has Produced the Best Midfielders?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse midfielders, a.k.a. Midfield U.

When trying to determine which schools have a reputation for producing the best players at a certain position, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. It’s easy enough to just create a list off the top of your head, but in an effort to try and be as objective as possible, I of course lean on my old friend: math! I needed to find a way to consistently note which players could be considered better than others while also doing so in a manner which could be calculated in some way.

The result was making a formula that took into account All-America votes (via USILA), Postseason awards, and also success at the Pro Level. For that last piece, I considered draft picks and rounds, but depending on the year, too many players get drafted and never play, or play a limited amount of time. So instead, I looked at All-Star rosters across the MLL and PLL to give an additional nudge.

The next question was how far back to look. Since we’re dealing with college, going beyond 4 years was a given. One great recruiting class does not mean your school is all of a sudden the best at producing defenders. We need a long enough trend to make a real pattern emerge. So, I went to 10 years, but the year 2020 kind of stuck out. Because, well, *you know why*. To make up for 2020’s lack of postseason awards and all-star games, I added 2011 to the mix as well. More is better, right?

The benefit of going all the way back to 2011 for pro all-star games is it gave some of those wily vets a chance to impact the rankings of their schools as well. That way there’s a small nod to the true history of a program in addition to the heavily-weighted recent past. So mashing all these numbers together produced a list of the top programs to produce players at each position.

An important note for this particular position is that it also included SSDMs as the specialists were not always broken out into their own position and are eligible for the annual McLaughlin Award. So, which program has produced the best lacrosse midfielders to earn the title of recent history’s “Midfield U?”

MIDFIELDER U: WHO HAS PRODUCED THE BEST LACROSSE MIDFIELDERS?

3: Syracuse

The Orange were capturing all of the headlines going into this past season for a dominant midfield, but that really is nothing new. Over the years, they turned in three First Team All-Americans, six Second Teamers, three Third Team players, and a whopping 14 honorable mentions, which tops the list of schools. They were actually tied with Hopkins when it comes to pro accolades, which was mostly led by Matt Abbott and JoJo Marasco.

2: Duke

The Blue Devils absolutely dominated this list in two areas: postseason awards and First Team All-Americans. While Myles Jones definitely was a major part of them rising up the list, fellow First Teamers also included Rob Rotanz, Dave Lawson, Deemer Class, Will Haus, Brad Smith, and most recently Nakeie Montgomery.

1: Maryland

This likely comes as no surprise to see the Terps on top here. Where they really separated from the rest of the schools on the list was their success at the pro level (also not a surprise). But Maryland’s ability to turn in All-Americans year after year should not be understated. It had the second most First Team All-American awards and the most for Third Teamers.

Honorable Mentions:

Didn’t see who you thought you would up there? Here’s how the next bunch finished in our Midfield U, in order:

4: Princeton

5: Johns Hopkins

6: Notre Dame

7: Virginia

8: Denver

9: North Carolina

10: Cornell

Position U Series

You can find the rest of the Position U series here, which will include Attack U, Defense U, Faceoff U, Midfielder U, LSM U, and Goalie U, with a new one coming each week into early November.

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What School Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Midfielders? With the fourth installment of our Position U series, its time to look at one of the most crucial positions on the field, the midfield. Duke,Maryland,Midfield,Midfield U,NCAA,NCAA DI,Position U,Syracuse,Best Lacrosse Midfielders
Faceoff U: Who Has Produced the Best Faceoff Specialists? https://laxallstars.com/best-lacrosse-faceoff-specialists-faceoff-u/ Wed, 13 Oct 2021 14:29:16 +0000 https://laxallstars.com/?p=317122 Faceoff U: Who Has Produced the Best Faceoff Specialists?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse faceoff specialists, a.k.a. Faceoff U. When trying […]

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Faceoff U: Who Has Produced the Best Faceoff Specialists?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse faceoff specialists, a.k.a. Faceoff U.

When trying to determine which schools have a reputation for producing the best players at a certain position, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. It’s easy enough to just create a list off the top of your head, but in an effort to try and be as objective as possible, I of course lean on my old friend: math! I needed to find a way to consistently note which players could be considered better than others while also doing so in a manner which could be calculated in some way.

The result was making a formula that took into account All-America votes (via USILA), postseason awards, and also success at the pro level. For that last piece, I considered draft picks and rounds, but depending on the year, too many players get drafted and never play, or play a limited amount of time. So instead, I looked at All-Star rosters across the PLL and MLL to give an additional nudge.

The next question was how far back to look. Since we’re dealing with college, going beyond four years was a given. One great recruiting class does not mean your school is all of a sudden the best at producing defenders. We need a long enough trend to make a real pattern emerge. So, I went to 10 years, but the year 2020 kind of stuck out. Because, well, *you know why.* To make up for 2020’s lack of postseason awards and All-Star Games, I added 2011 to the mix as well. More is better, right?

The benefit of going all the way back to 2011 for Pro All-Star Games is it gave some of those wily vets a chance to impact the rankings of their schools as well. That way, there’s a small nod to the true history of a program in addition to the heavily weighted recent past. So mashing all these numbers together produced a list of the top programs to produce players at each position.

Admittedly, the faceoff position complicated this all quite a bit given the small sample size, but the best schools still rose to the top. So, we’ll now take a look at which lacrosse program has produced the best faceoff specialists and gets to lay a claim as recent history’s “Faceoff U.”

Faceoff U: Who Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Faceoff Specialists?

3: Duke & Yale

We have a tie!

What’s interesting about these two is they really are very similar in how all the numbers broke down. Where they were different was Duke getting some more credit for Brendan Fowler’s pro career, but Yale had more First Team All-American nods with TD Ierlan. After that, they were close to the same. Yale got a boost from Conor Mackie and Dylan Levings, while Duke had Kyle Rowe and Jake Naso.

2: Penn State

The Nittany Lions rose all the way up to the No. 2 spot solely because of two names: Gerard Arceri and Greg Gurenlian, with Arceri piling up the college accolades and Gurenlian amassing pro points.

Penn State doesn’t have much of a lead over the two teams in third, but combining Gurenlian’s year after year dominance at the pro level with Arceri’s two All-American years was enough to give the credit to State College.

1: Denver

Did Denver get to the No. 1 spot because of Trevor Baptiste? Largely. But Baptiste alone isn’t what really did it.

What really made Baptiste’s impact felt on these rankings was how many times he was a First Team All-American (four, more than any other school combined), but also that he also was a two-time Midfielder of the Year. After that college career, his pro accolades have also piled up.

But what also helped Denver? The late transfer of TD Ierlan bumped its ranking, a bit as well as going way back to still get some pro credit from Geoff Snider. But also, back in 2012, Chase Carraro brought in a Second Team All-American nod.

Honorable Mentions

Didn’t see who you through you would up there? Here’s how the next bunch finished in our Faceoff U standings, in order:

4: North Carolina

5: Rutgers & Bryant

6: Ohio State

7: Johns Hopkins

8: Syracuse & Towson

9: Penn, Albany, Virginia, Hartford, & Maryland

10: Brown

Position U Series

You can find the rest of the Position U series here, which will include Attack U, Defense U, Faceoff U, Midfielder U, LSM U, and Goalie U, with a new one coming each week into early November.

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What School Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Faceoff Specialists? As part of our Position U series, we declare who has produced the best lacrosse faceoff specialists this decade and can be titled Faceoff U. Denver,Duke,faceoff,Faceoff U,FOGOs,NCAA,NCAA DI,Penn State,Position U,Yale,best lacrosse faceoff specialists
Defense U: Who Has Produced the Best Defensemen? https://laxallstars.com/defense-u-who-has-produced-the-best-defensemen/ Wed, 06 Oct 2021 14:05:13 +0000 https://laxallstars.com/?p=316922 Defense U: Who Has Produced the Best Defensemen?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse defenseman, a.k.a. Defense U. When trying to […]

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Defense U: Who Has Produced the Best Defensemen?

Welcome to something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse defenseman, a.k.a. Defense U.

When trying to determine which schools have a reputation for producing the best players at a certain position, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. It’s easy enough to just create a list off the top of your head, but in an effort to try and be as objective as possible, I of course lean on my old friend: math! I needed to find a way to consistently note which players could be considered better than others while also doing so in a manner which could be calculated in some way.

The result was making a formula that took into account All-America votes (via USILA), postseason awards, and also success at the pro level. For that last piece, I considered draft picks and rounds, but depending on the year, too many players get drafted and never play, or play a limited amount of time. So instead, I looked at All-Star rosters across the PLL and MLL to give an additional nudge.

The next question was how far back to look. Since we’re dealing with college, going beyond four years was a given. One great recruiting class does not mean your school is all of a sudden the best at producing defenders. We need a long enough trend to make a real pattern emerge. So, I went to 10 years, but the year 2020 kind of stuck out. Because, well, *you know why.* To make up for 2020’s lack of postseason awards and All-Star Games, I added 2011 to the mix as well. More is better, right?

The benefit of going all the way back to 2011 for Pro All-Star Games is it gave some of those wily vets a chance to impact the rankings of their schools as well. That way, there’s a small nod to the true history of a program in addition to the heavily weighted recent past. So mashing all these numbers together produced a list of the top programs to produce players at each position.

To continue the Position U series, we’ll now take a look at which program has produced the best lacrosse defensemen and gets to lay a claim as recent history’s “Defense U.”

Defense U: Who Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Defensemen?

3: Johns Hopkins

The third member of our top three is none other than Johns Hopkins, which makes sense when most of the time this list considers was when the program was under the direction of Dave Pietramala, who is viewed as one of the best defenders ever. But Petro wasn’t on the field for any of these accolades – those belonged to his players. And to be totally fair, many of these points are solely at the hands of Tucker Durkin.

Durkin has been a perennial professional all-star but also was a two-time Schmeisser Award winner on top of his All-American nods. But Durkin alone did not get Johns Hopkins here. He also had support from the pro careers of Matt Bocklet and Michael Evans to put the Jays over the next schools on the list.

2: Notre Dame

The Golden Domers are nearly synonymous with “good college lacrosse defense” at this point. It has been a central part of their team identity ever since they rose to national prominence as a program and became a Championship Weekend regular, and they’re rightfully close to being Defense U.

What was interesting in how these rankings shook out if that while had a big bump via the professional ranks, Notre Dame dominated in First Team All-Americans and Schmeisser Award winners. Matt Landis and John Sexton led the way here, but you also have to give credit to players like Jack Kielty, Garrett Epple, Steve O’Hara, Kevin Randall, and Kevin Ridgeway.

1: Maryland

The Terps are definitely know for recently being among the stingiest of stingy defenses. That is what led them to so many Final Fours, and it’s not a recent trend, either.

But what shot the Terps way above the other teams on the list was actually their success within the pros. Sure, they had a ton of First and Second Team All-Americans at close defense, but what really put them over the top was how many of those players have gone on to repeatedly make All-Star rosters, like Matt Dunn, Michael Ehrhardt, Bryce Young, and Jesse Bernhardt.

When you put it all together, Maryland has produced the best defensemen in men’s college lacrosse in the last decade and can claim the title of Defense U!

Honorable Mentions

Didn’t see who you thought you would up there? Here’s how the next bunch finished in our Defense U standings, in order:

4: Syracuse

5: Duke

6: Loyola

7: North Carolina

8: Cornell

9: Georgetown & Ohio State

10: Yale

Position U Series

You can find the rest of the Position U series here, which will include Attack U, Defense U, Faceoff U, Midfielder U, LSM U, and Goalie U, with a new one coming each week into early November.

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What School Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Defensemen? As part of our Position U series, we declare which program has produced the best lacrosse defensemen this decade and can be titled Defense U. defense,Defense U,Johns Hopkins,Maryland,NCAA,NCAA DI,Notre Dame,Position U,best lacrosse defensemen
Attack U: Who Has Produced the Best Attackmen? https://laxallstars.com/best-lacrosse-attackmen-attack-u/ Wed, 29 Sep 2021 13:54:06 +0000 https://laxallstars.com/?p=314439 Attack U: Who Has Produced the Best Attackmen?

Welcome to the start of something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse attackmen, a.k.a. Attack U. […]

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Attack U: Who Has Produced the Best Attackmen?

Welcome to the start of something special: Position U. In this six-part series, your favorite college lacrosse lover, Ryan Conwell, will break down the NCAA DI men’s programs that can consider themselves the best at producing a given position in recent history. First, let’s get into who produces the best lacrosse attackmen, a.k.a. Attack U.

When trying to determine which schools have a reputation for producing the best players at a certain position, there are a number of factors that need to be considered. It’s easy enough to just create a list off the top of your head, but in an effort to try and be as objective as possible, I of course lean on my old friend: math! I needed to find a way to consistently note which players could be considered better than others while also doing so in a manner that could be calculated in some way.

The result was making a formula that took into account All-America votes (via USILA), postseason awards, and also success at the pro level. For that last piece, I considered draft picks and rounds, but depending on the year, too many players get drafted and never play, or play a limited amount of time. So instead, I looked at All-Star rosters across the PLL and MLL to give an additional nudge.

The next question was how far back to look. Since we’re dealing with college, going beyond four years was a given. One great recruiting class does not mean your school is all of a sudden the best at producing defenders. We need a long enough trend to make a real pattern emerge. So, I went to 10 years, but the year 2020 kind of stuck out. Because, well, *you know why.* To make up for 2020’s lack of postseason awards and All-Star Games, I added 2011 to the mix as well. More is better, right?

The benefit of going all the way back to 2011 for Pro All-Star Games is it gave some of those wily vets a chance to impact the rankings of their schools as well. That way, there’s a small nod to the true history of a program in addition to the heavily weighted recent past. So mashing all these numbers together produced a list of the top programs to produce players at each position.

To start things off, we go to our masters of the X, the crease crankers, the high scorers: the attackmen. So, which program has produced the best lacrosse attackmen in the past decade and gets to lay a claim as “Attack U?”

Attack U: Who Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Attackmen?

3: Duke

At three, we go to the Research Triangle for Duke. In the given time span, the Blue Devils have done a bit of everything: individual awards, team awards, All-Star Games, and national championships. And all of their team success has hinged on a steady flow of great attackmen.

Between the college and pro awards, the players who have helped elevate this group the most are Jordan Wolf, Justin Guterding, Ned Crotty, and Matt Danowski.

2: Albany

Coming in at second is the team most would have picked based as Attack U on the names alone if forced to guess. That’s right, it’s Albany.

The amount of hardware Lyle and Miles Thompson collected by themselves was practically enough to put Albany in the top five, but getting up past the other major schools in contention needs a lot more than just one family.

Behind the Thompsons, you still have a long line of significant attackmen, like Tehoka Nanticoke, Seth Oakes, Connor Fields, and Joe Resetaritis. Especially considering the recruiting power of the teams around the Danes, this is quite a group of players who have made a huge impact on the game.

1: North Carolina

Even though it only has a single national championship to show for it, UNC has been churning out attackman consistently for years. Of course, it helps when a player like Chris Cloutier has the tournament of a lifetime and helps win a NCAA title, but Cloutier was just the tip of the ice berg when it comes to Tar Heel attackman in this time frame.

While there were no Tewaaraton winners, they did collect more than their fair share of hardware as a group. Who are some of the players who helped elevate UNC to the top? Here’s a short list: Chris Cloutier, Chris Gray, Billy Bitter, Joey Sankey, Marcus Holman, Davey Emala, and Jimmy Bitter.

What’s most notable about this group is how many times they were turning in seasons worthy of Second Team All-America compared to more headline years, and still having a ton of players lock up All-Star positions as well. So congrats to the Heels: you’ve produced the best lacrosse attackmen these last 10 years, and you’re our official Attack U of the decade!

Honorable Mentions

Didn’t see who you thought you would up there? Here’s how the next bunch finished in our Attack U standings, in order:

4: Virginia

5: Cornell

6: Maryland

7: Syracuse

8: Denver

9: Loyola

10: Penn State

Position U Series

You can find the rest of the Position U series here, which will include Attack U, Defense U, Faceoff U, Midfielder U, LSM U, and Goalie U, with a new one coming each week into early November.

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What School Has Produced the Best Lacrosse Attackmen? To start off our Position U series, we declare which program has produced the best lacrosse attackmen this decade and can be titled Attack U. Albany,Albany Attack,Attack,Attack U,Duke,NCAA,NCAA D1,North Carolina,Position U,best lacrosse attackmen