Florida Lacrosse News on Substack 04/17/2025
Welcome to today's post!
In this issue . . .
Watch for the Bracket release on Friday at 2:30pm on YouTube
As the Four Seasons sang . . . “Oh, what a night” . . .
#1 Tampa Men hold off upset bid in OT
ESJ’s Tre Carter hits 300 points
First time district winners, upsets, etc.
SSC Brackets released
Bishara, Toole, McClain lead Wall of Honor
IL releases Freshmen of Impact with Florida well represented
WCLA Tourney teams released . . . Florida with 4 representatives
Awards and Polls
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#TAFTAG
#LayOffTheRefs
#FloridaRising
#LacrosseFanandDamnProudOfIt
#StopYellingWard
#AcknowledgeFloridaLacrosse
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What a night for the sport in Florida!
District titles, some in OT by teams needing to win to get in.
Sunshine State Conference games in OT, including a near monumental upset of Tampa Men by FSC, rallying from 6 goals down in the 4th to send it to OT!
#FloridaRising !!!
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Previewing Some Bracket Challenges for MaxPreps
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(Note: I wrote this yesterday and Oak Hall did beat Trinity Catholic 14-8 last night, so we have more data when looking at the FHSAA system)
Region 1 Boys 1A - The battle for #1 between Episcopal School, Bolles and Oak Hall
What a doozy this is.
Going into the districts, ESJ had a ranking of 21.033/8.98 SOS, Bolles at 20.258/12.79 SOS and Oak Hall at 20.118/7.36 SOS. Bolles needs to make up 0.775 to pass ESJ and Oak Hall needs to make up 0.140 on Bolles.
Since then (4/6 release date):
ESJ played Paxon -5.651/-7.98 SOS and Maclay (Thursday) 6.158 and 5.28 SOS
Bolles played St Joseph -1.302/-9.69 SOS and St Augustine 7.404/6.00 SOS - no games left
Oak Hall played Newberry -5.358/-5.22 SOS and Trinity Catholic (tonight) 5.542/5.51 SOS
Assuming that ESJ and Oak Hall hold serve, where do we stand? ESJ has the head-to-head over Bolles, back on 3/21. Oak Hall has the head-to-head over ESJ on 3/29. Bolles and Oak Hall did not play.
Of course, if one of the two lose tonight, that settles the 3rd seed. ESJ did not play Maclay in the regular season and Oak Hall comfortably took Trinity Catholic on 3/3. I don’t see either game being a problem.
Bolles played the higher rated teams in each round and the ESJ/Oak Hall comparison is too close to make a difference. Is Bolles going to leapfrog ESJ? It will be VERY TIGHT, but the math seems to favor ESJ barely hanging on to the important #1 seed, but you can’t argue if Bolles takes that spot. I see Oak Hall staying at #3 right now.
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(Note: I wrote this yesterday and Viera did beat Vero last night 11-10, and Lake Mary beat Oviedo comfortably, so we have more data to use when thinking through how the system works)
Region 2 Boys 2A - The Battle for #3-#6 Between West Orange, Viera, Oviedo and Vero Beach.
Four teams separated by 1.303 points from top to bottom:
#3 West Orange 12.741/6.95 SOS
#4 Viera 12.573/7.01 SOS
#5 Oviedo 12.172/-0.73 SOS
#6 Vero Beach 11.438/8.55
Since 4/6:
West Orange beat Ocoee -23/582/-11.16 SOS, Olympia -2.475/-2.35 SOS and Lake Minneola (Thursday) 7.091/-2.34 SOS
Viera beat by forfeit over Freedom -27.524/-11.05 SOS, Lake Nona -1.282/1.49 SOS and Vero Beach (tonight) 11.438/8.55 SOS
Oviedo beat Winter Springs -13.006/-0.82 SOS, Seminole 3.486/-1.91 SOS and Lake Mary (tonight) 24.644/6.95 SOS
Vero Beach beat Tohopekaliga, Melbourne and Viera (tonight)
Viera won the regular season Vero game 11-8 back on 2/11 and Lake Mary beating Oviedo 16-2 on 3/26. I think we can assume Lake Mary wins the Oviedo game. West Orange and Lake Minneola did not play in the regular season.
Lake Minneola is the 1st team out and we noted this yesterday:
Lake Minneola Boys 16-14 over Windermere
Without the final West Orange score, I can only speculate here about the last at-large in Boys 2A Region 2. Windermere would have clinched that spot with a win, but now we have Lake Minneola the favorite to make up the approximately 0.5 point ranking difference. West Orange is the likely finalist vs Lake Minneola and is ranked well above them anyhow.
The easy part is simply West Orange needs to win Thursday to hold on to #3; even a Vero win over Viera tonight should be enough to get above West Orange, even though it will be close. Should West Orange and Oviedo lose, the Viera-Vero winner might well be #3, if it’s Viera, I see it being Viera #3, WO #4, Oviedo #5, Vero #6. It it’s Vero and WO wins, it’s WO #4, Vero #4, Viera #5 and Oviedo #6.
Permutations abound!
There are some other situations like this, but for now, I’ll stay here and start to work on my full bracket predictions, given I have until about 2:00pm Friday to get that published!
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Smartening the Audience
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This is a good fit for this section today . . .
The Psychological Consequences of Bad Sportsmanship, by Paul Ohanian
Excerpt:
The decline in sportsmanship has significant psychological and developmental consequences for young athletes. Poor adult behavior — whether from parents, coaches, or spectators — creates an environment that is not conducive to learning, enjoyment or emotional well-being.
We asked three leading professionals in sports psychology and mental performance about these negative effects and how to cope with them.
PROCESS VS. OUTCOME
Increased competition, social media influence and emphasis on personal or financial gain over personal growth were cited as contributing factors.
“There’s a win-at-all-cost mentality with a focus on outcomes rather than process,” said Dr. Andrew Wolanin, a Philadelphia-area sports psychologist and member of the USA Lacrosse Sports Science and Safety Committee. “When you focus on stick development for a 12-year-old, you don’t worry about missing the ball during a game.”
Parents should ask themselves why they got their child into sports in the first place.
“It’s because you recognize sports teach them values and responsibility. It helps them grow psychologically, emotionally and socially,” said Dr. Jonathan Jenkins, a Boston-based sports psychologist and former lacrosse player who works with the NFL’s New England Patriots. “If that’s the case, you’ve got to let that process happen."
Read the rest HERE