cwdickens

Field Hockey Announces Five Newcomers

According to Grayed_Dane_NIL,our next incoming MLAX Freshman is the last and he is local, hailing from my hometown of Clifton Park, NY and Shenendehowa High School or just Shen as us locals refer to our school. I am always excited when a local student-athlete stays local, whether it is UAlbany, Rensselaer, Union, Sage ect... A huge Great Dane shoutout to Freddy Hicks. He is truly a special player, Last up in the class of new recruits is Freddy Hicks - saved the hometown boy for last. Fred is a 6’2” 180 pound midfielder out of Shenendaehowa High School. Shen has been a NY powerhouse in Section 2 the past few years and Freddy has been a big reason why. The big lefty has been a matchup nightmare for his opponents and he’s another one that plays with the type of aggressiveness that generates offense. Love the fact that he’s a multi sport athlete (hockey / soccer) and that he’s staying local. Plus, big fan of the name Freddy instead of just Fred. Played with a guy Freddy Ackerman out of Elmont who to this day remains one of my favorite teammates ever. My account - I’m allowed to work in an occasional shoutout to my boys. Welcome Freddy - bring it. From yesterday's Times-Union: Midfield Freddy Hicks, Sr., Shenendehowa: Delivered a scholastic year filled with success as Hicks previously excelled with the soccer and hockey teams. The University at Albany commit showed himself to be a true two-way force on the lacrosse field as the Suburban Council first-team selection tallied 29 goals and 25 assists for the Section II Class A champion. Hicks also was named as an Academic All-American.

Women’s Soccer Announces 2024 Recruiting Class

Grayed_Dane_NIL has shared via Instagram another committed student-athlete from New Jersey. Let us give a big University at Albany shoutout to Connor Kelly. Just got done watching the recruiting video of Connor Kelly - 6’ 1” 175 pound LSM out of somewhere called Manasquan, NJ. Never heard of it - but apparently they play some D at Manasquan! Some 6’1” guys are beasts and we have bunch of said beasts on the roster already - Max Neeson, Cade Galko, Connor Gerlach. But Kelly is built different - he plays “long” for lack of a better word. Long legs, long arms, long body - runs the field like a gazelle and is an absolute Hoover when the ball is on the ground. Reminds me a little of a young Tanner Hay and I could easily see him finding early time as part of the faceoff unit. Welcome to Albany - looking forward to seeing what you’re made of…

Grayed_dane_NIL has identified another incoming Freshman for MLAX. Really excited to watch this incoming Dane develop - this is Mason Sanden. He’s a 5’ 10” , 175 lb attack/midfielder out of lacrosse hotbed Salamanca NY. Reminds me a little of Ron John (also Larsen Sundown for those who follow western NY lacrosse) - so I naturally project him out to be a midfielder at the next level. Athletic, plays with his head up and can shoot/feed equally well which makes him dangerous with the ball in his stick. I put him in that category of players who just live for lacrosse 24/7. He plays with a joy that you can’t teach. Think he’s going to fit well with a wide open offense. Welcome to the family. My opinion: Recruitment seems to be hitting all cylinders and went to the portal for a Face-off Specialist, most likely to grab some we wanted in the past.

Just a FYI, we are talking about Rocco Mareno, FO, transferring in from Towson, hometown, Glenville, NY, High School: Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. You know our coaches are familiar with him and very likely recruited him during his high school years. Over the years, BH-BL has very good to UAlbany sports programs.

In comparison, some D1 schools may have to rebuild significantly if all in the portal move on. Potential schools for rebuilding may include Stony Brook, Hobart, Mount St Mary's, Merrimac and High Point.

Actually, 3 Albany MLAX players have entered the Transfer Portal, none have transferred to another school, to date. The players are: Chris Crapanzano, M, Gr John Prizzi, M, Gr John VanValkenburgh, G, Sr. In my opinion, no surprises here because of the remaining talent and the incoming talent. Further, these student-athletes may withdraw from the portal.

Our ranking comes as no surprise as our facility for seating is better than most.

From INSIDE LACROSS, via the Transfer Portal, transferring from Towson to UAlbany, Rocco Mareno, Face-off Specialist. This fills an important need for next year. Rocco, welcome to Great Dane Nation.

Once again, a special thanks to Grayed_Dane_NIL, this student-athlete is special in the goalie position, a huge Great Dane welcome. Iron sharpens iron - so bringing in goalie Brady Smith out of Bayport Blue Point High School should bring out the best in this entire group. Bayport was terrific this year winning the State Championship with only one blemish on their resume. Smith had an outstanding season never yielding double digit goals and making 12 saves in the State championship game. Interesting that both Brady and returning starter Landon Whitney are lefties, but Smith is taller coming in at 6’0” so they look different on tape. You have to be a special breed to be a lacrosse goalie - not just because you got guys hurling hard rubber balls 100 mph at your head (or worse) - but because on a team you gotta ride with only one at a time. Sometimes that decision doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on the outside so you just gotta suck it up, be a good teammate, and be ready if your name is called. And very rarely do we go through a season where another name isn’t called at some point (ie NJIT game). Bring your A game young man - welcome to the family. Opinion: Would we like to have some Inside Lacrosse 5-star athletes? Absolutely, however, the days of the Thompsons are not likely to occur soon and what we need are athletes that enjoyed success in high school and are looking to bring their past success to our future success. This year's class exemplifies this.

Two UAlbany MLAX players have entered the portal UAlbany John Prizzi, M, Gr. Jack VanValkenburgh, G, Sr.

Just a reminder when a long-term coach leaves, as in Merrimack, the players that he recruited start making plans for a change. Sixteen Merrimack players have entered the portal.

From a UAlbany Track & Field Instagram posting (yesterday): Do you get deja vu?✨ Ludith Campos breaks her school record AGAIN with a throw of 205-09. The mark also boosts her Dominican Republic National record Congratulations!!!

I do not know a two-word phase that has caused more concerns among coaches and fans alike, "Transfer Portal" Inside Lacrosse is tracking the NCAA Transfer Portal for Lacrosse: Once again, transfer season is meaningfully underway and IL is pleased to introduce a Men's Division I Transfer Portal Tracker for 2024. My fingers are crossed very few if any UAlbany players show up on the list. After that being said, there are likely a few players who may feel their skill set will be appreciated or they will have a better chance of quality playing time elsewhere.

Congratulations to Morgan Petty, Softball, as she becomes the fifth UAlbany woman student-athlete to earn this honor. Morgan Petty Named 2024 America East Woman of the Year

NCAA is looking to tweak some rules, from Inside Lacrosse: The NCAA Rules Committee made recommendations at its meetings in Indianapolis this week — notably some tweaks to the video review and changes to officiating the face-offs.

My opinion: Considering what happen last season in its totality, I think recruitment went as well as one could expect. Now the burden is on Killings and his assistants to build a coherent unit out of the student-athletes.

Comments from the Inside Lacrosse on the final poll: This final IL Staff column for the final Media Poll Top 20 serves to wrap up our final thoughts on how these teams fared throughout and their outlooks moving forward.

I have shared the concept that this forum could benefit from his input. His view, the forum can follow him in his preferred medias. Grayed_Dane_NIL has a large audience of former lacrosse players, alumni, student athletes and coaches.

Grayed_Danes_NIL reports another student-athlete for MLAX: Coaches really focused on bringing in some athletic defenseman in this class and here’s another good one. This is Brady Quill out of Hilton High School in the Rochester suburbs. Brady is a 5’ 10” (maybe 5’11” in low gravity) 180 pound lefty takeaway specialist. Really solid technique and loves to matchup one on one with whoever is brave enough to test him. What’s interesting in watching film of all the defenders in this class is that they all have a slightly different skill set they bring to the table. Really looking forward to seeing this group compete. Plus, (and you know I’m going to play the Upstate card here) he a Rochester boy which is almost Central NY. So I’m expecting him to be a little…I don’t know, off. You know, not right in the head - but in a good way. Maybe that was just me. Anyways, welcome to the family Brady - embrace the journey.

Yes, he and I communicate via Instagram, primarily. He is aware of this forum, however; he prefers to share his information via Instagram and perhaps other social media platforms. He is an UAlbany graduate and lacrosse player. While he does not live in the Albany area, he attends most of the MLAX games and many of the WLAX matches and his interest in lacrosse is much broader than just the games, the wins and losses.

just saying, it is Stony Brook University and Binghamton University... do not see the UAlbany label going any place as long as "UA-UKNOW" continues to live on

Time to buy your game tickets and plan your tailgate needs, UWV can help with all of your needs: Tickets Book Your Full-Service Tailgate

The second student-athlete is: Another Midwest athlete heading our way next year - this is Trevor Corless out of powerhouse Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan. He’s a 6’1” lefty long pole - outstanding two sport athlete (we love hockey players) who compliments his aggressiveness with really solid technique. When I see video of him I am reminded of Matt Perla (congrats Matt by the way). We graduated quite a few poles this year so there should be plenty of healthy competition for playing time heading into the Fall. Max Neeson is the anchor to this unit and I’m looking forward to seeing the other pieces fall into place.