Fresh Blood: New Blue

Michigan’s first class of recruits as a Division-1 squad will probably play a key role in the 2012 season, providing a much-needed talent upgrade to usher in the varsity era. So, who are these dudes?

Strittmatter, Vince Potomac, MD Georgetown Prep Defense 6-2, 185

Vince Strittmatter

A Nike Blue Chip selection, he plays LSM and defense in high school but is apparently a defender at the next level, per Laxpower. He was a multi-year starter/contributor (3-year varsity player – former/future teammate Fern Murias only played 1 year of varsity) for a Georgetown Prep team that has nearly double-digit seniors headed to play D-1 ball. Selected to the 2010 Maryland Free State team. He was also a corner/wideout for Georgetown Prep’s football team. He has a younger brother, Chad, who also plays lacrosse at Georgetown Prep, no word on whether he’s a prospect.

Portnoy, Andrew Mountain Lakes, NJ Mountain Lakes Attack fgh
Oddly enough, he’s a defenseman on his hockey team, and he also serves as the team’s assistant captain. He stepped up to lead Mountain Lakes in scoring after they lost Kevin Ryan to graduation (Ryan plays at Loyola). Game report mention of Portnoy. He’s listed as a walkon on LaxPower.
Van Slyke, Alex Grand Rapids, MI Forest Hills Eastern Attack 5-11, 180
Made the All-State Team even as a freshman and sophomore. As a junior, he stepped it up to earn All-American honors. He’ll be a 4-time All-Stater by the time this season is over. His highlight reel (embedded just below) shows a pretty good picture of what you’re going to get: Primarily a righty, but he’s comfortable playing with his left. His stick skills and shot won’t blow you away, but he has very good athleticism and dodging ability, with an excellent feel for the game. Willing to catch-and-shoot, dodge, feed, etc. He’s your classic tiny jitterbug guy, except not that tiny. I saw him play against Brother Rice in the state championship game, and (like most of his teammates) he didn’t get a whole lot done. 

Weiss, Emil Cary, NC Apex Goalie

Emil Weiss

Weiss is not only a top-notch goalie, but also… uh… a neighbor of NHL player Aaron Ward. He was a 2-time All-American in North Carolina, and was the area player of the year this spring, saving more than 70 percent of shots on goal over the past two years. Conference DPOY.

He’s probably one of the surest shots in this recruiting class to start next year, so Weiss is probably the most important piece. I’veheard he was also being recruited by Duke, but I didn’t see any mention of it in news articles (and the Blue Devils picked up a different goalie), so take it for what it’s worth.

Edelstein, Daniel Los Angeles, CA Harvard Westlake Midfield

Daniel Edelstein

A pretty good football player, he was 2nd-team all-area in football in a league that pumps out Division-1 talent. He had 13 goals and 7 assists this year, if MaxPreps is to be trusted (it is not). Lacrosse at Harvard-Westlake is expected to take a step back next year, thanks in part to the graduation of Edelstein:

Senior leadership played a huge role in the team’s success this year, but none of them will be in Wolverine uniforms next year. It’s been great watching how the seniors took over the team and brought it great success, but without them, I don’t know how the team will survive.

THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK.

Marcus, Alex Greenwich, CT Greenwich Midfield/​FO

Alex Marcus

Marcus is listed by laxpower as a midfield/faceoff specialist, and I would guess that faceoff/get off will be how he starts his career. He’s a pretty good one, and though Connecticut isn’t exactly Baltimore in terms of competition, going 15/15 in a single game is pretty impressive:

“Our team really started to click today,” Marcus said. “Going 15-for-15 on the faceoffs was awesome for us. Today, we put an entire game together. We have always been able to put two good quarters together, but today we put together four in a row.”

He was an honorable mention All-FCIAC selection.

Eisenreich, Jack Chatham, NJ Chatham Midfield
He was the second-leading scorer for his team, behind Fairfield-bound Nick Guida. He was on the, uh, all-sophomore second team in the county a couple years back (seems like a terribly specific list to me). He’s “efficient around the goal once [he gets] the ball.” His fall sport is soccer, at which he’s pretty good. His older brother Billy plays at Bucknell, and was the fourth-leading scorer for a Bison team that made the NCAA Tournament, despite missing four games.
Bennett, Ben Long Lake, MN Blake School Defense/​LSM
He’s also a hockey player (duh, he lives in Minnesota), and is a defenseman on the ice, as well. He was listed as one of the top 10 boys lacrosse players in the state by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He was 1st-Team All-State and an All-American, and his teammate George Ordway was named Mr. Lacrosse (Ordway is playing D-3 hockey at a school in Vermont next year).
Mosko, Andrew Bethesda, MD Georgetown Prep Midfield 6-2, 195

Andrew Mosko

Like his high school teammate Strittmatter, he was invited to the 2010 Blue Chip Lacrosse Camp, but he was also present in 2009. Inside Lacrosse had this to say about the 2009 appearance:

Andrew Mosko (M/Georgetown Prep, MD) Not sure about his full field wheels, but 64 does know the ins and outs of the game, and has put up a couple good goals today.

He was also selected to the Under Armour Underclassmen Team, and joined Strittmatter on the 2010 Free State Team. He’s an offensive/defensive lineman for GP’s football team (varsity as a sophomore and senior, took his junior year off to focus on lacrosse), where he’s listed at 6-1, 220. He also has a little brother, Hugh, who was on Prep’s JV team as a Freshman.

Meter, Will Beverly Hills, MI Brother Rice Attack/​Midfield

Will Meter

I’ve already talked quite a bit about Meter in this space. He was named Mr. Lacrosse in the state of Michigan, an All-American, and the MVP of the Brother Rice team that turned every in-state opposition to dust this season. I was impressed with his feeding ability at the State Championship game, and also took in another of his games (he gets mentioned as “#15“).

He was mostly a distributor, rather than a scorer, in the two games I saw Brother Rice play this year. It’ll be interesting to see if he plays a more diversified role in college. With Brother Rice’s talent advantage over most teams in the state of Michigan, it’s easy to have a guy like Meter perform a very specific role. I didn’t catch any Rice games in which they were challenged, so I’m not sure if he displayed a wider range in those contests.

Lord knows Michigan is going to have its share of challenges next year.

If any other Michigan recruits are added to the Laxpower database, I’ll get my Googlin’ on for them, as well.

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