BAY Valley Conference

I have been watching quite a few games the past two years in the Bay Valley Conference. My kids don't play high school lax yet; but we are active in the youth programs and I officiate on occasion.

So I have no "skin" in this game yet and will give you some objective observations here.

This conference has some very good talent and I think you all should take notice of at least one team.

The Wausau team is for real guys and you better not take them lightly.

They have a very deep corps of players. They only graduated 4 seniors off last year's team.

I hear alot of talk in the posts about MU. They are a solid team, but I watched Wausau absolutely man-handle them last year in the consolation game at the State Tournament and they were within minutes of upsetting arrowhead in the semi-game before they took a bone-headed penalty that led to the overtime loss.

Wausau's has 4 returning all-conference players. Defense is their strongest position. Rich Poirier #28 is their best player. He grew up out east and played youth lacrosse out there. Great stick skills. He is playing D 3 at Colby College in Maine next year. Dustin Heinrichs #25 is right behind him. Heinrichs will be playing at Carthage next year. They were First and Second team all-conference last year respectively. On Attack Matt Williams #14 is very solid. Was recruited by Carthage. Second team all conference last year. Then you have Ben Fisher and Nate Condon at Mid. Both dangerous and good atheltes. Condon is going to Minnesota on a full hockey scholarship.

This team is loaded with talent and can bring it. So keep an eye out for those four players. All seniors.

I guess that begs the question, did MU get that much better over the summer and winter? I will be watching their game against Arrowhead very, very closely to see if they are not a tad over-rated this year.

Another comment about Wausau. Their coaches are class acts. In all 5 of their games this year, they have basically pulled their starters in the second half and put in their back-ups. So, that is why you don't see even bigger scores. This team has alot of fire-power.

Wausau annihilated Appleton last night 12-4. It could have been easily 16-0 if they left in all the starters. Appleton is a solid team.

I thought BayPort would be better, but the wheels seem to be coming off as of late. But, they still have some talented offensive players.

The other sleeper is Neenah this year. they graduated a number of players; but they still have depth and some very solid coaching.



I see that there is little to no posting outside of the Madison and Milwaukee teams.

I will try to post observations and notes as time permits.

Good post. No one's doubting Wausau by any means, there's just a lack of GB area posters on here.

finally someone else from the Bay Val and i will be looking forward to our game against wausau next week

Agreed. There is only a few guys from the Bay Val that post in here on a consistent basis.

Wausau was pretty good last year, they put up the biggest fight Arrowhead saw all season.

yea i remember that wausau game in the consolation round of the state tournament. keep in mind that MU returns all but one starter to their lineup this year. yes that does mean that they are basically the same team that they were last year, but keep in mind that in the offseason players grow.

it will be interesting to see wausau late in the season, i'm looking forward to it.

Due to the fact that MU competed against SLUH (then #6 in the midwest) and only lost 5-8, I definitly wouldnt call them over rated.

I do agree though that Wausau is a great team that doesn't get much recognition on this forum, though I think thats because of the lack of bayval kids who are on here to rep them.

Plus, last year when Marquette played Wausau, we were missing a decent amount of our players. I wasn't there, our starting goalie had decided to play baseball (though he is not this year, thank god!), our all conference attackman, and a few others who left following the semis game for prior engagements. Now, I don't mean to downplay Wausau's talent or success (as I wasn't there last year, I haven't seen them in two years), though I don't think its fair to judge Marquette based off of their performance against Wausau last year...

Held arrowhead to a 4 point game through all regulation last year i believe, they definitely have a pretty good defense and a tough goalie when hes on. Should be the team to come out of bayval, but i could see neenah pulling an upset.

I have played against wausau and have watch MUHS, and this year I have to give the edge to MUHS, very deep team and like others have said they can play with anyone in this state and top teams in the midwest. the players you spoke of are good and great athletes but the only problem with their game is their lack of an off hand. the best of them going weak side is #28 Rich and he plays defense. if teams can pick up their hands early in the game you can shut them down without much trouble. But thats great to see kids from wisco going on to play in college, i love to see that. Good luck on the season

A very astute observation by GBLAX regarding one of Wausau's weaknesses. In watching them, I think they have made improvement in that area - but time will tell. Their lack of a youth program really hurts them. Hopefully, the powers that be will recognize this. Stick skills always are the final determinant in the playoffs.

The ultimate measuring stick in all of this is games played. I see Wausau will be playing Middleton and AHS; so we will see just how good these 3 measure up against one another..

As to the reply by gfields from MU, I note an air of defensiveness. I am sure if you asked the wausau guys they were missing some of their players too in the consolation game. You also seem to miss the fact that (I am assuming) your full complement of players lost to Sun Prarie the day before- SP then in turn got hammered by AHS. Again, as I recall in watching the Wausau/AHS game it was the only real competitve game in the state tournament last year. So your logic doesn't exactly flow. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and conclude MU has either improved dramatically or Wausau (would give you a pretty good game this year. but ultimately lose since they couldn't possibly field a good team up in the hinterlands.)

I am a triple MU guy. HS, College and Grad School - so understand I have no beef with MU; but I do get a bit peaved when you guys in Milwaukee confine your LAX universe and thinking to your own backyard.

I know in talking to the wausau coaches, MU is never willing to travel to Wausau- yet Wausau has come down to your house 3 times. In 2006, you guys only beat their first year team by one goal and that is when you had Panosian; who is probably the best player I have watched in H.S. in the state.

So, I would suggest you guys contact their coaches and schedule a game in their house and settle all the conjecture once and for all.

Hats off the Arrowhead. They have come to Wausau at least twice I am aware of.

mu goes to indiana to play at breabuf, they went to green bay to play bayport, and theyre going to madison to play middleton, i dont think mu is afraid to go challenge teams on their home turf, plus thers only so much traveling a team can do, looking at wausaus schedule i notice they only travel twice, both to madison and only once do they play a good team (middleton)

Last year, in my eyes the true rankings would have been.

1. AHS
2. Wausau
3. MUHS
4. Middleton(if they were as good during the season as they were when I saw them at the Bullrush)
5. Sun Prairie


BUT, last year means absolutely nothing about this year so no more talk about last year.


This year the Green Bay area bid for state is going to be either Waunakee or Wausau.

Waunakee is in madison

Wausua, neenah, and i could even see bayport having a great game and taking it. But in all likelyhood wausua v neenah for it, but wausua should have the gb area.

SiouxLax wrote:

This year the Green Bay area bid for state is going to be either Waunakee or Wausau.

Haha

Well then...since I'm super smart

Green Bay WILL go to Wausau.

SiouxLax wrote:

Well then...since I'm super smart

Green Bay WILL go to Wausau.

Agreed.

LAXOFFICIAL wrote:

but I do get a bit peaved when you guys in Milwaukee confine your LAX universe and thinking to your own backyard.

Ok, that was just a dumb comment. Take a look at all of the Marquette guys who post on this website - we all give credit to teams from Madison and Green Bay when credit is due. None of us ever say that the only teams in state that are worth credit are from Milwaukee, and so, as proof, we travel to Bayport and Middleton and are one of only three teams in state to travel out of state to play non-Wisconsin teams as an attempt to experience some strong out-of-conference competition. You called us overrated, so I responded by giving my two sense of justification. I don't know how that is "confining my LAX universe and thinking only to your backyard." ... Especially in the world in which we are one of the only teams in the state to step out of "our backyard" to play games with out-of-state competition.

I agree with SiouxLax, last year means nothing. All of the teams have drastically changed since then. Some teams have lost lots of players and are completely different and others have only lost a few but have improved. So lets focus on the games that are going on this year.

Okay Gfields.

You have partially convinced me. But, "stupid" is a bit harsh.
How about we say "misinformed". I know your good Jesuit Education taught you to value other points of view; no matter how misinformed they may be. Hopefully, the Wausay boys will get a chance to play you in the state playoffs. They do have AHS which may give us some idea on how good they are (though I don't know what their coaches were thinking in scheduling Neenah on Friday and then Stoughton and Arrowhead on SAT.

Also, as to travel. Recognize the Wausau guys have to travel 2 hours for every conference game; let alone out of conference games. I am sure it comes down to $. You have to give them credit making a go of things with no competition less than 2 hours away.
I am sure you all love yellow school buses.

In any event, I think the current laxpower sorts it out pretty good.
The Madison teams look very strong; followed by MUHS or AHS and then Wausau.

LaxOfficial are you a real ref or is that just your name?

Part time official.

wausau also isnt funded by the school system. all our money comes from money earned by the booster club. this year we got more players and money has become a big issue right now so i think that contributed to how much we have to travel as well as the fact that was pointed out that our farthest game is 2 hours away. great post by the way. first day on here and its nice to see someone talk about wausau as well as other bay valley teams.

I think all school lacrosse teams have to pay for themselves because it's still "technically" a club sport so that would mean no funding from school? Correct me if im wrong..