Fall NHSLS Takeaways: Culver Military Academy (Ind.)

Going 6-0 on the weekend, Culver flexed its muscles while showcasing remarkable depth at the fall edition of the National High School Lacrosse Showcase. The same program that has nine Class of 2024 graduates on rosters in the ACC (five), Big Ten (two), and Ivy League (two) — plus a pair of Army recruits, including a 5-star goalie — came at its opponents in waves and looked like a well-oiled machine, especially on the offensive end. Of course, they've been practicing and playing together nonstop since the school year began, so it's no surprise that they looked like they were a bit ahead of the curve compared to the Eagles' opponents. At NHSLS, Culver's seniors looked plenty capable of picking up the slack, while the juniors showed signs of being ready to step into larger roles. In what's certainly a positive sign for the future, it was also encouraging to see more freshmen and sophomores on the field than we're used to seeing since the '24s were underclassmen early in Jon Birsner's tenure. If the weekend served as any indication, Culver's attack will be the Eagles' strongest unit in 2025 after the trio of seniors put on a playmaking clinic over the last few days, combining for at least 10 points per contest.    A big and reliable left-handed target around the crease, Hogan finished at an incredibly high rate and proved to be rather difficult for opposing teams to limit. The Auburn (N.Y.) native catches has soft hands and catches everything thrown his way. Between his sneaky off-ball work and how well he mixes up his release points and placement, it's rare that goalies come up with saves on Hogan, who netted some gorgeous BTB's on numerous occasions. The ball is in his stick for such a short period of time before it's in the back of the net, and he often doesn't need much of an angle. In a 12-8 win over Delbarton on Saturday, he had four or five goals and made it look easy.     I've been wildly impressed by Grogan's development over the years, as he's become more and more dynamic over time. Formerly a '24 recruit for Utah, the lefty calls Kentucky home but was born on Long Island, and since he's been at Culver, he's gotten run at both attack and midfield. A slippery dodger who has sensational stick work and body control, he checks all of the boxes in terms of the way that he's able to create offense for himself and others. He'll beat his man topside, attack from the low or high wings, sweep across the top, dodge hard down the alley, or draw a slide and toss dimes to his teammates. Grogan has a tremendous feel for the game, and you feel him all game long - he's so creative in the ways in which he's able to pick apart a defense, both as a goal-scorer and as a passer.     Among the three, Toll's performance was the most eye-opening, even though I've been familiar with the Canadian's game for a few years now. The son of indoor legend and veteran NLL and Jr. A coach Steve Toll, Zack sees the field like he's been around the game his entire life and is one of the better passers in high school lacrosse right now. He has the innate ability to throw guys open, but if you overplay him and try and limit his damage as a feeder from below the goal line, and Toll will use his bounce and dodging repertoire to make a move past his man and finish in front. Early in the 2024 season, he stepped in as a starter while three-year starter Aidan McDonald (Princeton) was still recovering from an offseason surgery and thrived, utilizing a very similar skill set as his fellow countryman. A breakthrough senior season for Toll seems inevitable, and after that, I could see him having a terrific college career in Burlington.     As the lone returning starter on the Eagles' close D, Sorenson will be expected to provide senior leadership to a Culver defense that looks very different from last year's unit, which featured multi-year starters and Top 100 recruits Nikolas Menendez and Kyle Eggebraten. Their presence put the Maple Ridge (B.C.) product in a complementary role and allowed Sorenson to excel at what he's best at: causing disruption when sliding, jumping passing lanes and getting his stick on the ball, and capitalizing on fast break opportunities. Well, he did a lot of all of that this past weekend. Possessing exceptional instincts, he's so dialed in away from the ball in terms of his posture and pick play, plus he's excellent off the ground. As a cover man, he's tough as nails and makes his presence felt. The Eagles need a guy who can erase the other team's best attackman, so it will be interesting to see what kind of role he takes on as a senior, as he could be better off as the No. 2 for all of the reasons mentioned.     Continuing to stake his claim as a top-five recruit at his position, it feels like Rodriguez has leveled up. Culver's NHSLS schedule featured matchups against face-off guys bound for Cornell, Maryland, Michigan, Delaware, and Richmond, and Rodriguez must have won close to 70 percent. Disciplined and quick to the whistle, he wore down his opponents and made clean offensive exits, catalyzing Culver's offense all day and helping set up a number of tic-tac-toe finishes. Excelling at both clamps and counters, Rodriguez has a relentless approach when the ball is on the ground and is outstanding once it's in his stick, able to evade pressure from opposing longpoles. Having split reps with current Dartmouth freshman Spencer Reagan over the past few seasons, Rodriguez will become the bellcow as a senior and could take a lot of pressure off of the defense.    — Time will tell what kind of roles they're able to carve out as sophomores, but there's no doubt that Culver's 2027 class looked up to the task. That all starts with highly touted sophomore goalie [player_tooltip player_id='120633' first='Bodhi' last='Harmon'], an energetic lefty from Colorado who has been penciled in as the starter since Virginia-bound senior [player_tooltip player_id='14518' first='Patrick' last='Biese'] tore his ACL playing football earlier this fall. Harmon, however, was phenomenal all weekend and played more like a seasoned veteran than a sophomore with minimal varsity experience. Playing in front of Harmon, sophomores Max Pasquale, [player_tooltip player_id='123019' first='Max' last='Baker'], and [player_tooltip player_id='123021' first='Andrew' last='Scarlett'] stepped in and stepped up on the defensive end, where they showed a ton of promise. Pasquale, a transfer from Marin Catholic (Calif.), is undersized at 5'8 but plays with grit and brings a nonstop motor to the table. Baker, a Colorado native and Harmon's club teammate, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 6'0 and has an excellent stick that he used to cause disruption. Scarlett is the biggest of the bunch and perhaps the most intriguing, given that he's a 6'1 lefty Canadian who moves really well. Offensively, Ontario-bred lefty [player_tooltip player_id='123009' first='Riley' last='Woods'] jumped off the page with his speed, explosiveness, and creative dodging and scoring ability. He constantly got underneath of defenses when initiating from up top and did so in head-turning fashion. Culver has an army of committed Class of 2026 midfielders in the class above him (too many to single out here), but Woods is bound to provide a spark for the offense because of his unique skill set.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://www.instagram.com/p/DC0erWPtBKX/ </div></figure>   — As mentioned above, Culver's junior class has a ton of midfield options with '26s bound for Syracuse, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, and Brown. When I was on the sidelines, I didn't feel like there were any overwhelmingly dominant performances from any of them, but a big part of that has to do with how attack-driven the offense was and how much Culver opened up its bench to give experience to the younger guys. Given how well the '26s played this summer, they'll make their presence felt after getting their feet wet as sophomores, so I'd expect a jump. — Quite frankly, more of my curiosity lies with a few seniors who could find themselves in increased roles. At 6'2, attack/middie [player_tooltip player_id='123024' first='Kellye' last='Riordan'] is an Army commit who asserted himself nicely with a handful of goals, doing a really nice job without the ball to increase his scoring chances. [player_tooltip player_id='123027' first='Treysen' last='Stewart'], a Cornell-bound Canadian, wasn't able to find his footing too much last spring while adjusting to the field game, but looked more comfortable and will be another option out of the box. He's incredibly crafty and is built like an ox at 5'11 and 200-plus pounds. After being sidelined for all of the 2024 season due to a health scare, future Georgetown SSDM [player_tooltip player_id='123029' first='Chase' last='Stensby'], a lefty from Colorado Springs, looks like he has returned to form. A special athlete who was great 1v1 and off the wings, Stensby's physicality and presence at the defensive midfield position will be vital for a team that graduated a plethora of alphas in the middle of the field.

Going 6-0 on the weekend, Culver flexed its muscles while showcasing remarkable depth at the fall edition of the National High School Lacrosse Showcase.

The same program that has nine Class of 2024 graduates on rosters in the ACC (five), Big Ten (two), and Ivy League (two) — plus a pair of Army recruits, including a 5-star goalie — came at its opponents in waves and looked like a well-oiled machine, especially on the offensive end. Of course, they've been practicing and playing together nonstop since the school year began, so it's no surprise that they looked like they were a bit ahead of the curve compared to the Eagles' opponents.

At NHSLS, Culver's seniors looked plenty capable of picking up the slack, while the juniors showed signs of being ready to step into larger roles. In what's certainly a positive sign for the future, it was also encouraging to see more freshmen and sophomores on the field than we're used to seeing since the '24s were underclassmen early in Jon Birsner's tenure.

If the weekend served as any indication, Culver's attack will be the Eagles' strongest unit in 2025 after the trio of seniors put on a playmaking clinic over the last few days, combining for at least 10 points per contest.