By Chris Goldberg
TopLaxRecruits.com, Posted 6/17/17

Kevin Roberts went to Delaware to play lacrosse Friday as a rare soloist – and the results were positive.

Roberts, a 2018 faceoff/midfielder from Porter-Gaud High in Charleston, S.C., stood out at the X during the Individual Showcase at the Battle of Baltimore held at the DE Turf Sports Complex in Frederica, DE.

The event kicked off the Passport Alliance/National 175 event that includes a team tournament today and tomorrow at the much-ballyhooed complex in southern Delaware.

Roberts said he used to play club lacrosse, but preferred to play solo and get the best competition. On Thursday he competed in the NXT Baltimore Summer Showcase and after Friday’s showing he got an invite to compete with Dukes Virginia in the Battle of Baltimore Team Tourney.

“I used to play club, but teams down South stay down South and why pay money for a travel team that stays home?” he asked. “I just go to showcases to play top tier talent.

“I thought I did pretty well today; I wouldn’t keep coming up if I didn’t do well enough. It’s always a little tougher here because they have the Faceoff Academy and we don’t get that in South Carolina. They get to train every day and in South Carolina I have to find a field and play with my brother.”

Roberts – who estimates he won about 80 percent of his face-offs in SC this spring – said facing this competition gives him a read on what to work on.

“I definitely want to get into my spin a little quicker. If I can get the tiniest quicker, I can win a lot more face-offs.”

Roberts is strongly considering Denison, and said academics come first.

“I want to go into medicine, it’s a pretty good path with a lot of jobs out of college,” he said. “I am going to wait until July to decide.”

Others that shined:

Colin Falk, 2019 DEF, Morristown-NJ/Tri-State 2019 close def

On the event: “I came down for the team tournament with Tri-State and the Individual Showcase was a great opportunity to be seen. I think I played a lot of very aggressive close D.”

Positives: “We had a lot of reps because the teams were smaller in numbers. Also, we had individual position work and it was helpful. They worked us on roll pressure, long passes, groundballs and communicating. I worked on all of them during the games.

Have the new rules on recruiting changed the landscape? “I think that there is still an equal amount of pressure because you want to be seen as much but it’s harder to know if you are being seen because D1 coaches can’t talk to you. It’s confusing; you don’t know if they are seeing you or just sending you invites to prospect camp to get money.”

What type of college are you looking for? “No. 1 is academics, and then lacrosse. Obviously I would like a competitive school and one that fits academically.”

Eli Wilson, 2020 DEF, Salesianum School-DE/Delaware Silverbacks

On the event: “I got a lot of playing time, which will help my stamina. Also, in the practice sessions we worked on clearing that was beneficial.”

What did he learn about himself: “I feel that I learned a lot to help me in the coming year. I know what to expect coming up (to compete for a varsity spot) by playing against older players; it will help me for the challenge.”

How do the new recruiting rules affect the 2020 player? “I am not yet worried about it (recruiting) since they can’t talk to you yet. But I feel that if you aren’t (getting recruited) and you can improve than the spots will not all be taken up when you are a junior.”

What type of college is he looking for? “Right now I am thinking about a few career choices, but it’s open.”

Daniel Silbergeld, 2018 Goalie, Lower Merion-PA/Twist

On the event: “From what it appears there are a lot of coaches here and I got to play the whole team in each game since my team only had one goalie. I got a lot of shots and there were plenty of runs for everyone. The competition was pretty good; some stood out more than others.”

On the instruction: “For our drills they got four piles of tennis balls and had four shooters that shot on us rapid fire. We got a lot of reps with low impact which is good for goalies.”

What type of college is he looking for? “I would say I am getting close to committing. I have that list of about five schools, and I am really interested in service. My top choices are the Merchant Marine Academy and and the Coast Guard Academy. I want to play Division III lacrosse. I don’t think I want to go to a school to play D1 lacrosse; it’s so much of a time commitment. D3 allows you to have a full college life.”

Jack Ballou, 2018 Goalie, Hidden Valley-VA/Dukes VA

On the event: “I think having limited numbers on our teams gave us a lot of exposure. I was our team’s only goalie so I played full games until we combined teams at the end. It was nice to get a lot of shots instead of splitting time. The drills (with the tennis balls) were pretty cool; I had never done that before. You had to be quick and you didn’t have to worry about getting hurt or grabbing fast shots.”

What did he learn? “I need to be quicker. It was good to communicate with a bunch of different guys and guys you never played with. It helps you raise your lacrosse IQ.”

What type of school is he looking for? “I am looking for a school with a good lacrosse program. I am interested in an engineering program so a school with good academics.”

His expectations for the team tourney: “It’s cool to be able to play in these big showcases with some Dukes Virginia players. SWe’ve been playing on a lot of different travel teams, but our core group has stayed together since elementary school.”