Ever dynamic, 2014 opens with over 62 different programs fielding teams! Anticipation of the first games of spring always brings excitement so let's get to highlights of the off-season shuffling and begin previewing the teams that will take the field in pursuit of a championship!

The Sunday Stroll

Attempting to better align teams geographically in order to reduce travel, all programs have been aligned by their six geographic regions: Eastern, Central-South, Northwest, Metro (Seattle), Greater Eastside (King County) and South Puget Sound-Olympic Peninsula. Further, in an effort to better balance the number of teams at each level (Division I & Division II) several programs were reclassified as Division I. The result is geographic conferences wherein four of the six regions, Division I and Division II teams will actually face-off against one another during the regular season though only eligible to qualify for the playoffs at their respective classification.

For now, the entire Eastern and Central-South regions are still relatively small and comprised of relatively newer programs. Each of these regions has just one conference (with the same name) holding only Division II members. The Eastern Conference includes Wenatchee and the four Spokane area programs. The Central-South region combines the programs in the greater Vancouver area with those in Tri-Cities and Yakima. As the first program in the Vancouver area, King's Way helped spawn the birth of programs at Union and Camas. Over the past two years, King's Way naturally shrunk and logically was placed with its fellow Vancouver area programs in the Central-South Conference. The Richland program sprouted a new program in Kennewick at Southridge High School, the other new member to the conference.

In the Northwest region, Providence Classical Christian has regrouped and will once again field a team this spring. Unfortunately, the lack of numbers shifted up north to San Juan Island and Friday Harbor will not field a team. The end result is 11 programs in the Northwest region forming the WesCo/Northwest Conference. Four members of the conference have been classified as Wesco/NW - Division I while the remaining seven are classified as Wesco/NW - Division II.

The Greater Eastside region includes all programs based at 2A, 3A or 4A KingCo Conference schools, the majority of which (12 programs) have been classified as KingCo - Division I. Only Redmond and Liberty have been classified as KingCo - Division II, though Redmond will only field a junior varsity team this spring.

The Metro region includes 12 members classified evenly as Metro - Division I and Metro - Division II. The six Metro - Division I members include powers at Bainbridge and Eastside Catholic as well as four other private schools in Blanchet, Kennedy Catholic, Lakeside and Seattle Prep. The Division II group includes a very eclectic mix. Last year's Division II champions, Nathan Hale, will remain in Division II after the birth of a new program between Seattle Academy - University Prep shifted the University Prep student-athletes that had previously played with Hale. The majority of Seattle Academy student-athletes played last season under the Garfield program, which was dissolved into the new Seattle Academy and O'Dea programs. Overlake joins the group as the only non-metropolitan school but the Owls participate in the Emerald City league in other sports. Franklin will participate in Metro - Division II as a provisional varsity member after a few years regrouping as a junior varsity team. The group is rounded out by a revamped West Seattle program that played last year under the Highline name. Like Redmond, West Seattle will only field a junior varsity team this spring.

The region to the south and west of the Puget Sound will include seven Division I members under the conference name of SPSL/Narrows - Division I. The SPSL/Olympic - Division II Conference is home to the six Division II members and includes a new program at Peninsula HS after the Seahawks branched from the Gig Harbor program.

The new layout can be viewed through Sportability's WHSBLA Standings page. You can also view LaxPower's breakdown of Division I vs Division II.

To better understand the number of playoff berths in each region and at each level, you may want to check out the 2014 Division I Playoff and 2014 Division II Playoff brackets.

Let's kick-off this season with previews of the Metro and Kingo conferences. Previews of other conferences to follow in the coming weeks.

Metro Conference Previews:

(Please Note: Previews are listed in alphabetical order within each conference.)

DIVISION I

Bainbridge Island

After graduating 12, led by All-American, Jake Knotsman, the Spartans have some rebuilding to do in 2014. With potentially only five returning seniors whom have any varsity experience, Bainbridge will be relatively young. However, four of these seniors are talented and it starts in the back with one of the area's best netminders in Reynold Yarbrough. Yarbrough is the reigning 1^st Team All-State Goalie and will be relied upon heavily. Senior, Reed Dolese is the best defender operating in front of Yarbrough. Seniors, Jackson Larkin (Attack) and Dain Weisner (Midfield) are the top returning scorers finishing 5^th and 6^th for the Spartans respectively in 2013. The Spartans are certainly still a playoff caliber team until proven otherwise though a return trip to the final four may be a stretch for this group.

Blanchet

In Coach Snorsky's second year, the Braves return 13 seniors, including two of their top 5 scorers, to compete in their first season classified as Division I. Mateo Schiro grew up in the Bellevue youth program and was one of the best attackmen in Division II a year ago, earning All-Metro recognition. Fellow senior, Adrian Tejeda also earned All-Metro last season and should be the Braves top returning defenseman. After Eastside Catholic and Bainbridge, the race for the third playoff berth in Metro should be wide open and the Braves have as good a shot as any.

Eastside Catholic

After Coach Ratcliff's departure last season, Coach McMichael led the squad all the way back to the state semi-finals. Higher expectations this season though plenty of media fodder coming from the Eastside Catholic campus leaves several unknowns. The Crusaders have seen all sorts of comings and goings. Coach McMichael will not return and after a brief hiring of Luke Christiansen, the Crusaders moved on and have settled on Gordon MacIlvennie to run the program this season. All-State Attackman, Jarrett Toy has returned to his resident public school in Snohomish. A few other underclassmen have also transferred back to their public schools. However, the bottomline is that the Crusaders are still loaded and should get a spark from the return of attackman, Ross Komenda. Komenda missed all of his junior year with a knee injury. The wealth of talent starts with Colin MacIlvennie. Now a senior, the Maryland commit is a lock to become a two-time All-American. He is joined in the midfield by bruising senior, Blake Lee. Lee may have been the most overlooked talent from last year in part because he missed time with concussions.? The defensive end includes Lafayette commit, Arend Brokemate in front of a talented core of goaltenders. Colin Schriever is the incumbent starter, but he will be pushed by sophomore, Denver commit, Josh Matte. The Crusaders are a lock to coast to the playoffs and another deep run is clearly possible.

Kennedy Catholic

The Lancers graduated 12 and will be relatively young in returning just three seniors. Coach Daniels will rely on a talented junior class including midfielder, Sebatian Ferraro and goaltender, Charles Bergseth. Ferraro was second on the team in scoring last year as they fell just short of the Division II semi-finals. Kennedy will have to step up its game this year to challenge for the playoffs.

Lakeside

The Lions graduated 14 and Coach Hartley leads a very young squad that returns just two seniors in 2014. Jake Ephron is a talent at the LSM position while the offense should be led by senior, Brennan van der Hoeven in the midfield. Though, junior attackman, Michael Drucker is the Lions top returning scorer.

Seattle Prep

After a strong start in 2013, including a win over Division I Newport, Prep appeared a favorite in Division II. But the Panthers fell hard at season's end and now must regroup at the Division I level. The good news for Coach Schwartz is the return of Navy commit, do-everything midfielder in junior, Sam Kopf. Kopf was the Panthers 2^nd leading scorer and one of the better face-off men. He will be relied on even more this year after they graduated three of their top five scorers. Junior attackman, Connor Gossman is the other top 5 scorer to return.

DIVISION II

Franklin

Franklin returns to a provisional varsity status this year after a few seasons spent rebuilding at the junior varsity level. As a provisional varsity member, Coach Higuchi's squad will play varsity games against all other Metro-Division II programs but not against any Division I.

Nathan Hale

The Raiders are the reigning Division II champions, which usually leads to being reclassified as Division I the following year. However, Hale lost several components of their squad (in addition to the 4 lost to graduation) due to the creation of two new programs this off-season. First, Coach Drew Snider has left to build a program at his alma mater, O'Dea. Further, the formation of the Seattle Academy program to include student athletes from University Prep shifted those underclassmen that had been playing with Nathan Hale away to build this new program. Don't feel too bad for the Raiders though as they still return All-Metro attackman, Will Snider. Snider scored the winning goal in last year's Division II championship and will be relied upon heavily to lead a less experience squad as his father, Kris Snider, retakes the head coaching spot.

O'Dea

As mentioned above, Irish alumn, Drew Snider returns to the school he actually attended to become the program's first lacrosse coach. Snider led Nathan Hale to the Division II championship as a coach last season and as a player is a member of the 30-man player pool to make the U.S.A. Men?s National Team. No lack of lacrosse knowledge and though new, O'Dea won't lack experience either. Approximately half of the new program played last year in the Garfield program just as Snider did in his HS playing days. Sophomore attack, Siam Owen was Garfield's third leading scorer last year, a squad that lost in the Division II final. O'Dea should challenge immediately for a playoff spot at the Division II level!

Overlake

The Owls were hit a bit hard by graduation losing five of their top six scorers. In addition they lost two extremely talented face-off men (Erik Risa and Kinori Rosnow) that won them majority of possession in every game. The two combined for 200 groundballs in league games last season! The biggest positive for Overlake is they actually return their top scorer in attackman, Colton Umberger. AJ Rial is the top returning defenseman. Overlake will also benefit from a solid core of sophomores and juniors from the Bear Creek school that play with Overlake.

Seattle Academy

Though officially a new program, Seattle Academy may actually be the favorite at the Division II level. The program was established by combining student athletes attending Seattle Academy and University Prep. Seattle Academy players previously played under Garfield while University Prep players were under Nathan Hale. So, the team will be comprised of players that competed against one another for last year's Division II final. Mercer Island alumn and Roanoke College graduate, Scott Pattison was hired as the program's first head coach and he has a solid junior class to build on. Riley Johnson is an athletic midfielder and netnider Andrew McCall was named the best in Metro last season while in goal for Nathan Hale.

West Seattle

Over the past few years players comprising the Highline program slowly shifted from those attending Highline to those attending West Seattle High School. In addition, work was done for a few years to organize students at Chief Sealth HS. So, this year, the Highline program has revamped as West Seattle to include players from West Seattle, Chief Sealth and a few remaining from Highline. This season they will field a junior varsity team only.

2014 - Preseason All-Metro Teams

KingCo Conference Previews:

(Please Note: Previews are listed in alphabetical order within each conference.)

DIVISION I

Ballard

The Beavers have a tough task ahead in making the jump to KingCo Division I after graduating 17 players and losing Coach Brian Main to job relocation. However, Ballard has brought in longtime Seattle lacrosse minds in Marc Brick and Dan Wishengrad to Co-Coach the group. The good news for the Beavers is they return 11 seniors with varsity experience. The best of these is midfielder, John Degarmo whom was their second leading scorer last season.

Bellevue

It is starting to look a little like Bellevue football south of the mall as the Wolverines just keep winning on the lacrosse field as well. Bellevue seeks to become the first program to win three consecutive state championships since Mercer Island accomplished the feat from 2004-2006. They certainly have plenty of returning firepower to do so. Seniors, Hank Bethke (Attack) and Eric Haehl (Midfield) with both play collegiately at the Division I level. Bethke will attend Ohio State while Haehl will attend Richmond. However, the Wolverines might actually be stronger on the defensive end with a host of interchangeable buzz-saw defenders. Senior, Riley Gulrajani has already committed to playing at NCAA, Division III Dickinson and no disrespect to him but he may not even be the best of the bunch. Fellow seniors, Jason Monahan, Ryan Eskenazy and Chris Medzegian along with sophomore Michael Medzegian will all contribute on the defensive end. Bellevue is a sure bet to make a nother deep run and may have the tools to win it all again.

Bothell-Inglemoor

Senior long pole, Jacob Cartwright is one of the area's best. Upon the graduation of Drew Tosaya (now playing NCAA, Division III at RIT) they will need to find weapons on the offensive end. Junior attackman, Sean Hanrahan is the most likely candidate.

Eastlake

2013 Coach of the Year, Chris O'Dougherty coached the Wolves to their best ever finish in Division I a year ago. He will have his work cut out for him after graduating their top 5 scorers. As a defensive guy himself though, he returns a solid core of the defensive end to progress from. Senior, Alex Prather and sophomore, Carter Heck are the most athletic defensemen while the Wolves have two netminders with Varsity experience. In the new-look KingCo, Eastlake should be in the second tier mix to challenege for the 4^th and 5^th playoff berths up for grabs in the conference.

Issaquah

After two straight quarterfinal appearances, Issaquah hopes to return to the final four on the backs of a few upperclassmen and a talented core of sophomores. Senior, Matt Thomas came out of nowhere last year to earn 2^nd Team All-State honors and lead the team in scoring. Fellow senior, attackman, Zach Fritz is the other top returning scorer as Issaquah returns five of its top seven offensively. Junior, Mikey Giannopulos is one of the best face-off men in the area and has already committed to play at Georgetown at the next level. He will be called upon to pull a big scoring load this year. Eagles must replace all four starting long-sticks though senior James Nelson return from injury to fill in at LSM. Issaquah usually finds a way to be in the mix but young talent must grow up quickly if they are to truly challenge for a spot in the final four.

Lake Washington

Senior, Hank Schmaele and junior, Jason Mclean must lead from the attack. Junior, Spencer Mueller is the best of the bunch on the defensive end. Coach Hush is one of the most successful coaches in the league and will no doubt have the Kangs in the mix fighting for a coveted playoff spot after narrowly missing the playoffs a year ago.

Mercer Island

The standard Mercer Island preview includes a 15+ win season, college commitments and at minimum a final four appearance. 16 straight trips to the Division I final four and 2014 should be much of the same. Starting from the back, Benji Rothenberg is the most active netminder in the state and typically the most entertaining to watch. He has already committed to Gettysburg (NCAA D3). Chase York is the best close defenseman in the state and has committed to Loyola (NCAA D1). Highly probable that York will also join the shortlist of two-time All-Americans to come out of WA. Mahony #5 (remember they had a girl as well) is Peter and he will follow brother Greg's footsteps to Yale. But, Peter will be making the move to attack this season. So, the midfield should be led by junior Evan Condon whom is a Army commit (NCAA DI). Devlin Conway is also a rock at the face-off x. Having graduated three at the attack position this is where the Islanders have the least experience but they will undoubtedly fill in just fine. Mercer is a lock for the playoffs and come late May should be knocking on the door of another final four.

Mount Si

Similar to Ballard (even in color) the Wildcats graduated 15 and now have the tough task of making the jump to KingCo Division I. New coach Chris Castleberry is excited about the challenge as the program in the Snoqualmie Valley keeps growing. Senior, Jake Smith is the Wildcats top athlete as he is also a receiver on the varsity football team. He must lead a relatively young group from his position in the midfield.

Newport

In his second year, Coach Lee's squad is taking shape and going through a transformation of sorts. The program is officially still a combination of Sammamish-Newport-Interlake though it will split the following year and the majority of the varsity squad is Newport based. The Knights surprised Bainbridge in an off-season tourney showing they have potential to make noise this season. Senior, Morgan White is a very capable keeper. Zach Trimble is a big athletic defender, though only a sophomore. Seniors Ryley Martin and Cooper Horton will lead offensively from the midfield. Newport should be in that second tier mix for a playoff berth.

Roosevelt

The Roughriders return five of their top six scorers which should help ease their transition back into Division I. Unfortunately they lost a solid netminder (Kevin Ault) to graduation. 2^nd year coach, Joe Cramer has things moving in the right direction though and Roosevelt will look to surprise.

Skyline

Third coach in three years as east coast transplant, Sam Hutson takes the helm. The Spartans return the area's best long-stick in Spencer Noonan whom has committed to Fairfield (NCAA D1). They also return one of most athletic midfielders in Michael Cowin. But, the Spartans will be built on a core of 11 returning juniors with varsity experience. Tyler Johnston is coming off knee surgery but if healthy, he and fellow left-hander Charlie Kurtenbach give Skyline a viable attack unit. Senior, Robert Hild and junior, Kyle Kuberski split time in goal last year, so each has varsity experience. Skyline should be at the front of the second tier, but may lack experience to run with a few of the top senior laden teams.

Woodinville

Like Skyline, Woodinville has a small senior class and returns 11 juniors with varsity experience. Even more similar, the Falcons bring in a stellar freshman class as Woodinville beat Skyline for the league championship at the 8^th grade level last year. This bodes well for the future but they might be a year away from making any real noise. Senior, Thomas Cast is a quality goaltender, but Falcons will have to find offense from its youth.

DVISION II

Liberty

After being thrown in to the hot seat last season, Coach Robert Blair now has a season under his belt and Liberty moving in the right direction. Having played at Issaquah, Coach Blair hopes to bring some of that same success to Renton in leading the Patriots. Seniors, Wyatt Johnson and Sam Dodt are very capable poles. Collin Ross is a two sport athlete and a beast in the nidfield. Liberty is primed to make some noise at the Division II level especially after a season gaining experience against majority Division I competition.

Redmond

Returning 10 sophomores from a team that struggled in Division II last year, Redmond will only field a junior varsity team this season.

2014 - Preseason All-Metro Teams

Lacrosse The Country:

We now Tweet the majority of tidbits involving our WHSBLA alumni as they occur during the week. Please follow us via Twitter @WHSBLAStroll

We are also compiling our lists of WHSBLA Alumni currently competing on NCAA Division I, II or III rosters so please feel free to send us your knowledge!

Lacrosse Four Thought:

Which team will take home the WHSBLA Division I State Championship in 2014?

Who did we leave off of the Preseason All-Conference Teams?

What are your pre-season picks for All-American?

Where has the class of 2014 (WHSBLA players) committed to playing their college ball?

We'll give a shout out to the best emails of the week and include your comments/quotes in next week's Sunday Stroll.

Feed us your thoughts. Time to hear from you. Bring it! EMAIL: [email protected]