This is gonna be long but read if you want.
Tufts lost Jack Boyden, Kurt bruun, Mason Kohn, (maybe Tommy Swank) and those guys were super productive. Kevin Christmas is big and has a good shot, but hes just a big north south dodger who can draw slides and help open up looks for the other attack, but other than that the production will not equal what it was last year. However, they have 4 star freshman Jordan Ito, he can make an impact.
Middlebury, Amherst and Bowdoin are probably the most promising, with Bowdoin being my personal pick to win the NESCAC and NCAA this year.
Bowdoin is my pick because they still have the best D mid in d3 lacrosse, Zack Goorno. They also have Ethan Barnard, who if he was the best fogo in D3 lacrosse in 2022, but he was injured in 2023 and is coming back after surgery. Two, they have Will Byrne, arguably the best attackman in d3 right now, and he will transfer to Michigan. They also have Jason Lach and Pat Fitzgerald too, and the rope unit looks great as it always was, expect Zack Goorno to ball out he had a good year last year, and combined with freshman beast Kevin Sandor it should be lethal. LSM Harp Lane can score, and hes from Mountain Lakes so you know he's gritty. Defense is good, Goalie Robert Hobbs is a nailgun and the close defense retains all the starters.
Middlebury still has key pieces on offense Russel Thorndike, Cooper Demallie (jersey grit) and Billy Curtis. Jack Sheehan, Will Zink, Tom Conley, and Will Ryan are no longer there, but Pat Jamin is still going to produce a lot, and he can also play D, repping the jersey shore grit and Lou Aboyouns club well. Defensively, another gritty new jersian on the rope unit, JD Farkas is still gonna be there, but Finn Muldoon graduated. They lost Luke Simpson (more jersey grit) I'm pretty sure, and he was their best defender, and provided lots of juice goals. Will be tough to replace him.
Amherst has Bob Gross, on attack, but no Tanyr Krummenacher. They still have Jake Bennet but they lost Bayard Demallie. Its a shame Brock Gonzales isn't coming back, because when hes healthy teams don't really have an answer for him. They also lost Robinson Armor I'm pretty sure, and that guy is really good at LSM. On the plus side, they still have Nicholas Kopp who is also an insane fogo and probably would've been rookie of the year if not for Will Byrne.
Hamilton, they lost TIm Sommer, Seamus Fagan, and Torbyn Wonderlie. They ain't going nowhere. Sorry.
Trinity is interesting because they have several d1 transfers, and those guys can make an impact. They also have Rory McAloon on the rope unit who has a crazy high ceiling.
Wesleyan is interesting, but they lost a lot of their whole starting attack line. They still have a few big producers, and some good freshman too. Expect James Bailey to step it up, he saw significant time last year and he's athletic.
Bates Can't really say much about these guys, they had an abysmal year adjusting to a new coach, we shall see what happens.
Colby Well they fired Guy van Aarsedale but I don't think Jake Bernhardts squad will do well this year, adapting to not just a new coach but also the fact that Colby is probably one of the worst teams in the Nescac lacrosse.
Williams Williams guys can ball, they beat Bowdoin last year, despite not having the same level of eye popping production from their units, which really says more about their defense then offense. Their biggest producers are Calvin Caputo and Finlay McKnight, who still have this year left, and Ryan Johnson is just getting started. Ryan Johnson has a super high ceiling, and Pierse Glavin still has another year left. They aren't super young, but given that they didn't lose anyone on offense, their offense can strike when they have possession. Defenseively, they held Tufts to 14 goals and lost to a 3 goal deficit but they also lost to connecticut college and Hamilton, and they lost to Hamilton by 5. So very unpredictable outcome for the purple cows.
Connecticut College
This team is just fairly mediocre, relatively low offensive production with their best attackman graduating. I don't think they can make a tournament run. They have defense that can run transition, but overall nothing super special. They lost to Hamilton, they beat Williams, but they got obliterated by Tufts.