Top 50 boys lacrosse prospects in New England’s Class of 2027

From left, James Holbrough of Berkshire, Hayes Griffin of Loomis Chaffee and Cole Hogencamp of Mansfield (Mass.).

The New England Lacrosse Journal staff has ranked the top prep and high school prospects by class as part of our “Best of New England” series.

We understand that a player’s perceived value will vary, and few players are valued in a vacuum. However, we wanted to spotlight the region’s best players for all positions with equal merit.

We are ranking these players the same way college coaches would, measuring their current abilities, their positional impact and their overall talent ceiling.

This is the second installment of this series for the Class of ’27. It takes into account the impact of the players this past season as well as their performance in the summer, where applicable.

MORE TOP 50: Class of 2026

1. James Holbrough

School: Berkshire
Club: SweetLax Upstate
Position: A
Commitment: North Carolina

2. Chris Colsey

School: Ridgefield (Conn.)
Club: Eclipse
Position: A
Commitment: North Carolina

3. Leif Anderson

School: Deerfield
Club: Eclipse
Position: D
Commitment: Notre Dame

4. Jack Czepiel

School: Tabor
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: D
Commitment: Princeton

5. John Lynch

School: Belmont Hill
Club: 3D New England
Position: M
Commitment: Princeton

6. Matthew Ramos

School: Milton Academy
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: A
Commitment: Army

7. Fin Kilbourne

School: St. Paul’s
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: M
Commitment: Princeton

8. Noah Rodgers

School: Loomis Chaffee
Club: Hilltop Lax
Position: M
Commitment: Penn

9. Hayes Griffin

School: Loomis Chaffee
Club: 3D Georgia
Position: D
Commitment: Notre Dame

10. Will Lawrence

School: Choate
Club: Eclipse
Position: LSM
Commitment: Harvard

Top 10 notes: I moved Kilbourne up because he has one of the hardest shots I have ever seen in person from a player in this class. The key adjective being “hard,” not “fast,” which is a different metric. Hard shooters make the ball look smaller; fast shooters are more about the end product of a windup. Both are impressive, but hard shooters look more natural. I think the rest of this top 10 is pretty locked in. Czepiel moved up a spot because of how well he played for Tabor this season, but otherwise, there wasn’t a lot of action in the top 10. Holbrough and Colsey could still be 1A and 1B or flipped, but at this point there hasn’t been a lot to separate one from the other in my eyes.

11. Alexander Dimnaku

School: Phillips Andover
Club: 3D New England
Position: FO
Commitment: Penn

12. Dion Kitsos

School: Milton Academy
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: D
Commitment: Duke

13. Henry Card

School: Pingree
Club: 3D New England
Position: M
Commitment: Notre Dame

14. Jackson Crowell

School: New Canaan (Conn.)
Club: Eclipse
Position: G
Commitment: Princeton

15. Patrick Bishai

School: Loomis Chaffee
Club: Eclipse
Position: D
Commitment: Penn

16. Dylan Franzen

School: Tabor
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: A
Commitment: Michigan

17. Teddy Oh

School: Taft
Club: ADVNC
Position: G
Commitment: Harvard

18. Garrett Sullivan

School: Salisbury
Club: Prime Time
Position: M/A
Commitment: Syracuse

19. Barrett Mullahy

School: Fairfield Prep (Conn.)
Club: Prime Time
Position: A/M
Commitment: none

20. Henry Oakey

School: Taft
Club: MadLax Capital
Position: A
Commitment: Ohio State

11-20 notes: Card drops into this section to make room for Kilbourne’s rise, and Kitsos moves up due to his performance for Milton Academy this spring, as well as his dominance at Legacy in late June. Dimnaku also moves up after a fantastic season at Phillips Andover. My tendency to underrate face-off guys and goalies is natural in the grander scheme of things, but I’m trying to correct it, as those two positions have inflated value at this point in the recruiting process. Also, Mullahy is still uncommitted? How is that possible?

21. Jack Borg

School: Deerfield
Club: MadLax
Position: A/M
Commitment: Michigan

22. Will Ruberton

School: Loomis Chaffee
Club: Hilltop Lax
Position: D
Commitment: Penn

23. Jayden Walters

School: Tabor
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: A
Commitment: Providence

24. Jake Goodwin

School: Lawrence Academy
Club: Hilltop Lax
Position: D
Commitment: Syracuse

25. Grady Alger

School: Tabor
Club: 3D New England
Position: G
Commitment: UMass

26. Justin Scalzo

School: Deerfield
Club: Hilltop Lax
Position: FO
Commitment: Georgetown

27. Alex Cichella

School: Brunswick
Club: 2 Way
Position: A/M
Commitment: Georgetown

28. Danny Weller

School: Deerfield
Club: Hilltop Lax
Position: D/LSM
Commitment: Michigan

29. Gus Markley

School: Choate
Club: 2 Way
Position: M/SSDM
Commitment: Colgate

30. Duncan MacLeod

School: Deerfield
Club: 4 Leaf
Position: D/LSM
Commitment: Yale

21-30 notes: I’m moving Borg up a spot just because he is so versatile and fun to watch, even more so now in hindsight than when I described him in the first entry of this list. Walters also ascends after coming back from injury and pushing his squad forward to a title in the Independent School League tournament. The same goes for Alger, who was one of the unsung heroes of the Seawolves’ run and looks like UMass’ best recruit in this entire class right now. Chichella moves up a few spots because of his late-season heroics for Brunswick.

31. Brayden Belski

School: Salisbury
Club: SweetLax
Position: M
Commitment: Yale

32. Madsen Ehrhart

School: Brunswick
Club: 2 Way
Position: D/LSM
Commitment: Richmond

33. Cole Hogencamp

School: Mansfield (Mass.)
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: A
Commitment: Brown

34. Brad Mallory

School: Choate
Club: Eclipse
Position: M/SSDM
Commitment: Harvard

35. Sam Weston

School: St. Sebastian’s
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: LSM/D
Commitment: Dartmouth

36. Hunter Pallai

School: Staples (Conn.)
Club: Eclipse
Position: A/M
Commitment: Bucknell

37. Maks Bielski

School: Middlesex
Club: 4 Leaf
Position: A/M
Commitment: Stony Brook

38. Jimmy Benedict

School: Darien (Conn.)
Club: Eclipse
Position: LSM
Commitment: Cornell

39. Luke Perriello

School: Brunswick
Club: 2 Way
Position: M
Commitment: Dartmouth

40. Rhett King

School: Loomis Chaffee
Club: West Coast Starz
Position: G
Commitment: Denver

31-40 notes: Mallory also moves up because he helped his Choate team more during the season than anyone expected. Dude was all over the field for the Boars, making plays, and never stopped even when the game was out of reach. Hogencamp may have been on the wrong side of the MIAA D-2 title game, but he was one of the key factors in getting his team to that point. The Hornets are built on a physicality that helps them a lot on defense, but seeing how Hogencamp helps tie that together into the offense in person made it really click. By going up to get the ball and then making things happen shows that he is able to shoulder the burden of running an offense with the opposition’s best defender draped all over you.

41. Finley McClintock

School: Pingree
Club: 3D New England
Position: FO
Commitment: Harvard

42. Quincy Quillard

School: St. Sebastian’s
Club: 3D New England
Position: M/SSDM
Commitment: Syracuse

43. Marcus Rios

School: Thayer
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: FO
Commitment: Stony Brook

44. Ethan Abdella

School: St. Sebastian’s
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: SSDM
Commitment: Bowdoin

45. Daniel Guinee

School: Andover (Mass.)
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: A/M
Commitment: Army

46. Chris Tardie

School: Tabor
Club: 3D New England
Position: LSM
Commitment: Trinity

47. Patrick Cardone

School: St. Sebastian’s
Club: 4 Leaf
Position: G
Commitment: Trinity

48. Tim Howard

School: Cushing
Club: Fighting Clams
Position: D
Commitment: Holy Cross

49. Max Hill

School: Staples (Conn.)
Club: Eclipse
Position: M/SSDM
Commitment: Yale

50. Ben Midura

School: Milton (Mass.)
Club: Laxachusetts
Position: Goalie
Commitment: Navy

41-50 notes: I am tempted to move a lot more guys into this section after the NESCAC reads, but I think it’s just going to be a few select players for now. Tardie, for me, was one of the best LSMs in the ISL this season, and he didn’t even play in that spot full-time. His commitment to Trinity is one of the great pulls of this entire class. Guinee was so good at Legacy and for Andover this season that he has to move up the ladder. Similarly, Cardone also going to the Bantams is right up there with Tardie. The Sebs netminder showed how good he was throughout the season and into the ISL playoffs as well, just falling short of the title.

@TheKyleDevitte
kyle.devitte@laxjournal.com