At NLF National Championships, It Just Means More

After fanning out across the country the last six weeks, the nation’s top club boys’ lacrosse programs converge this weekend on Long Island for the NLF National Championships.

It’s another recruiting event, yes. But there’s also team pride and bragging rights at stake.

“If you win the nationals in the NLF, that's a real crowning moment,” said Crabs Lacrosse director Ryan McClernan, who led a 2023 team to the title when they were rising high school seniors two years ago. “We felt really good as a staff and then our players are very proud of that kind of end of their club careers as players. It was emotional and exciting.”

Last year, it was the Team 91 Long Island Wolfpack who secured the top division at NLF, four years after their juggernaut Team 91 2020 Crush that featured Brennan O’Neill, Andrew McAdorey and Joey Spallina won the NLF championship game by 10 goals.

“That 91 team was special,” Annapolis Hawks director Matt Hogan said. “You just look at the roster, they had unbelievable players playing there and they did a great job coaching too. But I don't see any teams that are unstoppable this year.”

More than 280 teams spanning graduation years 2025-2032 are competing at Stony Brook and Farmingdale State, with the 2025 AA, 2026 AA and 2027 AA divisions drawing the most attention. The 2025 AA and 2026 AA finals will be played Sunday at Stony Brook’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

“The tournaments over the years have evolved. They’re more and more competitive,” Laxachusetts Lacrosse director Dan Chouinard said. “The NLF is still by far the most competitive.”

Last year, not one age group champion from 2022 was able to repeat as NLF national champions. Each team plays just two games per day and with timeouts, it’s more like a high school game. Plus, teams know each other well by the second month of the summer, making for few surprises.

“It’s three days of battle-testing lacrosse, so you’ve got to bring your best,” Prime Time Lacrosse director Nicholas Daniello said. “Any given game you can get knocked off. You’ve got to get out of your pool and then you have to beat somebody good. It's what makes the NLF so special. It's great teams and great competition and great exposure. You have to come in hot and ready to go.”

2025 AT A GLANCE

Prime Time is among the favorites in the oldest age group. The Prime Time 2025s won the North American Lacrosse Summer Invitational on June 30, the Naptown Challenge on June 26 and their own Prime Time Invitational on June 16.

The 3D Colorado 2025 team won the division at the Crab Feast Tournament on June 23. Prime Time lost in last year’s NLF final to Team 91 Long Island Shock.

“Our goal here at Prime Time is to play meaningful games on Sunday,” Daniello said. “If we're not playing meaningful games on Sunday, we've not achieved our mission that weekend. We have a pretty good chance in ’25 and ’26.”

Longtime 2025 team members Chris Iuliano (Notre Dame), Brady Scioletti (Duke) and Miguel Iglesias (Notre Dame) are the glue.

“Scioletti in my opinion, has established himself as the top offensive player in the class,” Daniello said. “And Chris Iuliano, by far in my opinion, is the best defensive player in the country. Those two have done a tremendous job and then a new addition to our team who I think has been a great since this fall is Kaden Smith, a Marquette commit.”

Rankings are big conversation starters, whether they are ranking players or teams. There are rankings put out by U.S. Club Lacrosse, the NLF and Inside Lacrosse. This year, the NLF and Inside Lacrosse teamed up to try to produce national club team rankings that don’t rely solely on which tournaments each team enters or if clubs pay to be ranked.

“Eighty percent is going to be an algorithm based on results and based on strength of schedule and how they're doing as teams, but then there's also a human component where we're every week interviewing about eight club directors that are really tied into that age group,” Team 91 director George Breres said. “Then we're merging all that data in with the algorithm and coming up with our own ranking system, and we feel like that's a little more accurate because it has that human element.”

By the newly adopted IL/NLF ranking system, the latest had the Hawks atop the 2025s followed by Team 91 Maryland 2025, Prime Time 2025, Team 91 Long Island 2025 Shock and West Coast Starz 2025 Navy.

2026 AT A GLANCE

Team Ten Lax won the 2026 title at NALs, Team 91 Long Island Storm won the Prime Time Invitational and Sweetlax Navy won the age group at the Naptown Challenge. DC Express and Shore 2 Shore also have strong entries.

But many coaches are listing the Long Island Express Channy team as the 2026 favorite. They won Crab Feast in June, and they’re ranked No. 1 in the latest IL/NLF collaborative rankings.

“The Channy team is the number one team to beat still,” Chouinard said. “We've beaten them once or twice in the last year, but not you when it matters at the big-time events.”

Said Hogan: “They lost in pool play [two weekends ago], which was a surprise. They’d been beating everybody pretty good.”

Division I college coaches can begin contacting 2026 players on Sept. 1.

“Sept. 1 can be an exciting time, but it also can be very stressful. Only a small percentage of guys are getting calls that day,” Chouinard said. “We tell them to trust the process and keep working. Get back to the gym and doing things in September.”

“We temper expectations a little bit there,” Hogan said. “Because your phone doesn't blow up Sept. 1 doesn't mean you can't find the right school for you.”

Long-stick midfielder Ethan Bramoff of Long Island Express Channy has solidified his spot as the NLF’s No. 1-ranked player in the Class of 2026.

“He’s a special player,” McClernan said.

Asked what other players have impressed him this summer, McClernan, whose Crabs Lacrosse club was the first of its kind in Maryland when he started it more than 20 years  ago, mentioned attackman/midfielder James Gillis of the Long Island Express, attackman Tedy Frisoli from Laxachusetts, midfielder Dylan Faison from Team 91 Long Island and goalie Nicholas Pagnotta from Sweetlax Florida. Attackmen Hunter Metz and James Finch have stood out.

Laxachusetts 2026 standouts have been Tuck Gilbane and Ty Curry on the offensive end, and Brian Burke and George Kelly. “Those guys have really separated themselves in that ’26 class,” Chouinard said. “And I think that ’26 class is super talented across the country.”

Gavin Lewis, Drew Demarinis, Harrison Morris, JT Mathura and Drew Vercher have improved their stock for September. The Madlax 2026s were on target to become sought-after recruits and have shown strong development over the past year to open more possibilities.

“Harrison Morris, the lefty attack from [St. Anne’s-Belfield], just had such a high motor he would turn the ball over a lot,” Madlax director Cabell Madux said. “And now he still has that high motor, but he can take care of the ball.”

Attackman Rick Giordano and defenseman John Buttafuoco are part of Prime Time’s loaded 2025 team roster, but both are class of 2026. And attackman/midfielder Lucas Garcia is another top-line 2026 for a stacked Prime Time junior class.

“Rick, Lucas, John, Matt Colella, Blake O’Callaghan and the two Taft kids, Evan Freeman and Joe McBride, have done really nice job of establishing themselves as high-end guys in the ’26 class,” Daniello said.

2027 AT A GLANCE

The 2027 age group was won by the Colorado Kings at last year’s NLFs. Mad Dog National 2027 Black won the Naptown title and the NALs and is the current No. 1 in the IL/NLF rankings.

Team 91 Long Island 2027 Machine was Crab Feast champion, and Daniello, the Prime Time 2027 coach, noted the growth of West Coast Starz.

Madlax feels good about its 2027 roster.

Laxachusetts Black won the Prime Time Invitational and has gone 4-for-4 in the summer tournaments they have played. They were unbeaten in the fall too.

“They're obviously excited about the possibility of finishing out and hopefully winning the national championship for that ’27 class,” Chouinard said. “They lost in the semis in overtime last year, so they've been there. But again, those top four or five teams in that ’27 class all could beat each other by a goal on any given day.”

2028 AT A GLANCE

The 2028 Hawks are defending champions, but it was 2Way 2028 Black that beat Express North 2028 Black in the Naptown event. McClernan likes the look of Leading Edge’s 2028s, and Hogan said the Hawks have had their battles with FCA.

The Hawks, though, have that winning pedigree and added a couple of players. They also moved a goalie who had played up with the 2027s into his 2028 age group.

“The core has been some guys who have been there since second grade,” Hogan said. “Wyatt Hicks and Nash Parker, Evan Wilhoit, Chris Burgess are guys who've been really good. One of the big issues is our pole, who I think is one of the top players on the team, tore his ACL the last game of HOCO so he's out. He’s really, really good.”

UNCOMMITTED — AND TOTALLY COMMITTED

For uncommitted 2025s, the last month was an important extension of the high school season to gain exposure in front of more college coaches. Whether they were injured, underexposed or just late bloomers, every club has a few 2025s still available and looking for a good college fit.

Increasingly common is the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic-based club teams having players from the South or Midwest on their rosters. Some rent homes for part of the summer to train and travel with their club teams.

“They need to buy in so that they are a part of a team, not just some assassins squad showing up to a tournament and the coach is introducing themselves,” Breres said. “We'll never do that. That's just not sustainable.”

The pool of players has deepened in recent years as lacrosse grows in less traditional areas. That has been reflected in the success of those area teams at the national tournaments with teams from Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Texas and California all making an impact.

AGE VERIFICATION EFFECT

In addition to the high school-aged brackets, the NLF National Championships will contest divisions down to the class of 2032.

Many youth clubs and tournaments have implemented the NLF’s age verification policy that went into effect last fall. It requires players in the class of 2029 and younger this year to verify their age through USA Lacrosse and uses 15-month age groupings — rather than grade exclusively — to segment them.

“It's some extra work, but it’s a welcome thing,” Daniello said. “We've made tremendous strides in year one. I wish that we didn’t have to have it, but unfortunately people want to win and they win at all costs. We've worked hard to put it in place. I’m excited to see what year two is like.”

 Most club directors are embracing the change that they hope will be adopted more widely.

“The more operators get on board with it, the easier it's going to be for everybody,” Breres said. “The feedback we're getting is people are excited that someone was doing it, and it just made sense for us competition-wise. It's just fair.”