Eighty-Four High School Seniors to Compete in New Balance All-America Games

The Class of 2026 has one final chance to highlight themselves against their peers on the biggest stage before heading to college.

Eighty-four high school seniors (rosters below) were selected to play in the New Balance All-America Lacrosse Senior Games on Saturday at Towson University’s Johnny Unitas Stadium. The girls will play at 5:30 p.m. followed by the boys at 8 p.m.

“This is often the first time you may get to see these names that are now going to play the following spring for your favorite college team, whether it's a men's or women's program,” said Andy Bilello, vice president of events at Corrigan Sports Enterprises. “And there's always a fascination with sports fans with that. You also get players who have some reputations from different parts of the country who get to be on the same field for the first time.”

In both of the contests, players have been separated into a North squad that will face a South squad. Though a few injuries may affect availability, teams have been split into around 21 players apiece. Both games will be televised live on ESPNU.

“Any high school lacrosse event that gets live national television is unique,” Bilello said. “At the high school level, these athletes haven't experienced that yet. Maybe they've done something, a state playoff game or some other championship of their conference that may have been local. Certainly there's so many streaming opportunities these days. But we're live on linear television.”

Each player is outfitted with New Balance gear. They come to Towson for a banquet and some education the day before the game. In recent years, organizers have presented the players with a leadership segment.

“We want you to learn and grow and realize, you're gonna have to do a lot of this in the coming months,” Bilello said. “It's a big transition. It's a really interesting point in time for most of these kids where we get to see a glimpse of their lives before they become more independent naturally.”

Applications were flowing from every corner of the country since the fall. The first waves of boys and girls selected by Inside Lacrosse with coach input were released in April. Two more waves came out before the final wave was announced June 4.

“For the lacrosse community and the players at the high school level, so many of the really top players have set participating in this event as one of their goals for their career,” Bilello said. “It's kind of a milestone that concludes their high school part of their playing career as they get ready to move on to the test of college.”

The 2026 Tewaaraton Award men’s winner Shawn Lyght played for the North boys in a 22-16 win in 2023. The 2025 Tewaaraton winner Chloe Humphrey scored a hat trick and added an assist even though her North girls team lost, 14-10, in 2023. Northwestern’s Madison Taylor was the first women’s Tewaaraton winner in 16 years who did not play in the All-America Senior Game.

“We hope that the whole process identifies the majority of the top players who can continue to excel at lacrosse, whether it's through college or through professional ranks or with the U.S. national teams,” Bilello said. “But it's like everything else in sports, you can never fully measure and anticipate how a player's going to improve and grow. But I'd say more stars of the sport of lacrosse have played in this game than not in the last 20 years.”

Last year’s Senior Game girls’ MVP Reese King scored six goals in her final four games this season as a freshman for North Carolina. UNC teammate Addison Pattillo, the 2025 All-America Senior Game MVP, was a USA Lacrosse third team All-America pick as a sophomore this year.

Liam Kershis, the MVP of the boys 2025 All-America Senior Game, has started the last two years for Duke, and last year’s Senior Game MVP, Teddy Lally, scored 24 points as a freshman for Notre Dame.

“Usually more often than not, there's two, three, four players that you end up being like, oh my gosh, they are really good,” Bilello said. “Even amongst a group of All-Americans, there's often a small number that stand out and they're probably who you're going to notice for the next three, four years in college. They're probably going to be professional draft picks – like Chloe Humphrey, Joey Spallina, they were really good in this game.”

The North girls will be coached by RIT assistant coach and regular USA Lacrosse National Team Development Program evaluator Rachel Hillhouse and Brooks School (Mass.) coach Julie Duffy.

The team features highly regarded Darien (Conn.) star Anna Von Kennel, a Florida commit, as well as New York standouts Florida-bound Emma Speed of St. Anthony’s, North Carolina commit Cece Powell of Marcellus and Syracuse commit Peyton Rothfuss of Penfield.

Florida leads all colleges with eight players in the game. New York has 18 players on the North roster. There's also one California product, Stanford-bound Olivia Abbott. The North goalies are Maeve Magarity, a Boston College commit out of Penn Charter (Pa.) and Ruby Cacioppo, another Stanford commit out of Manhasset (N.Y.).

The South girls will be coached by former Maryvale (Md.) head coach Brian Reese and Krista Crittenden of Episcopal School of Jacksonville (Fla.). Reese’s daughter, Cayden Reese, headlines the South squad as the No. 1-ranked Class of 2026 player. She’ll play for her mother, Cathy Reese, at Maryland next year.

The South squad also features Notre Dame-bound Kenzie Rassas out of Georgetown Visitation (D.C.), Florida product Brooke McCoy, who’s headed to Duke, Clemson-bound twins Ava and Brinn Findora from Downingtown West (Pa.) and three Georgia products — Kylie Waters, Ella Upchurch and Gabi Johnson. Their goalies are Ella Davis, another Florida commit out of Archbishop Spalding (Md.), and Reagan O’Donovan, the McDonogh graduate headed to Penn State.

The North boys will be coached by former Bishop Guertin (N.H.) head coach Chris Cameron and his son, current head coach Brian Cameron, along with Shore2Shore director Tom Rooney, whose son, Maryland commit Danny Rooney, is a player for the North.

The North won’t have IL’s top-ranked 2026, James Gillis, due to injury, but will have Lucas Garcia, the Virginia-bound attackman out of Brunswick School (Conn.). Top-rated defenseman AJ Theodorakakos is also expected to play after receiving permission from Army.

The North also has another defenseman, Notre Dame commit Joe Ligas, one of two Californians in the game. Notre Dame has seven commits in the Senior Game, more than another other men’s school. Maryland and NCAA champion Princeton have five apiece.

The North goalies are Hunter Mezzatesta of Yorktown (N.Y.), who is headed to UVA and Kieran Walsh, a Notre Dame commit out of Chaminade (N.Y.).

The South boys will be coached by Springside Chestnut Hill (Pa.) coach Brian Dougherty, and two former Maryland teammates, Casey Connor and Buggs Combs.

The South features Harvard commit Cooper Brozek, an attackman from Toronto who went to Deerfield (Mass.), Duke-bound Dylan Malone out of La Salle (Pa.), St. John’s (D.C.) defenseman Jayden James (Syracuse), McDonogh (Md.) attackman Hunter Metz (Notre Dame), Maryland-bound Brady Mollot of Archbishop Spalding (Md.) and Princeton commit Noah Han from Georgetown Prep (Md.).

The South goalies are from less traditional hotbeds. Gabriel James comes from Jesuit Dallas (Texas) and will play for Ohio State and Michael Slusar is out of Community School of Naples (Fla.) and bound for Penn.

“It's usually fairly wide-open lacrosse,” Bilello said. “It's fun. In the end, it's an exhibition game so these aren't teams that have been together long and are drilled in a particular system. So for the most part, they just get to play, which I think it's incredibly enjoyable. Lacrosse is a fun game to play. And so this is where you see top level players having that freedom to fully express themselves.”

NEW BALANCE All-AMERICA SENIOR GAME ROSTERS

North Boys

South Boys

North Girls

South Girls

* Injured