Happy Valley Rising: How Penn State Landed Two Top-10 Recruits

Riley Davis and Kelsey Young have been chasing the same goals for the last two years as rivals.

Two years from now, they will chase titles together as teammates.

Davis, ranked No. 1 in the Class of 2027 by Inside Lacrosse, joined Young, ranked eighth, in committing to Penn State in September. The five-star recruits, along with four-star commit Miabella Gates, Dalton Klaus and Brooke Schultz, helped new head coach Kayla Treanor make Happy Valley a bit happier with her first recruiting class.

“I feel like us playing together is going to have an impact, hopefully sooner rather than later, when we get there in the spring two years from now,” Davis said.

Playing together will be a big change for the current Philadelphia-area rivals. When their teams met in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) state championship in May, Young had a pair of goals and four draw controls to help her Agnes Irwin team to a 9-4 win over Notre Dame, which got three assists from Davis.

Agnes Irwin swept all three meetings in 2025, winning both Inter-Ac League matchups and then the PAISAA.

“There’s no love lost between the two teams,” Agnes Irwin coach Lauren Wray said. “The kids play incredibly hard.”

The Owls also won the PAISAA in 2023, when Young played on varsity as an eighth grader. Agnes Irwin was co-champion of the Inter-Ac in 2024 after Notre Dame pulled out a 12-9 upset over them in the regular season.

The Irish are on everyone’s radars this spring thanks to Davis and a strong returning core, while Agnes Irwin and defending champion Episcopal Academy have graduated some major contributors.

“I think me and Riley both have a competitive fire, just being from the same area,” Young said. “I play Notre Dame twice a year, and I think we’re both competitive people. We both want to be the best; we both want to win. So, I think playing against Riley gives me motivation to get better and push myself because she’s such an amazing player. I think we can be friends off the field for the next two years, but on the field, I still want to win an Inter-Ac title.”

The two also play for different club teams. Young is a star for Philly Blast Lacrosse. Davis joined HHH Philly Girls Lacrosse last fall and raised her status nationally. She was unveiled as the No. 1 ranked 2027 at the end of August just ahead of the Sept. 1 date when college coaches could begin communicating with high school juniors.

“They’re both super competitive, so it’s like going against your archrival for four straight years,” said HHH Philly coach Colleen Magarity Kelly, who also coaches against both players as Penn Charter’s head coach. “To be playing with them, that’s honestly the beauty of going to the next level. You end up playing with people that you hated to go against.”

The two also have a lot in common as multi-sport athletes.

Davis is a top basketball player and was Inter-AC Most Valuable Player for champion Notre Dame last winter. Young is still in the middle of her soccer season for the Inter-Ac fourth-place Owls.

Both have some pretty impressive mothers as role models and consultants in the recruiting process. Julie Young (née Shaner) played soccer and lacrosse at Princeton and went on to become Villanova’s women’s lacrosse coach. Megan Davis (née McGonagle) played soccer and lacrosse at Rutgers and went on to be head coach of both sports at Marist a few years before having Riley.

“September 1, I was ready to move fast with my decision, but I did really make it a point to take my other visits to be left with no what-ifs and to really be 100-percent sure with my decision at Penn State,” Young said. “And I’m so glad I took those three other visits because I really do have no what-ifs and I’m 100-percent set on Penn State and happy with my decision.”

Young was the first to commit, announcing her choice on Sept. 10. She was sold quickly on the Nittany Lions rebuilding under Treanor, who took Syracuse to two final fours in four years before replacing Missy Doherty, who stepped down after 15 seasons leading the program.

“I think the biggest factor that swayed me to Penn State was Kayla Treanor,” Young said. “She’s an amazing coach and an amazing player … but also when I went on my visit and I went out to Penn State in person, the atmosphere of the school, the school spirit that everyone has, the facilities, they just built the new Greenberg [Indoor Sports Complex] and it’s so nice. It just doesn’t compare to any other school.”

Davis followed eight days later. Her commitment gave the program another bump after she chose Penn State after visits to Boston College, Notre Dame and Maryland.

Their commitments added to the momentum that Treanor had already started when top 2026 goalie Reagan O’Donovan of McDonogh (Md.) flipped from Syracuse to Penn State. Davis and Young are hoping other talented players will follow their leads to State College.

“It’s so exciting that Kayla was able to come in her first year and get what I think is one of the best recruiting classes in our class,” Young said. “And I think that speaks volumes to what she wants to do with the program. She wants to move fast and make a big impact and get us to a national championship quickly.”

Penn State went 11-8 last year with a 4-2 record in the Big Ten, but the program is 32-33 over the past four years. Selling some highly regarded talent on Penn State’s potential should help turn the tide.

“Just taking the risk and being a part of that risk is something I never thought I would do because I didn’t really think I was going to go to Penn State from the beginning,” Davis said. “But just from everything that they’ve all said, it just seemed all right to me.”

Davis and Young already are starting to transform their relationship to transform Penn State’s outlook. They were together on the sidelines for the Penn State football team’s White Out game against Oregon on Sept. 27 along with Gates, who hails from Cicero, N.Y.

It was a chance to start to get to know each other better in person.

The two have had very limited chances to play together, but a small sample size showed potential that has to make Treanor smile. Together on the Pennsylvania Blue 2027 team at the American Select Best in Class event in late July, Davis was fouled twice in a row, and on the second 8-meter attempt, instead of shooting, she flicked a pass to Young whose goal sent the game against eventual champion New Jersey Navy into overtime.

“We were just so pumped,” Davis said. “But now to put it into perspective, this could be us in two years.”

“I think the little connections like that will continue to grow over the next two years before we get to Penn State,” Young said. “And then who knows what will happen from there? I think that’ll be fun.”

The two are paying closer attention to each other’s games now. They often picture how they will blend together on the field.

“Since we’re both midfielders, we like the pace of the game being fast,” Davis said. “It’s the fastest game on two feet, but I feel like we could take that to another level just by us being together on the field. I feel like our chemistry will just continue to grow.”

In Davis, the Nittany Lions are getting a physical, all-around midfielder whose biggest upside is that she hasn’t played as much lacrosse as many of her peers.

It was newsworthy that she made the commitment to pursue lacrosse over basketball in college. It’s a basketball player that Davis reminds Kelly of most. It’s former UConn star and three-time NCAA champion Caroline Doty ‑‑ “an insane athlete,” according to her coach.

“Riley is the No. 1 recruit because of her athletic capability and the way she carries herself, the way she can run, the way she can defend, the way she can kind of do it all,” Kelly said. “So, that’s the biggest thing that’s going to help her get on the field right away and contribute.”

As a sophomore at Notre Dame, Davis scored 87 goals and had 29 assists, 93 ground balls, 123 draw controls and 40 caused turnovers.

At Penn State, she sees a chance to develop even more while lifting the program under Treanor, who is making an impact early on her new team.

“She said something to me that really stuck out to me,” Davis said. “She was talking about great schools and how great they are and what things they have and everything. But she said to me, ‘You can either be a part of history or you can make it.’ So that really stuck out to me.”

Young scored 49 goals and had three assists, 34 ground balls, 39 draw controls and 27 caused turnovers for Agnes Irwin last spring. She has shown she can do it all, each year growing her game and becoming a bigger part of the team’s success.

“She is probably one of the more athletic kids I’ve ever coached,” Wray said. “And she’s got a lot of grit, too, which I love about her. She is a true two-way midfielder, and I think she will be in college, too. And I don’t say that about every kid that plays midfield for me at Agnes Irwin, but she goes from the offensive side of the ball to a complete menace on defense.”

They still have two high school seasons against each other before they’ll be united on the field as Nittany Lions. They will have another chance to work together as co-captains for a team in the NILLY Tournament draft Nov. 3. The tournament is in July 2026.

“We’re starting to build our friendship more now,” Young said. “And we text a good amount. We were just texting about the NILLY. Hopefully we win this summer. But I just think the closer we are before going to Penn State, it can only be better for us when we get there. We like the same things and have similar interests. It’s been fun.”

The real fun comes in two years.

INSIDE THE 2027 RECRUITING SCENE

Riley Davis and Kelsey Young made a splash with their commitments to Penn State as top-10 players according to Inside Lacrosse, but the Nittany Lions aren’t the only ones making waves.

The highest ranked program based on player rankings goes to Florida. The Gators lost assistant coach Regy Thorpe, who took over for Treanor as Syracuse head coach, and he also brought Florida offensive coordinator Nicole Levy with him. Florida head coach Amanda O’Leary hired Jared Bernhardt and Lindsay Epstein to complete her staff, and the Gators hit the jackpot with four players ranked in Inside Lacrosse’s top 20 and seven in the top 50.

Penfield (N.Y.) midfielder Avery Fordham is the No. 4 recruit, and Dexter Southfield (Mass.) midfielder Cecilia Evans is No. 6 for the Gators’ own top-10 duo. Add in Manchester Valley (Md.) midfielder Taylor Fique (No. 17) and Bishop Shanahan (Pa.) midfielder Fiona Duncheskie (No. 20), and the Gators are off to a great start.

Stone Ridge (Md.) attacker Chloe Cassidy (No. 26), St. Paul’s (Md.) midfielder Kinsley Pittler (No. 40) and West Islip midfielder Jenna Obloj (No. 44) round out their early commits.

Boston College, Notre Dame and defending national champion North Carolina all have three players in the top 20. Boston College has the top-ranked goalie in the class, fifth-ranked overall Jessica McKelvey out of Hillsborough (N.J.), along with athletic New Yorkers Allie Pisano and Madison Herr.

Notre Dame’s class is led by West Morris Mendham (N.J.) attacker Shea Shoulberg, who led the New Jersey Navy to that American Select 2027 title last summer, another gifted attacker in Mary Clare Ebeling out of Rye (N.Y.) and New Canaan (Conn.) goalie Macyn Callahan.

North Carolina picked up commits from three in the top 10. Nos. 2 and 3 players, Valor Christian (Colo.) attacker Giana Bigelow and Deerfield (Mass.) midfielder Ryan Rodgers, along with midfielder Emma Switter, the ninth-ranked player from American Heritage-Delray (Fla.), give the Tar Heels a top-heavy haul.

Maryland, Yale, Syracuse, Clemson and Stanford all have commitments from one player apiece in the top 20.