NLF Heat Check: How Did Some of the Top 2028s Fare on the Island?

Photo: Matt Chandik (@mattchandikmedia) | Once again, the NLF Summer Championships (and subsequent Long Island Summer Showdown) served as a proving ground for some of the country's best talent, helping evaluators make key decisions as the club season came to a close. While we could spend even more time breaking down how the top '28s performed, these five were among the many surefire five-stars who balled out, with plenty more content on standout performances from their peers to come in the weeks ahead.    After leading the Bruins with 37 goals as a sophomore this spring, Hanford has carried that momentum into the summer, headlined by a ridiculous performance at the NLF Summer Championships, where he was arguably the most dominant 2028 prospect in attendance. On Sunday afternoon, he racked up five goals and two assists against the West Coast Starz, then posted three goals each in the semis against the Hawks (plus an assist) and in a championship loss to Team 91 LI. At this point, I feel comfortable saying he's undoubtedly the best shooter in the class, though he's far more than that and showed off his dodging chops. He shoots for the pipes — you hear a 'ping' on just about every goal — and he's absolutely terrorized goals as of late, ripping holes in them on several occasions since the spring. Hanford's ultra-competitive, and it always shows, particularly in the riding game, where he has a Kavanagh-esque relentlessness and is constantly causing turnovers. <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/06/justified-hype-class-of-2028-summer-recruiting-preview/">As mentioned in June's summer preview</a>, there's a multitude of dynamic lefties in the Class of 2028, but Hanford has certainly helped separate himself from others in the pack.     The first (and most recent) time we wrote up Hristoforatos, he was ripping it up down at the IMLCA Winter Players Summit in Florida back in December, making quite the first impression on Prep Lacrosse scouts and recruiters alike. Since then, he became a key contributor for the Flyers' varsity squad as a sophomore — something just about anybody in attendance could have seen coming — by posting 12 goals and nine assists, though his influence exceeded his stat line. A smooth operator in every sense, he didn't have the growing pains and turnovers that you often see from highly touted sophomores playing a schedule of that caliber, as he showed an incredible maturity (and we're talking about a kid who is rather young for his grade, too). At NLF, he was paramount to 91 LI ultimately winning the championship, posting two goals and an assist in the win over Eclipse. He gets up and down the field better than anybody else, turning big GBs into offense and dodging with poise and purpose. In terms of pure midfielders, 'The Greek Freak' and Leading Edge stalwart Danny Varone — who was excellent in his own right at the event — are justifiably viewed as 1A and 1B, and both will be in consideration to be the top-ranked player at the position when we roll out rankings later this summer.     Playing in one of (if not the most) challenging pods at NLF, Kennedy flexed his muscles and then some. This is something that felt apparent heading into the summer, but is even more so the case now that club ball has wrapped up, as he's a total outlier among his peers for a few reasons. Obviously, his size makes him rather different, but it's how well he moves for his size that makes him who he is as a prospect, along with the reality that he plays both LSM and close better than anybody else I've seen in the class. He handles his stick like a toothpick and makes timely plays, tallying in transition against an excellent Resolute squad to ice the game in a Sunday upset. <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2025/10/best-in-class-fall-showcase-2028s-defense-and-specialists/">As Michael Campanile worded it in our site's first evaluation of Kennedy back in October after Best In Class</a>, he is constantly able to 'dictate matchups physically' and make opposing offenses uncomfortable with regularity. He's just a pleasure to watch and super consistent — along with the rest of this class of longpoles, I can't wait to see where he winds up playing at the next level.       Things you can count on: death, taxes, and Delbarton LSMs laying claim to being among the best in the class. To say that Melchionni has done that would be quite the understatement, and he put together another brilliant campaign during his time on Long Island. As always, he was a bona fide vacuum on the wings of face-offs, helping Leading Edge's 1-2 punch when Chakabva and Hernando weren't winning it themselves. Overall, he's at his very best when the lights are the brightest, which is one of the best things you can say about a player. In a dramatic comeback win over Madlax on Day 1, he picked up a massive sideline GB and had the hockey assist for Patrick Smith's OT game-winner, and was stellar all game long leading up to that moment. One of the qualities that helps push him over the lion's share of his peers at a positional group that is better than it's been in years is his IQ both with and without the ball in his stick. His decision-making leaves nothing to be desired. Of course, he possesses so many of the same attributes that made his brother Jake one of the best players in the '23 class (and a Third Team All-American at Villanova this spring). While he isn't as big, his upside might be even bigger. Max's motor is like that of an Energizer bunny, as he's every bit of a sideline-to-sideline, endline-to-endline player who is constantly providing a spark in just about every facet of the game.     To a degree, lacrosse can be unforgiving since college coaches don't get many opportunities to watch high school lacrosse, leaving sophomores who miss most or all of the summer susceptible to the "out of sight, out of mind" effect. That's not necessarily the case for needle-movers like Wildman, who was named Connecticut Player of the Year after posting 78 goals and 32 assists this spring. Despite missing virtually the entire summer because of a shoulder injury that required surgery this week, he returned to help push Eclipse to the title game, piling up double-digit goals throughout the event and delivering when his team needed him most. On Monday, that included what may have been the best groundball I saw all summer in the timeliest moment, coming up with possession on a play that very well may have swung a game Eclipse might not have won otherwise. Rather than trying to overshadow Hanford or forcing anything to make up for lost time, Wildman gave Eclipse the perfect complement on the right-handed wing, providing the same kind of dynamic playmaking, poise, and finishing he's always shown despite being nowhere close to 100 percent and was as wildly productive as ever. There was no hesitation to his game, either. Wildman consistently attacked his matchup from up top or punished poor approaches, then made his presence felt without the ball and on the ride. Between the aforementioned duo and Jake Gashi, who was outstanding in his own right, Eclipse rolled out an attack unit that complemented each other beautifully and filled up the stat sheet.

Photo: Matt Chandik (@mattchandikmedia) | Once again, the NLF Summer Championships (and subsequent Long Island Summer Showdown) served as a proving ground for some of the country's best talent, helping evaluators make key decisions as the club season came to a close. While we could spend even more time breaking down how the top '28s performed, these five were among the many surefire five-stars who balled out, with plenty more content on standout performances from their peers to come in the weeks ahead.