Five Northeast Names to Know from the Autumn Bowl's '29 Division

Ty Xanders and I have covered a ton of players from Sunday's Autumn Bowl, with those four pieces linked below. In this final installment, with more names stashed away to revisit down the road, we take a closer look at five Northeast standouts from the 2029 division. From slick offensive playmakers to defenders who did the little things right, these five gave us plenty of reasons to take notice on Sunday.   <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/autumn-bowl-five-dynamic-29s-who-impressed-on-sunday-morning/" data-type="link" data-id="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/autumn-bowl-five-dynamic-29s-who-impressed-on-sunday-morning/">Autumn Bowl: Five Dynamic '29s Who Impressed on Sunday Morning</a> <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/defensive-difference-makers-from-the-autumn-bowl/" data-type="link" data-id="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/defensive-difference-makers-from-the-autumn-bowl/">Defensive Difference-Makers from the Autumn Bowl</a> <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/autumn-bowl-maryland-28-and-29-talent-on-the-rise/" data-type="link" data-id="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/autumn-bowl-maryland-28-and-29-talent-on-the-rise/">Autumn Bowl: Maryland '28 and '29 Talent on the Rise</a> <a href="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/autumn-bowl-2029-mid-atlantic-midfielders-making-their-mark/" data-type="link" data-id="https://preplacrosse.com/2026/11/autumn-bowl-2029-mid-atlantic-midfielders-making-their-mark/">Autumn Bowl: 2029 Mid-Atlantic Midfielders Making Their Mark</a>    Lilly might have been one of my favorite players in the '29 division at the Autumn Bowl—and he's a 2030. He is downright nasty. The lefty attackman has an incredible feel for freeing his hands. He has speed, but he doesn't always need it, using deceptive changes of direction and posture to make defenders look silly. It's one thing to beat a defender to the middle; it's another to get underneath him. Lilly has the toe drags and moves to squeeze by, reset his feet, and hammer shots with his underhand release.   He makes quick decisions and moves the ball when the dominoes start falling, but his off-ball work popped just as much. He has the hands to finish, but he really shined by freeing up teammates. You love an off-ball player who gets away with picks and holds because, frankly, refs don't call those as they do on the ball. Boston's Phinest scored so many off-ball goals Sunday, and Lilly was a huge reason why—a testament to his lacrosse IQ.     It's easy to love Usechek's game when you see him plow through a riding attackman on one clear, then shimmy and swip his way past one on the next. The lefty SSDM already made an impact for the Arrows as a freshman, and those one-man-clear-type plays show he has the X-factor to run with the big boys in the ISL. He's a junkyard dog on defense, with the strength to deliver big slides, the upper-body muscle to hold his ground, and the sly skill to jar balls loose with crowbars and wrap checks. He's exactly the kind of SSDM you want on a face-off wing—a true grinder willing to sacrifice his body to win a possession. And once he gets out in transition, he knows his role: draw the defense and move the ball, rather than trying to do too much.     DeFusco's stickwork caught my eye right away on Sunday—his pole looked more like an extension of his hands than six feet of stick, a telling sign of how far along he already is as a sophomore LSM. He handled his pole incredibly well in the clear and in transition, always a threat to uncork one. The obvious traits are there—tall, athletic, rangy—but the more you watch him, the more you appreciate the rest of his game. He has the flashy takeaway checks, and while he could dial those back a bit inside the box, he mostly knows when to go after it. I loved his off-ball defense Sunday, showing to scare dodgers and hunting backside doubles. He checks all the boxes and has three years to develop under new Taft coach Andrew Baxter, a well-established defensive guru with nearly two decades of coaching college lacrosse. What's not to love?     Yes, he is related. Dan's son and Joe's nephew, Nico Spallina was one of NE Select's most productive goal scorers on Sunday. A speedy threat from behind the cage and on the wing, Spallina showed he could create his own looks, using a little shake to get his defender leaning before turning on the jets to get up the hashes. He favored a low-to-low shot, both on the run and with his feet set, and he got the ball out of his stick in a hurry. There's a ton of top-hand speed in his release, something that really stands out when he gets in tight up the hashes or in a quick-stick opportunity. He gets the ball out deceptively quickly, often fooling goalies who expect a little more windup.     "Control the controllables." Eichfeld did just that, keeping it simple and playing good old-fashioned defense. He was the loudest voice in his defensive group, talking through slide packages and man-down responsibilities. When they gave up a goal, he was one of the first to huddle everyone up and diagnose what went wrong. He was fundamentally sharp on the ball, approaching his matchup in a low stance and taking away the strong hand. When dodgers tried to force the issue, he held his ground and kept them out of the middle. He took some LSM runs, too, and was solid off the ground, with the stickwork to match.

Ty Xanders and I have covered a ton of players from Sunday's Autumn Bowl, with those four pieces linked below. In this final installment, with more names stashed away to revisit down the road, we take a closer look at five Northeast standouts from the 2029 division. From slick offensive playmakers to defenders who did the little things right, these five gave us plenty of reasons to take notice on Sunday.

Autumn Bowl: Five Dynamic '29s Who Impressed on Sunday Morning
Defensive Difference-Makers from the Autumn Bowl
Autumn Bowl: Maryland '28 and '29 Talent on the Rise
Autumn Bowl: 2029 Mid-Atlantic Midfielders Making Their Mark

Cooper Lilly

HEIGHT 5'9"

POS A

CLASS 2030

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Cooper Lilly

State: Connecticut

School: Fairfield Prep

Club: Boston's Phinest, 3d New England

Lilly might have been one of my favorite players in the '29 division at the Autumn Bowl—and he's a 2030. He is downright nasty. The lefty attackman has an incredible feel for freeing his hands. He has speed, but he doesn't always need it, using deceptive changes of direction and posture to make defenders look silly. It's one thing to beat a defender to the middle; it's another to get underneath him. Lilly has the toe drags and moves to squeeze by, reset his feet, and hammer shots with his underhand release.

He makes quick decisions and moves the ball when the dominoes start falling, but his off-ball work popped just as much. He has the hands to finish, but he really shined by freeing up teammates. You love an off-ball player who gets away with picks and holds because, frankly, refs don't call those as they do on the ball. Boston's Phinest scored so many off-ball goals Sunday, and Lilly was a huge reason why—a testament to his lacrosse IQ.

Ray Usechek

HEIGHT 5'9"

WEIGHT 185

POS SSDM/M

CLASS 2029

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Ray Usechek

State: Massachusetts

School: St. Sebastian’s School

Club: Hilltop Crimson

It's easy to love Usechek's game when you see him plow through a riding attackman on one clear, then shimmy and swip his way past one on the next. The lefty SSDM already made an impact for the Arrows as a freshman, and those one-man-clear-type plays show he has the X-factor to run with the big boys in the ISL. He's a junkyard dog on defense, with the strength to deliver big slides, the upper-body muscle to hold his ground, and the sly skill to jar balls loose with crowbars and wrap checks. He's exactly the kind of SSDM you want on a face-off wing—a true grinder willing to sacrifice his body to win a possession. And once he gets out in transition, he knows his role: draw the defense and move the ball, rather than trying to do too much.