I went back and forth on the fifth and final ‘surprise’ among the five stars — Syracuse and Harvard made splashes by landing Moe Sobel and Teddy Oh, respectively, but those were expected moves. Enter John Lynch, who has been one of my favorite ’27s since I first saw him play in the spring for Belmont Hill in 2024, during which he played beyond his years.

Based on the intel that I had heard, I fully expected Lynch to wind up in the ACC at either Notre Dame or Virginia. Princeton ultimately won that battle to help boost what I consider to be a top three class, as the Tigers now have four 5-stars and six juniors ranked in the Top 35. There was definitely a heavy Massachusetts flavor in this class, with Lynch, Jack Czepiel, Finn Kilbourne, and George Caldroney, who grew up in Massachusetts before transferring to IMG Academy and moving to Bradenton with his family.

Lynch is a stud offensively for his squad and showed he can impact the game in numerous ways to help his team succeed. He tallied a pair of goals vs. DC Express, a goal and an assist, which led to the OT game-winner vs Sweetlax, and a sweet roll-dodge and shot that went bar-down in the title game vs. BBL Black. The Belmont Hill product is versatile in the ways he can attack and stays active without the ball as well. When dodging from either wing, he does a good job of using his speed and quick first step to gain leverage into the middle of the field for a high percentage take. When shooting, he is efficient and has a lot of power behind his shot whether on the run or with space to shoot.

I legitimately couldn’t decipher Lynch’s dominant hand during his freshman year, which speaks volumes about how formidable he is with both his left and right. At IDX, he posted two goals in each of his first two games and was routinely in the mix for many of his team’s scoring plays. In the Tide’s opener, he caught a pass with his left hand, rolled back to his right towards the middle of the field, and went offside high. On his next tally on EMO, he took a gorgeous cross-crease skip pass from George Caldroney (who was highlighted last week) and sent an underhand rip to the goalie’s offside hip. An energetic and smooth playmaker, Lynch also scored on a diving backhander later in the day.