Summer Slam: '28 Standouts with Rising Stocks

The 14th annual Summer Slam Lacrosse Tournament, hosted by Victory Event Series, was held this weekend, June 27-28, at West Chester University. Eleven different clubs from the 2028 classification took the field in what was a rainy Pennsylvania weekend, but that certainly did not slow down the action. Justin Staggers with Prep Girls Lacrosse was on site all weekend. Here is the first batch of 2028 standouts.    A player who embodies the "next play" mentality, Ryleigh Whitener had an impressive weekend in West Chester, Pennsylvania. What stood out most was her composure and mindset. In one instance, she got stuffed on an eight-meter attempt, picked up her assignment on the ride, and read the goalie perfectly, intercepting a long clear near the restraining line before taking it back for a quick goal. Whitener is as athletic as they come, and the speed and agility she shows getting back to make plays like that separate her from the average attacker on the ride.     Anna Cedarleaf is a tall, athletic midfielder who excels at draws. Her height gives her a clear advantage in the circle, and she does a good job pushing the draw to a teammate and getting involved in the half-field set right away. She moves like someone half a foot shorter but has the long strides to beat an aggressive ride and make a difference in transition. She had a play where she pushed a draw to a teammate, received it back around midfield, drove the tempo offensively, and dumped it off to the open teammate on the right wing after drawing the slide for the finish.     Selila Fleck is a dynamic scoring threat who initiates and gets it done from anywhere on the field. Clear out behind GLE and give her a runway to work at "X," and good things tend to happen. She does not look like the player who will drop her shoulder and bully her way out above GLE, but more than once she did just that against taller, stronger defenders. She has that sneaky strength that defenses often do not account for, but also possesses the speed to turn on the jets and create scoring opportunities with her explosive burst alone.     Another Yellow Jackets North player who had an impressive outing in West Chester, Rylin Dorsman was one of the better finishers at the cage this weekend. She is crafty around the crease, with the rare ability to alter the angle of her shot mid-release. She had a particularly impressive play where she got by her defender with a sharp off-ball cut to the crease, caught it in stride, and began loading up an overhand shot before a recovering defender closed in. Rather than forcing it, she dropped her release angle and finished with a low-angle lefty shot instead that the goaltender had zero chance of getting to.     A 2028 playing up on the 2027 team, Jaidyn Barnard is a lanky midfielder from Leonardtown, Maryland, whose speed single-handedly changes games. There were few players who showed off wheels like Barnard. She played primarily as an offensive midfielder this weekend, subbing in and out with a defensive midfielder depending on possession. Every time she came in, Barnard looked like she was shot out of a cannon from the substitution box, and her streaking speed down the middle of the field resulted in multiple goals for her Uproar club. But she also showed she can initiate and create opportunities on her own. One of her best goals this weekend came off an explosive first step on her dodge — as she burst right, she secured shoulder position to work herself in front of the cage for a high-percentage look.     Emily Whartnaby, a smaller, fleet-footed midfielder, was a force on ground balls all weekend, regularly turning 50/50 balls into extra possessions for her team. Despite her smaller frame, Whartnaby does an excellent job winning body position before the scoop and never shies away from a pile if it means gaining possession for her team. More than once she emerged from a scrum with the ball before taking off in transition. She has the speed to break away and push tempo, but Whartnaby also impressed with her composure. She is a patient ball handler, understanding when to pull back in transition if the numbers are not there and when to push the pace and crash the crease if they are.

The 14th annual Summer Slam Lacrosse Tournament, hosted by Victory Event Series, was held this weekend, June 27-28, at West Chester University. Eleven different clubs from the 2028 classification took the field in what was a rainy Pennsylvania weekend, but that certainly did not slow down the action. Justin Staggers with Prep Girls Lacrosse was on site all weekend. Here is the first batch of 2028 standouts.