Everyone wants “players to watch” lists in the preseason. It’s fun to write, hopefully informative to the reader, but we know we are going to miss players. We apologize in advance. With that said, join us for a tour of the MSHSL Boys Lacrosse universe.
We sought out 2025s that have already contributed in a meaningful way to a winning high school varsity team (i.e. as 8th graders last year). Using that as a threshold, and recognizing that there were more than these three that made varsity teams as 8th graders, and that we’ll likely see many other 2025s show well this season (keep an eye on Edina’s, BSM’s, Stillwater’s and Mahtomedi’s freshman classes) – we identified three players, alphabetical by last name list below.
Some observers see the 2025 class as potentially being right up there with some of the best classes in MN High School History – specifically, in no order, the 2016’s or 2018’s or 2021’s, thus this list will be much longer next year.
Kevin Graff – Attack – Bloomington Jefferson
Jefferson finished 7th in the pre-Section poll in 2021, and gave Prior Lake all they could handle in their section playoff. Graff was a starter, scoring important goals in wins versus Edina and Eastview, and finished as their 3rd leading scorer. With size, acceleration, field-stretching shooting and good vision, he will be expected to be a significant part of the Jefferson offense in 2022
Hayden Houghton – Goalie – Farmington
Houghton was a wall as an 8th Grader. He started all 16 games posting an 8-8 record, and almost lead the Tigers to an upset of Lakeville North in the section tournament, a 7-5 loss. He is mobile in the crease, has good size, is patient on shooters, and has sudden hands with technique that belies his age. Farmington will base their defense on his ability to force shooters to hit very small windows.
Oskar Magnusson – Midfield – Mahtomedi
On a senior laden team in 2021, Magnusson was a regular contributor, a man-up participant and the team’s fifth leading point producer. He is a mature athlete with nice size, who is powerful in his dodge and can stretch the field with his shot. With the loss of many scoring threats to graduation, the Zephyrs will rely on him to both score and create for others.
Thank you to mnlaxhub.com for their statistics.
The Class of 2024 will be up next.
