As voted on by the players — here are Nos. 10 through 1 of the 2025 Players Top 50:
2025 Players Top 50, Nos. 10-1: Championship stars dominate top 10
10. Trevor Baptiste | New York Atlas | FO | 2024 Rank: 5
The lone remaining original member of the Atlas, Baptiste entered 2025 as one of the two most decorated faceoff specialists of all time. The former MVP, five-time Faceoff Specialist of the Year and perennial All-Pro had everything on his resume but a ring. He remedied that this past summer.
The vocal leader of the Atlas, Baptiste captained his club to an 8-2 regular season record while winning 58.9% of his draws. He turned his play up a notch in the playoffs. He won 60% of his faceoffs in the semifinals before going a dominant 73.3% (22-of-30) in the U.S. Bank Championship to carry his team to its first title just 20 miles from his hometown.
Baptiste is the best faceoff specialist in the world – and continues to make his case as the best ever at the position. – Zach Carey
9. Jared Bernhardt | Denver Outlaws | M | 2024 Rank: NR
Bernhardt was a white whale for PLL teams from the time he won the Tewaaraton Award at Maryland in 2021. After a run in professional football, he finally returned to the lacrosse field and chose to make Denver his PLL home. It took a few games to rediscover his footing at the highest level of the game, but Bernhardt was every part the elite athlete and playmaker he was with the Terrapins.
He scored 18 goals and provided four assists in nine games, earning first-team All-Pro honors. He’s the hardest player to guard in the league, with a blend of speed, power and footwork to get past any defender in the sport. As he enters Year 2, refining his shooting and playmaking chops after his time away from the game, Bernhardt has MVP potential in the PLL. – Topher Adams
8. Matt Campbell | Boston Cannons | M | 2024 Rank: 16
Ever since head coach and general manager Brian Holman drafted Campbell in the second round in 2023, Cannons fans had been awaiting his “breakthrough” season. He impressed in his second season, but 2025 was his best yet.
After Campbell won the Golden Stick Award as the top scorer at the 2025 Championship Series, his regular-season stat line – 18 goals, two two-pointers and eight assists – led Boston’s midfield and positioned him squarely in the MVP conversation. It was impressive enough to earn him the Gait Brothers Midfielder of the Year Award, making him the first Cannon to receive the honor.
Of course, Campbell’s impact extends far beyond the numbers. His knack for breaking one-on-one matchups and ability to shoot with either hand make him a central threat teams must game-plan against. Campbell has rapidly evolved in three years from a promising rookie to a potential franchise centerpiece. – Sarah Griffin
7. Blaze Riorden | Carolina Chaos | G | 2024 Rank: 3
The gold standard of goalkeepers remained true to name in 2025 as he climbed to sixth on the all-time professional saves list with 1,200.
While Carolina’s offense went through a remodeling process following its blowout loss to Utah in the 2024 semifinals, Riorden and the defense remained largely the same, giving fans some confidence leading into the 2025 season. That confidence only grew as Riorden recorded the second-most saves in the league (149) and the third-best save percentage among starters (57.3%).
Riorden is the cornerstone of the Chaos franchise, on the path to becoming the greatest goalie of all time. – Hayden Lewis
6. Pat Kavanagh | Denver Outlaws | A | 2024 Rank: NR
Kavanagh was always the player he looked like this season for Denver. He just needed the right situation. The Outlaws went all in on Kavanagh before the season, retooling their attack line around his skillset as a gritty, right-handed dodger and playmaker.
The second-year star rewarded the Outlaws’ faith in him with an MVP-level season. Kavanagh was an All-Star and a second-team All-Pro, finishing the season with 37 points (21G, 16A). His playmaking ability filled Denver’s biggest offensive need and got the best out of Brennan O’Neill and the Outlaws’ young offensive core. Kavanagh was the engine Denver needed, and he’ll fuel the Outlaws as they look to avenge their U.S. Bank Championship loss from this past season. – Topher Adams
5. Liam Entenmann | New York Atlas | G | 2024 Rank: 40
Entenmann was very good for a rookie in 2024. He was great in 2025. The Notre Dame product made the sophomore jump and then some. He stopped a league-high 152 shots, becoming the second goalie in PLL history to register 150 saves in a single season. He saved 57.1% of the shots he saw and backstopped a stout Atlas defense.
Entenmann saved his best for last, though. He made 18 stops at a 69.2% save percentage in the semifinals against the Philadelphia Waterdogs before making 15 saves in the U.S. Bank Championship versus the Outlaws. He stood on his head in the postseason to win his and the Atlas’ first championship, confirming his status as one of the best goalies in the world in the process. – Zach Carey
4. Michael Sowers | Philadelphia Waterdogs | A | 2024 Rank: 4
Sowers delivered the finest season of his career in 2025, continuing his elite-level play as the driving force behind the Waterdogs’ offense. Unsurprisingly, Sowers earned an All-Star nod and entered midseason as the league’s MVP front-runner. As the year progressed, the Waterdogs tweaked their offense to free Sowers for more isolation opportunities, using picks and screens to unleash his lethal footwork and dynamic scoring touch. He finished the regular season with 41 points (18G, 23A) on 27.7% shooting, boasting top-tier efficiency and command.
Then came Mustache Mike in the playoffs. Sowers erupted for eight points (4G, 4A) in a first-round win over the Maryland Whipsnakes. With his unmatched footwork, two-man mastery and quarterback-level vision, he’s firmly cemented as one of the league’s most dangerous offensive weapons. – Micheal Bolger
3. Jeff Teat | New York Atlas | A | 2024 Rank: 1
Following an absurdly productive 2024 season in which he set the league’s single-season points record and was its MVP, Teat was left wanting after losing in the semifinals to the Maryland Whipsnakes.
He turned the page in 2025, once again performing at an elite level throughout the regular season and scoring 40 points. Teat turned it up a notch in the postseason with 10 points in two games, including six in the title game. His behind-the-back feed to Reid Bowering set the lacrosse world on fire and was a statement moment for him on the game’s biggest stage.
Teat was the MVP of the U.S. Bank Championship, adding that honor and his first PLL title to what is becoming a long list of accolades for one of the game’s greatest players. – Zach Carey
2. Connor Shellenberger | New York Atlas | A | 2024 Rank: 35
Shellenberger found balance in his second season with the Atlas. He was the epitome of efficiency, hitting 47.9% of his shots while dishing out 23 assists to match his 23 goals.
Proving to be the perfect complement to Teat, Shellenberger established himself as one of, if not the, best players in the world. He was repeatedly clutch, lifting the Atlas to multiple close wins. His violent but composed dodging style was on full display and paired wonderfully with his stepdown shot. He scored seven points in four different regular-season games, forcing defenses to pick their poison as he thrived as both a feeder and a scorer.
The quintessential modern X attackman led the league with 46 points, earning the Jim Brown MVP Award before leading the Atlas to their first title with four points against the Outlaws. Shellenberger was the best version of himself in Year 2 and has multiple pieces of hardware to show for it. – Zach Carey
1. Brennan O’Neill | Denver Outlaws | A | 2024 Rank: 19
The prince who was promised. From the time he was a middle schooler, O’Neill seemed destined to be the best lacrosse player in the world, and that time has come. He’s always flashed the ability to take over a game with his dodging and shot-making, but this was the year he consistently put his game together over the course of a season.
An MVP showing in the All-Star game springboarded him to the best level of his career to date. He had 20 points in the last five games of the season, finishing the year with 23 goals, three two-pointers and eight assists.
Come playoff time, O’Neill got even better. He tallied six points (4G, 1T, 1A) to lead Denver past the California Redwoods in the semifinals, then scored a hat trick in the U.S. Bank Championship against New York. The talent has always been there, and as O’Neill matures into the prime of his career, the production and winning to come could be unstoppable. – Topher Adams
