Millon, Spallina Families Familiar with Sept. 1 Recruiting Rush

Friday figures to be a busy day in the Millon and Spallina households — not that they’re new to the Sept. 1 lacrosse recruiting frenzy.

Starting midnight tonight, college coaches can contact rising high school juniors. McDonogh (Md.) attackman Brendan Millon (Team 91) and Mount Sinai (N.Y.) attacker Alexa Spallina (Yellow Jackets) are two of the top prospects in the class of 2025.

They’re also the younger siblings of McCabe Millon (Virginia) and Joey Spallina (Syracuse), who were the No. 1-ranked boys’ lacrosse recruits in the classes of 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Brendan Millon maintained the top billing this week when the National Lacrosse Federation updated its class of 2025 rankings following the summer club season.

As a freshman at McDonogh, Millon came back from an injury late in the season and thrived as the off-ball complement to his brother with 18 points in the last four games of the Eagles’ run to their first MIAA championship since 2016. He followed that with a 47-goal, 33-assist encore as a sophomore, proving just adept as a dodger and as essential as his brother in leading McDonogh to back-to-back titles.

“It’s an incredible honor,” Millon said of the No. 1 ranking, according to the NLF. “There are so many great players in this class, and to be recognized at No. 1 is unreal. You see previous No. 1s like Brennan O’Neill, Joey Spallina and McCabe, it’s honestly really cool to be put up there with those guys. I can’t believe it.”

The Millons are lacrosse royalty. Mark Millon is one of the most decorated players in U.S. Men’s National Team history and was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2009. His wife, Erin Brown Millon, a two-time gold medalist with the U.S. Women’s National Team, joined him there in 2014. Their sons are well on their way to stardom.

The Spallinas have become similarly synonymous with excellence in the sport. Do-it-all midfielder Jake Spallina, ranked 26th on the NLF’s class of 2023 list, and his twin brother, long-stick midfielder Brett Spallina, have joined Joey Spallina at Syracuse. Now it’s their sister’s turn to enter the recruiting world.

Alexa Spallina, who like her brothers stars at Mount Sinai (N.Y.), was one of just 54 high school sophomores to earn USA Lacrosse All-America honors this year. She competed in the USA Lacrosse National Team Development Program Combine in 2021, led her Yellow Jackets club to back-to-back championship game appearances at the USA Lacrosse Youth Nationals and emerged this summer as a standout in First Class Lacrosse’s Best in Class series.

She’s one of five children to Stony Brook women’s lacrosse coach and U.S. Women’s National Team assistant Joe Spallina. While there’s no word yet on when 8-year-old Olivia will join the legacy of Spallina greats, Alexa Spallina became that much more of a household name Wednesday when Inside Lacrosse ranked her as the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2025.

“There’s no moment too big for Spallina,” the publication stated.

Not even midnight madness.