Chris Ryan, Attack/Midfield, Monte Vista, 2017 – Albany
Ryan was the most outstanding player on the field for either team Friday night. A quick, gritty right-handed playmaker, Ryan is loose, relentless and unpredictable as a dodger and shooter, and he showed the quick hands to make some really high-level feeds either coming out of his dodges or as defenders gave him a second with his hands free. He rarely stops his feet. He isn’t bothered by checks. Ryan has incredible snap on his shots. He has a quick trigger both to shoot and feed and some of his passes had that same pop that his shots did. One of his goals came as he took a feed a GLE, hesitated and then power-cradled to the front of the crease through checks and scored with ease. He scored another on the break, catching the ball and simply snapped his hands to put the ball directly into the bottom right corner. One of his assists was a slick lever pass to a cutter inside. He is an emotional jolt for his team and a fun player to watch. He led the way with four goals and an assist.