Maryland men's lacrosse: 2026 preseason awards

John Gugs
2 days ago
4 min read

Practices have started and preseason top 20 rankings and award lists are coming out, which means the season is just right around the corner. Today, we will take a look at some preseason awards for this year’s Maryland men's lacrosse ahead of the 2026 season opener.

Most Valuable Terp, Will Schaller

Schaller exploded onto the scene last season as the Terps main cover defender with Ajax Zappitello moving on to the PLL. Schaller earned himself the Big Ten defensive player of the year award, a first team All-American, and was on the NCAA All-Tournament team last season. With Schaller coming back for his final season, It would be safe to expect him to be even better than he was last season. Schaller finished the season with 23 caused turnovers and 31 ground balls while helping lead the defense to be the second best scoring defense in the country with allowing just 8.11 goals per game. Schaller will yet again draw the best player of each opponent this season, and him shutting down his matchup week in week out will be very big for the Terps with a new goalie starting and two new faces joining the starting defense.

Offensive Player of the Year, Eric Spanos

Spanos led the team in scoring with 55 points last season scoring 36 goals and dishing 19 assists. This season, Spanos comes back as the main offensive leader and it earned him the honor to be the first offensive player to wear the #1 jersey since Logan Wisnauskas in 2022. Spanos is second on the team in scoring since he touched the field with 116 total points in three seasons. Last season, the offense looked its best when Spanos was aggressive and forced slides, opening up other guys and leading to great ball movement or him getting easy open looks. With Spanos being 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, there are very few if any defenders in the country that can match his physicality when he wants to use it. It will just be a matter of being consistent this season for Spanos if he is to be the true top dawg on this year’s offensive unit.

Defensive Player of the Year, AJ Larkin

In his first team years on the field, Larkin has had great long stick midfielders to learn under in Nick Alviti and Jack McDonald. This season, Larkin gets his chance to prove he is the undoubtedly number one LSM on the roster and the conference and even the country. Last season as the number two LSM, Larkin finished the season with ten caused turnovers and 39 ground balls. Larkin also did a nice amount of damage on the offensive side of the field being a great weapon for the Terps in transition adding four goals and two assists to his name last season. With Larkin being the new number one getting even more opportunities to fill up the stat sheet, I fully expect him to do so and receive multiple All-American honors building off of his 2025 NCAA All-Tournament nod last season.

Newcomer of the Year, Henry Dodge

Over the last several years, the Terps have had several incoming transfers and freshmen step up to be a massive piece to the Terps success. In 2023, it was Braden Erksa. In 2024, it was Nick Alviti, and in 2025, it was Bryce Ford and Matthew Keegan. With the Terps yet again having a loaded transfer and freshman class coming in, there were a lot of options to pick from. But when you have the number one face-off man from the previous season transferring in, it makes it an easy choice. Dodge finished last season going 71.3% which was best in the country. Dodge also added 102 ground balls, a goal, and three assists to his name last season. With Shea Keethler graduating, Dodge will step in immediately having the number one face-off man spot and will look to bring back the face-off advantage that Luke Wierman had brought to the Terps from 2022-2024.

Most Improved Player, Jack Shultz

Shultz came in as a freshman and immediately stepped onto the field. He was a key piece on the Terps second line midfield going for eight goals and six assists totalling 14 points last season. Shultz was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team last season and will look to build on that with the new faces joining the team this season. Shultz showed lots of promise during the season while also having some freshman moments. With him being the number one midfield option on the second line this season, look for Shultz to be even better in 2026 and add major depth to the Terps offense.

Unsung Hero, George Stamos

Stamos first arrived in College Park as an LSM in 2023. However, due to injuries and lack of depth in 2024 to the short-stick defensive midfielder spot, Stamos moved to SSDM and he became a solid piece for the Terps rope unit. In two seasons, Stamos has nine caused turnovers and 22 ground balls as well as three goals and five assists. Pairing up with Eirc Kolar last season took Stamos’ game to another level with him having a career year in every category. With Stamos not receiving as much hype as the star defensive players such as Schaller, Larkin, and Kolar, he is still looked at as a leader on the defense and is one of the better SSDM’s in the country.

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