Dishing season grades for Maryland men's lacrosse's 2026 season

John Gugs
13 hours ago
5 min read

At the start of the season, we handed out preseason awards for the men’s lacrosse team as they geared up for their 2026 campaign. While the 2026 season has come to an end faster than many have expected, today we will be naming out 2026 end of season awards for this year’s men’s lacrosse team.

Most Valuable Terp, Henry Dodge

When Dodge entered the transfer portal last summer, immediately he became the hottest name in the portal as the number one face-off man available and arguably the best player available in the entire portal. When the Terps landed Dodge it bolstered a specialist room that lost their leading face-off man in Shea Keethler that went 55.6% in the 2025 season. Dodge finished the 2025 season at Vermont with the highest face-off win percentage in the country with a 71% win percentage. And in the 2026 season, even with while facing much tougher talent week in week out, Dodge did not skip a beat and continued to dominate the competition every week giving the Terps offense extra possessions helping them try to come back in many games and helping them stave off some comebacks in some close games as well. Dodge’s ability to keep the ball on the Terps’ offensive side of the field was something that helped keep them in every single game even when the offense was playing poorly.

Offensive Player of the Year, Leo Johnson

Johnson is another impact transfer that was massive for the Terps for when they had success this season. Leading the team with 48 points off of 29 goals and 19 assists, Johnson came up big in several big games and big moments for the Terps this season. Johnson was part of a trio of Yale grad transfers to join the Terps in 2026 and from the very first game against Loyola where he finished with six points off of five goals and an assist, Johnson showed he belonged and would be an important piece of the offense in the 2026 season. In the three games that Eric Spanos was out for the Terps this season, it was Johnson that finished with 14 points to carry the offense and the Terps to a 2-1 record in that span. Johnson was one of the few bright spots of an offense that massively underperformed in 2026. Without Johnson, it would be hard to imagine just how bad the offense would have looked.

Defensive Player of the Year, AJ Larkin

AJ Larkin as a freshman in 2023 was originally a close defender and was actually a five star blue chip recruit that very many people were excited to see. However, in the summer of 2023, Larkin and the Maryland staff decided to switch him to long stick midfielder and the decision has massively paid off ever since then. Nowadays, Larkin is widely considered as one of the best cover LSMs in the entire country if not the best and that does not include his ability to create offense in transition which is something he helped the Terps offense helped do immensely this season. In the preseason, Larkin was named the 39th best player in the country by Inside Lacrosse. And after earning a unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection, Larkin more than proved that ranking if not proving he should have been higher. Larkin finished the season with eight caused turnovers which was fourth on the team as well as picking up 40 ground balls which was second on the team. Like stated before, while Larkin is an elite defender as an LSM, what separates him from the rest of the LSMs in the country is his ability to create offense in transition. Larkin finished the season with seven goals and an assist. The last time any long stick defender had eight points or more was the 2011 season when Brian Farrell finished with 14 points.

Newcomer of the Year, Trevor Owens

Owens, like Larkin, is an LSM that the Terps heavily relied on this season. Last season, Owens redshirted as he hit the weight room to adjust to the speed and physicality of the college game. This season, the 6-foot-6 225 pound sophomore looked like a tree among the rest of the players on the field. Owens was able to use his height and length to his advantage when guarding opposing midfielders when they would try to get by him. Owens finished the season with four caused turnovers, 17 ground balls, and an assist that he added to his stat sheet against Rutgers in the Big Ten quarterfinal game. While learning under Larkin, you can fully expect Owens’ game to only expand both as a cover defender and in the transition game. And with a frame like Owens has, it means he has tons of potential with several years of eligibility left.

Most Improved Player, Peter Laake

When Will Schaller went down in the final seconds of the first overtime against Virginia, many Terp fans thought the season was lost and the defense would completely crumble. However, it did the complete opposite. After Schaller went down, The Terps defense would wind up shutting down a Virginia offense that is now one of the hottest offenses in the country for another 6:35, as well as holding offenses to just 7.7 goals per game in that span which would have been third in the country for the entire season. Laake was a massive reason for this as he stepped into Schaller’s role as the #1 cover defender and covered the quarterback of every opposing offense every week trying to shut them down and he did just that. Last season Laake was the fourth close defender on the depth chart and simply rotated in towards the end of the season. This season he earned his spot as the #2 close defender behind Schaller. After taking over for Schaller, Laake finished the season with five caused turnovers and 12 ground balls in just seven games. Laake also caused a crucial turnover in overtime against Virginia in overtime after Schaller went down that helped the Terps get the ball back to win the game. On the season as a whole, Laake finished with a team leading 11 caused turnovers as well as 23 ground balls which was fifth on the team. With Schaller headed to the PLL, Laake is now the #1 cover defender and Terps fans should be happy to be saying so.

Unsung Hero, Riley Reese

There were two big changes to the Terp defense that changed after Will Schaller went down with a season ending knee injury. One as mentioned before was Peter Laake taking Schaller’s role as the #1 cover defender. The second change was Riley Reese becoming an everyday starter as the main off-ball close defender. The main job as the main off-ball defender is not only to cover your own matchup, but to also help quarterback your own defense. You have to organize your slides and make sure everyone is on the same page. When Reese entered the picture on the defense, the defense started to look more organized. They looked more in sync. They did not seem to rush their slides or their double teams nearly as much. All of this was a big reason the defense found so much success in the second half of the season. In just the seven games he started, Reese caused ten turnovers and picked up 12 ground balls. Reese was also the overtime hero when he scored the game winning goal against Ohio State on senior day.

While the 2026 season will go down as a disappointing season going from the preseason #1 team to the last team on the bubble to miss the NCAA tournament, there were still plenty of fun and amazing moments and players on this squad this season. These players were very important towards the success of the team this season and with three of the five potentially coming back for the Terps next year, the future is bright in College Park.

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