Maryland men's lacrosse snags three transfer portal commits after 2025 championship run

John Gugs
2 days ago
3 min read

After losing in the national championship for the second year in a row to the top seed on Memorial Day, Maryland men's lacrosse head coach John Tillman and his coaching staff got right to work on recruiting the transfer portal. Just one month into the start of the transfer portal frenzy, the Terps have landed three commitments to go on top of landing Chris Lyons and Leo Johnson out of Yale back in the fall. We look into each of the three commits and how they fit in 2026.

Michael Alexander

A former All-Ivy close defender out of Yale, Alexander has started every single game he has played in for the Bulldogs since 2022. In 2025 however, his season was cut short due to injury. Before 2025, Alexander totaled 28 caused turnovers, and 52 ground balls picked up. Along with Lyons and Johnson, all three are taking advantage of their medical redshirt and joining the Terps program as graduate students.

Alexander will be a big piece of the Terps' defense in 2026. With both Jackson Canfield and Colin Burlace graduating this year, the Terps went out looking for an experienced close defender to join the returning close defenders in Will Schaller and Peter Laake. Alexander fills exactly what John Tillman set out to get through the portal and will look to be a solid piece of the defense in front of the new starting goalie in Brian Ruppel.

Henry Dodge

Dodge had a career year in 2025 for the Vermont Catamounts, finishing with the best face-off win percentage in the entire country at 71%. Dodge finished the 2025 season with several accolades, such as America East face-off specialist of the year, America East all-conference first team, and Inside Lacrosse honorable mention All-American. Along with leading the nation in face-off win percentage, Dodge totaled a goal and three assists while also picking up 102 ground balls and causing three turnovers.

In their first season without Luke Wierman at the helm of the face-off room since 2021, the Terps struggled at times to win face-offs and were never able to find a dominant face-off man. Shea Keethler, who was the Terps' top face-off man, went 55.6% from the dot while Jonah Carrier went 52.1% and Sean Creter went 41.6%. With the possibility of losing Keethler to graduation, the Terps needed a proven face-off man in the portal to at least add depth to the room for next season. Not only did they add that, but they added the best face-off man in the portal in Dodge. Dodge will look to be a massive part of the Terps 2026 season and will look to give the Terps plenty of extra possessions each week to an offense that looks to be stacked.

Trey Fleece

Fleece, like Alexander and Dodge, will be joining the program with just one year of eligibility left for his career. From Glenwood, MD and out of Archbishop Spalding High School, Fleece started his career at UMBC as a short-stick defensive midfielder. Fleece totaled ten caused turnovers and 47 ground balls picked up in the 2025 season while also recording a goal and an assist. Being a short-stick defensive midfielder, Fleece was constantly attacked by opposing offenses and constantly was able to hold his ground, being a bright spot for the UMBC defense.

The Terps likely lose a good bit of depth at the SSDM position to graduation this summer. Zach Goorno who was a starter, as well as possibly Geordy Holmes and Alex Wicks could all be leaving the program. Adding Fleece fills a big hole in the SSDM room as an experienced second line SSDM to team up with Thomas Gravino who will only be playing in his second season of playing regularly. The Terps love SSDMs who are great at picking up ground balls on face-offs and Fleece does exactly that. Look to see him out on the wing for face-offs along with Eric Kolar for the most part next season.

With Alexander, Dodge, and Fleece joining Lyons and Johnson as portal commits, the Terps will once again have a loaded transfer class coming in to try and help them make it to Charlottesville for Memorial Day weekend in 2026 and look to get over the hump and claim their third national title in nine full seasons.

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