Syracuse and Maryland lead the way, the ACC is stacked, and the defender group is deep. The 2026 Tewaaraton Watch List, by the numbers.

The initial 2026 Tewaaraton Watch list was released during Tuesday night’s game between Johns Hopkins and Towson on ESPNU. Considered to be the Heisman of lacrosse, the Tewaaraton is given annually to the nation’s most outstanding college lacrosse player in both the men’s and women’s game. Historically, the men’s award skews heavily towards attackmen.

Of the initial list of 50 players, 14 are attackmen. The only two sophomores on the list, Hunter Aquino (listed at midfield though he now starts at attack for Penn State) and Tim Shannehan from Boston U, are among the attackmen listed. Joey Spallina, Ryan Goldstein, Owen Duffy, and Mikey Weisshaar, all considered heavy contenders for the award, appear with the attackmen as well. Jack Regnery, the stellar scorer and preseason D3 player of the year from Tufts, also made the list as the lone D3 player.

There are eight midfielders on the list, all seniors with the exception of Duke’s Benn Johnston. Kyle Lewis, the best midfielder in all of Division Two and star at Adelphi, makes the initial list as well. Lewis had committed to Penn State via the portal over the summer, but ultimately changed his mind and returned to Penn State. Chad Palumbo, Matt Collison, and Michael Leo all headline the midfield list, and all are expected to be high picks in the upcoming PLL draft. 

There are 16 poles on the list, either as close defenders or as LSMs. Five of them are juniors, part of a stellar class of poles. That group includes Ty Banks, Shawn Lyght, AJ Marsh, Jake Melchionni, and Julian Radossich. Radossich is one of the few players on the list from a “mid-major” school, playing at Fairfield in the CAA. Bobby Van Buren is on the list, despite the fact that he has already been ruled out for the season with a knee injury. Van Buren is expected to seek a waiver to play an additional year of college lacrosse. 

 Turning to specialists, four faceoff men made the list. Jack Cascadden from Cornell, Henry Dodge from Maryland via Vermont, John Mullen from Syracuse, and Brady Wambach at UNC. Mullen and Wambach are juniors. Three SSDMs are on the list: Maryland’s Eric Kolar, Duke’s Aidan Maguire, and Richmond’s Jack Pilling. Maguire is the reigning McLaughlin Award winner as the nation’s top midfielder. Five goalies are on the initial list, three of them are juniors. Last year’s top goalie, Caleb Fyock, is on the list. He’s joined by fellow juniors Anderson Moore and Cardin Stoller, along with seniors Sean Byrne and Ryan Croddick. 

From a conference perspective, the list is top heavy. The ACC leads the way with 14 players, followed closely by the Big Ten with 11. After that, the list is fairly diverse. It breaks out as:

Atlantic 10 - Three players

ACC - 14 players

America East - Two players (both from Albany, Silas Richmond and Max Neeson)

Big East - Three players

Big Ten - 11 players

CAA - Two players

Ivy League - Seven players

Patriot League - Six players

The last two players are Lewis and Regnery, from the NE-10 and NESCAC respectively. 

There are 27 total schools represented on the list. Maryland and Syracuse, as of this writing the top two teams in the country, lead the way with four selections each. There are 15 programs with multiple players picked for the watch list. 

Schools with multiple selections:

Albany (2)

Army (2)

Cornell (3)

Duke (3)

Georgetown (2)

Harvard (2)

Maryland (4)

North Carolina (3)

Notre Dame (2)

Ohio State (3)

Penn State (2)

Princeton (2)

Richmond (3)

Syracuse (4)

Virginia (2)

The Tewaaraton Foundation will add additional names to the list as the season goes on. The full list of candidates:

Hunter Aquino, Penn State - Soph., Midfield

Ty Banks, Georgetown - Jr., Defense

Cullen Brown, Ohio State - Sr., Defense

Sean Byrne, Army - Sr., Goalie

Jack Cascadden, Cornell - Sr., Face Off

Richard Checo, Lehigh - Sr., Defense

Matt Collison, Johns Hopkins - Sr., Midfield

Ryan Croddick, Princeton - Sr., Goalie

Henry Dodge, Maryland - Sr., Face Off

Will Donovan, Notre Dame - Sr., LSM

Hunter Drouin, Colgate - Sr., Midfield

Owen Duffy, North Carolina - Jr., Attack

Billy Dwan III, Syracuse - Sr., Defense

Willem Firth, Cornell - Jr., Attack

Caleb Fyock, Ohio State - Jr., Goalie

Ryan Goldstein, Cornell - Jr., Attack

Logan Ip, Harvard - Sr., Midfield

Charlie Johnson, Duke - Sr., Defense

Benn Johnston, Duke - Jr., Midfield

Eric Kolar, Maryland - Sr., SSDM

Michael Leo, Syracuse - Sr., Midfield

Kyle Lewis, Adelphi - Sr., Midfield

Shawn Lyght, Notre Dame - Jr., Defense

Aidan Maguire, Duke - Sr., SSDM

AJ Marsh, Navy - Jr., Defense

Jake Melchionni, Villanova - Jr., LSM

McCabe Millon, Virginia - Jr., Attack

Anderson Moore, Georgetown - Jr., Goalie

John Mullen, Syracuse - Jr., Face Off

Max Neeson, Albany - Sr., Defense

Aidan O'Neil, Richmond - Sr., Attack

Chad Palumbo, Princeton - Sr., Midfield

Dominic Pietramala, North Carolina - Jr., Attack

Jack Pilling, Richmond - Sr., SSDM

Evan Plunkett, Army - Sr., Midfield

Julian Radossich, Fairfield - Jr., Defense

Jack Regnery, Tufts - Sr., Attack

Silas Richmond, Albany - Sr., Attack

Alex Ross, Penn State - Sr., Defense

Will Schaller, Maryland - Sr., Defense

John Schroter, Virginia - Sr., Defense

Tim Shannehan, Boston University - Soph., Attack

Hunter Smith, Richmond - Sr., Defense

Joey Spallina, Syracuse - Sr., Attack

Eric Spanos, Maryland - Grad. Student, Attack

Jack Speidell, Harvard - Jr., Attack

Cardin Stoller, Rutgers - Jr., Goalie

Bobby Van Buren, Ohio State - Grad. Student, Defense

Brady Wambach, North Carolina - Jr., Face Off

Mikey Weisshaar, Towson - Sr., Attack