Men's Lacrosse

MAAC Men’s Lacrosse Annual Awards Announced

EDISON, NJ (Apr. 28, 2026) – The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) has announced the 2026 Men's Lacrosse All-MAAC Teams and Major Award winners, as voted on by the league’s nine head coaches.

The 2026 MAAC Co-Offensive Players of the Year were awarded to John Murray of Sacred Heart University and Caden Olmstead from Siena University. Murray had a total of 41 points, with 31 goals, 10 assists. He averaged 2.93 points per game and 2.21 goals per game. On the MAAC leaderboard, Murray ranked fifth in goals, eighth in goals per game, 10th in points, and 11th in points per game. Olmstead had a statline of 35 goals, 12 assists, for 47 points and six individual man-up goals. On a per game basis, he averaged 3.13 points and 2.33 goals. Olmstead was the MAAC leader in man-up goals and ranked ninth nationally in the category. Additionally, he ranked fourth in goals, goals per game, and points, while ranking eighth in points per game on the conference charts.
 
Siena’s Riley Hegarty was picked as 2026 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year. The top cover player for the Saints, Hegarty scooped up 31 ground balls and had 19 caused turnovers with an average of 1.27 caused turnovers per game. He ranked seventh in the MAAC in caused turnovers average and tied for sixth in total caused turnovers. On the offensive side of the turf, he recorded seven points with his three goals and four assists.
 
Winning MAAC Face-off Specialist of the Year for the second consecutive season was Logan Banek of Siena. Banek was once again among the top face-off specialist in the nation, ranking second in face-off winning percentage (.695), eighth in ground balls per game (7.58), and 12th in ground balls (91). He led the MAAC in ground balls per game and face-off percentage, while ranking fourth in total ground balls and fifth in face-offs won (146).

For the second straight year, Marist University’s Michael Cassano was selected as the MAAC Long Stick Midfielder of the Year. In 16 games, Cassano collected 44 ground balls, had 14 caused turnovers, scored four goals, handed out a pair of assists, and registered six points. He averaged 1.46 caused turnovers per outing, a mark that was fourth-best in the conference and he averaged 2.69 ground balls per game, which ranked 13th in the MAAC.
 
The 2026 MAAC Co-Rookies of the Year went to Carson Turissini from Iona University and Jake Carney from Sacred Heart. Turissini led the Gaels in points (41) and assists (20), and added 21 goals, 15 ground balls, and four caused turnovers. He averaged 1.24 goals, 1.18 assists, and 2.41 points. Turissini was eighth in the league in assists per contest and 16th in points per game. Carney led the Pioneers with 33 goals. He added five assists for a total of 38 points and also picked up 16 ground balls and had three caused turnovers. Carney was among the top point earners in the MAAC, ranking second in goals per game (2.54), fourth in total goals, 12th in points per game (2.92) and 13th in total points.
 
Siena head coach Tim Cox was voted as the unanimous 2026 MAAC Coach of the Year. In his first season as head coach of the Saints, Cox led the Saints to a share of the 2026 MAAC Regular Season Championship, the program’s second title in as many years. Siena went 11-4 overall and 7-1 in the MAAC, landing the top overall seed in the MAAC Championship field and hosting rights for the championship’s semifinal and final rounds. The Saints went 6-1 at home this season and are 8-2 since the month of March.
 
The full list of All-MAAC Teams and major awards winners are below.
 
2026 MAAC Men's Lacrosse Major Awards
Award Name School
Offensive Player of the Year John Murray Sacred Heart
Caden Olmstead Siena
Defensive Player of the Year Riley Hegarty Siena
Face-off Specialist of the Year Logan Banek Siena
Long Stick Midfielder of the Year Michael Cassano Marist
Rookie of the Year Jake Carney Sacred Heart
Carson Turissini Iona
Coach of the Year Tim Cox* Siena
 
All-MAAC First Team
Player Class Position School
Collin Patrick Jr. Attack Marist
Caden Olmstead Sr. Attack Siena
Patrick Radomski Jr. Attack Siena
Sean Mullan Jr. Midfield Marist
John Murray* Sr. Midfield Sacred Heart
Travis Fry Sr. Midfield Siena
Logan Banek* So. Face-off Specialist Siena
R.J. Ihlefeld Sr. Long Stick Midfielder Siena
Garrett Mangels Jr. Defensive Midfield Sacred Heart
Liam Lennon Sr. Defensive Midfield Siena
Alexis Simard Sr. Defense Canisius
Aiden McCaffrey Gr. Defense Marist
Riley Hegarty Gr. Defense Siena
Evan Miner Sr. Goalkeeper Quinnipiac
 
All-MAAC Second Team
Player Class Position School
Nate Watson Jr. Attack Quinnipiac
Matt Pepe R-So. Attack Sacred Heart
Conor Hufnagel Gr. Attack Siena
Carson Turissini Fr. Midfield Iona
Thomas White So. Midfield Manhattan
Will Moulton Sr. Midfield Sacred Heart
Micah Hanson Sr. Face-off Specialist Canisius
Michael Cassano Jr. Long Stick Midfielder Marist
Kaiden Libby Sr. Defensive Midfield Canisius
Gavin Wolf R-So. Defensive Midfield Manhattan
Tommy Andruzzi Sr. Defense Quinnipiac
Joe Konesco So. Defense Quinnipiac
Michael Amoruso Sr. Defense Sacred Heart
Craig Daria Sr. Goalkeeper Sacred Heart
 
MAAC All-Rookie Team
Player Class Position School
Justin Relosky Fr. Attack/Midfield Canisius
Lleyton Hall R-Fr. Attack Iona
Carson Turissini* Fr. Midfield Iona
Nick Henry Fr. Attack Manhattan
Richie Metzger* Fr. Goalkeeper Marist
Jack Salva* Fr. Attack Merrimack
Nicolas Belmonte R-Fr. Face-off Specialist Mount St. Mary's
Duncan Zielke* FY. Attack Quinnipiac
Jake Carney* FY. Attack Sacred Heart
Ryan Grove R-FY. Face-off Specialist Sacred Heart
 
*Denotes unanimous selection
 
The 2026 MAAC Men's Lacrosse Championship is a five-team, single-elimination championship taking place from April 26 through May 2, 2026. The first round will be hosted by the #4 seed, the semifinals and championship will be hosted by the top overall seed. For all information regarding the 2025 MAAC Men’s Lacrosse Championship, please visit maacsports.com/mlax.
 
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 13 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 45th year of competition during the 2025-26 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius University, Fairfield University, Iona University, Manhattan University, Marist University, Merrimack College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Sacred Heart University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena University.
 
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