We’re getting closer and closer to the 2026 college lacrosse season every day! We’ve already made some preseason award and honors picks for Big East women’s lacrosse, so go check those out if you haven’t already. Here we’re going to do the same for Big East men’s lacrosse, as we have to get on the record before the league drops the official press release sometime between now and when the season starts for realsies in February.
What you’ll find below is a pick for both Preseason Offensive Player of
the Year and Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East. I’ve also got picks for a Preseason All-Big East Team, including speciality positions in the midfield and faceoffs. After that, we’ll wrap up with an attempt to figure out how the Big East coaches will probably vote the league in terms of expected order of finish this season.
Let’s get right to it, shall we?
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year: Richie Joseph, Providence
You wouldn’t necessarily think that the guy who finished #5 in points per game in the Big East last season would be the top offensive player in the league going into the next season, but that’s where we are. All four of the guys in front of Joseph have moved on, as have both guys in front of him in the goals per game list from last season. In fact, Joseph is the only one in last year’s top 10 goals per game guys to return in 2026.
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year: Ty Banks, Georgetown
This one was easy. Banks was the DPOY at the end of the 2025 season, so he gets to go right back into the same spot to start 2026. If he hadn’t been DPOY, we would have had to find a way to split the difference between Banks and Villanova’s Jack Shoemaker, as both men were unanimous choices to the All-Big East First Team last year.
Preseason All-Big East Team
Ty Banks, D, Georgetown
Matt Caputo, M, Marquette
Peter Detwiler, SSDM, Marquette
Eddie Jones, M, Villanova
Richie Joseph, A, Providence
Cody Malawsky, A, Denver
Jake Melchionni, LSM, Villanova
Colin Michener, A, Villanova
Kevin Miller, M, Georgetown
Anderson Moore, GK, Georgetown
Robert Plath, D, Georgetown
Ross Prince, FOS, Georgetown
Jack Shoemaker, D, Villanova
Joseph and Banks get in for free on their individual trophies. Shoemaker is rightthere with Banks as a unanimous pick from last year’s First Team, same for Moore as the best goalkeeper in the league, both as a First Teamer last year and the GK of the Year, too. Melchionni was a First Teamer as well, and his Co-Specialist of the Year last year was Prince…. who was weirdly denied a spot on the first team even though 1) he was the best faceoff guy in the league by winning percentage and 2) there are no FO guys on the First Team. Odd!
Detwiler was the short stick defensive midfielder on the Second Team last year, so he gets escorted to the top team heading into 2026 since Denver’s Casey Wilson is no longer with the Pioneers. The last easy pick was Caputo, who is the only midfielder returning from either of last year’s all-conference teams, even if Marquette lists him as an attacker right now.
That left me with two attacker spots to fill, two midfield spots, and one defender. The defender was easy, since Plath was a Second Teamer last season and #3 in the league in caused turnovers per game. Picking the two attackers was a little harder, as I had to figure out why Malawsky, Michener, and Georgetown’s Jack Ransom were on the Second Team. They weren’t amongst the top 10 in goals or points, although Malawsky was #7 in the league in assists per game last year. That’s as good a reason as any for putting him on the list, and Michener was #1 in the Big East in shots per game last year. Not top 10 in putting those shots to use at all, but if he’s a Second Teamer and the top option for the Wildcats, that’s something worth putting in.
That left me filling in the two midfield spots. What I did was track down the best returning scoring midfielder for every team in the Big East. That gave me Jones, who led Villanova in points last season, and Miller, who had 28 points for Georgetown a year ago. I’m just shooting in the dark here, so we’ll see what the coaches end up doing with their ballots.
Predicted Order Of Finish
1 — Georgetown
2 — Villanova
3 — Denver
4 — Providence
5 — Marquette
6 — St. John’s
Did you realize that Georgetown set an NCAA record with a seventh straight conference tournament title last year? It’s true! Anyway, I’m picking them to win the league again because it would be silly to do something else.
Villanova gets to be #2 because they actually tied Georgetown for the regular season crown at 4-1, even though they were 8-7 overall. There is not much Denver representation on my All-Big East team, but I can’t honestly think that the Pioneers are going to have another 2-3 year in the Big East or another 7-7 season overall. That’s why they’re #3 and Providence is #4.
Maybe Marquette deserves to be in the top four, seeing as the Golden Eagles lost in double overtime to Georgetown and 14-13 to Villanova in the regular season last year as well as picking up the program’s first ever regular season victory over Denver. They also lost 14-2 to Providence, so given the graduation of three of the top four scorers, it’s hard to really be super optimistic about where the Golden Eagles are going in Year #2 of Jake Richard’s tenure. St. John’s has won just one Big East game in the past four seasons, so we’ll keep the Red Storm in sixth until we have reason to do otherwise.
Marquette is set to open the 2026 with a pair of exhibitions against Navy and Virginia on January 24th, and then get started for real on February 7th with a home game against Michigan. Still no official start time on that, so keep your eyes open.
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