Men's Lacrosse

2026 #AEMLAX Preseason Poll and Preseason All-Conference Revealed

BOSTON – Two-time defending champion UAlbany was picked first in the 2026 #AEMLAX Preseason Poll and had a league-best five Preseason All-Conference selections as announced by the conference on Tuesday afternoon.
 
The Great Danes were a unanimous selection in first, taking home all six possible first place votes for 36 total points in their quest to be the first #AEMLAX team to threepeat since UAlbany from 2013-15. 2025 co-regular season champion Bryant was picked second with the remaining first place vote and 29 total points. Vermont (24) and 2025 co-regular season champion UMBC (22) rounded out the top four.
 
UAlbany had a league-high five players named Preseason All-Conference, including reigning Offensive Player of the Year Silas Richmond and Defensive Player of the Year Max Neeson. Five of this year’s preseason all-conference honorees were first-team selections last year.
 
2026 #AEMLAX Preseason Poll
Pl. School Pts. (1st)
1. UAlbany 36 (6)
2. Bryant 29 (1)
3. Vermont 24
4. UMBC 22
5. Binghamton 19
6. UMass Lowell 9
7. NJIT 8
 
 
2026 #AEMLAX Preseason All-Conference
A Ryan Doherty (UAlbany)
A Silas Richmond (UAlbany)
A Dawson Rielly (Bryant)
M Andrew Girolamo (Binghamton)
M Daniel Kesselring (UAlbany)
M Jackson Palumb (UAlbany)
D Ryker Demarest (Vermont)
D Dante Marinello (UMBC)
D Luke Mead (Bryant)
D Max Neeson (UAlbany)
FO Walter Zhao (Vermont)
LSM Jack Combs (Vermont)
SSDM Matthew Rincon (Binghamton)
GK Connor McMahon (UMBC)

Need to Know:
  • UAlbany won its second straight championship in 2025, taking down top seeded Bryant 12-7 final after jumping out to a 6-0 lead at the half.
  • Last season the Great Danes went 10-8 overall and 4-2 in conference play to finish third in the conference.
  • Bryant and UMBC both earned regular season championships in 2025 with matching 5-1 records. It was the Bulldogs’ first-ever regular season title and the Retrievers first since 2021. UMBC fell to No. 3 UAlbany 9-7 in the conference semifinals.
  • Senior Silas Richmond is the league’s active career scoring leading with 203 points (123g, 80), which already ranks 14th in conference history. Teammate Ryan Doherty led the conference last year with 45 goals, while Dawson Rielly was third with 41.
  • Vermont was picked third with 24 points and has reached the #AEMLAX Championship in the five of the past seven seasons.
 
The 2026 #AEMLAX Season begins on Saturday, Feb. 7 with four teams in action. UMass Lowell hosts Quinnipiac, while Binghamton travels to Lafayette, Bryant plays at Providence and NJIT goes to St. John’s.
 
Fans will once again be able to watch nearly every #AEMLAX contest this season. Select games will air on The AE on ESPN while others will air on AmericaEast.TV. Those games will be available on computers, OTT devices and the America East app, which is available on all IOS and Android devices and can be found by searching ‘America East Conference’ in app stores.
 
ABOUT AMERICA EAST
Founded in 1979, the America East Conference is an elite NCAA Division I athletic conference that fosters an environment for student-athletes to become champions. Comprised of academically renowned, like-minded member institutions located in the Northeast region of the United States, America East is committed to broad-based excellence and progressive in its approach to supporting its more than 3,500 student-athletes across 18 sponsored sports. For more information, visit www.AmericaEast.com and follow the America East Conference and its social media channels, @AmericaEast.
 
- America East Conference – Where Champions Rise -