Hens Lacrosse 2026

[LILax]

Just some quick notes for next season:

Not sure who is and who isn't returning next year. I would assume that most of the seniors and grads will move on. I have heard that Matt Montgomery might be returning for another year after sitting out all of last year with an injury. Interestingly, Jason Kolar also has a red-shirt year left after playing in just 4 games in 2024. Maybe he will join his twin brother at Maryland for this final year? Or perhaps he decides to give it a run back with the Hens?

Hens lose both starting FOGOs (OJ and Logan) but are bringing in a stud from Don Bosco who won over 70% of his faceoffs against top competition.

I would guess that Kevin Ellington is leaving after two great seasons in net with the Hens. The Hens have a very talented backup returning in rising soph Colton Silverstein while also bringing in a very good freshman from Ridgefield NJ named Eli Pounds.

Defense needs to improve in '26. If Matt Montgomery returns they will have a very good replacement for Nick Cowan. They are also bringing in some very good four star defensemen. Sean Eells from Colorado is a rangy athletic take-away LSM/Close defenseman who should challenge for time. Greyson Dunn is a big talented defenseman who had a great year playing for one of the top HS programs (Archbishop Spaulding) in the country this year. He could also challenge for playing time. Louie Atkinson and Liam Powell return as starters on close defense. Both had good years but struggled at times with off-ball defense. Powell in particular looked lost on slides quite often, but this is something that can be remedied with more experience. I would expect rising soph Duncan Barnes to get more time at SSDM. I believe he was injured for a good part of the season.

Not sure what the Hens are going to do at attack. They tried everything last year including moving Bennett Parmer to X and returning John McCurry to the righty wing after playing most of the season at midfield. They are bringing two extremely talented freshman. The overall #28 recruit Matt Triolo comes in from John Glenn HS with the all-time goal scoring record for Long Island (265 goals). Triolo is a lefty sniper so I am not sure where they will play him. Brendan Powers has locked down that spot this year after playing his first two years at midfield. I could argue for moving him back to midfield because he is very effective at the top of the box. That will be a decision for DeLuca. The other freshman attackman in from Loyola Blakefield and his name is Matt Joerres might get an opportunity to contribute out of the box as a middie.

Tyler Owings will be the top returning middie. He is the only player on this team that has the speed to just run by an opponent. Hopefully, he works this season on his shooting. Could be a 35-40 goal kind of middie if he improved his accuracy. Super athletic and big.

OK. That is it for now. Maybe there will be some surprise transfers or late Canadian Commits?

[mpwerrell]

Thanks LI for your always knowledgeable and informative reviews of UD laxx!

[Cluck U]

Thanks, LILax...great info.

Looking forward to 2026 lacrosse in our new conference. Recent conference champs Richmond (2025) and St. Joe's (2024, 2023) should provide good competition, but High Point and UMass (what is it with those guys underperforming in most sports) are middling programs, so I don't think adding our Hens will get the A10 to two playoff teams.

Going from 8 conference peers to only 6 leaves us with some opportunities to increase quality of our OOC games. In any case, I think it will take winning the A10 to get to the playoffs on a regular basis. It would be sweet to win it in our first year in the new conference.

[dchen]

This has also happened. From Inside Lacrosse:

Delaware associate head coach Matt Rewkowski stepped down after eight seasons with the program, Prep Lacrosse's Ty Xanders reported on May 15 and IL confirmed late last week.

Rewkowski joined the Blue Hens program in June 2017 and went on to coach and mentor several program offensive greats like Charlie Kitchen, Tye Kurtz, Mike Robinson and JP Ward.

Delaware finished 7-6 in 2025, their final season in the CAA and missed the conference tournament ahead of their move to the Atlantic 10 in 2026. The Blue Hens were No. 41 in IL's adjusted offensive efficiency ratings after the regular season.

A Johns Hopkins lacrosse alum, Rewkowski is a 16-year veteran of the coaching world, with prior DI stops at Georgetown, Cornell and Hofstra

[Big R]

LILax, thanks much. Your information, observations, and insights are always greatly appreciated.

[Cluck U]

This has also happened. From Inside Lacrosse:

Delaware associate head coach Matt Rewkowski stepped down after eight seasons with the program, Prep Lacrosse's Ty Xanders reported on May 15 and IL confirmed late last week.

Rewkowski joined the Blue Hens program in June 2017 and went on to coach and mentor several program offensive greats like Charlie Kitchen, Tye Kurtz, Mike Robinson and JP Ward.

Delaware finished 7-6 in 2025, their final season in the CAA and missed the conference tournament ahead of their move to the Atlantic 10 in 2026. The Blue Hens were No. 41 in IL's adjusted offensive efficiency ratings after the regular season.

A Johns Hopkins lacrosse alum, Rewkowski is a 16-year veteran of the coaching world, with prior DI stops at Georgetown, Cornell and Hofstra

Bummer.

Can DeLuca bring in someone even better? Does he have more money for assistant coaches?

[dchen]

Transfer Portal:

Inside Lacrosse tracks all of the moves and I haven't seen anything to or from Delaware or any with our new A10 Conference schools.

Edit:

Just lost one:

Noah Plenn, A, Fr. to St. John's

He is not listed on the roster (maybe removed after entering the portal) and did not appear in the 2025 stats.

[LILax]

Transfer Portal:

Inside Lacrosse tracks all of the moves and I haven't seen anything to or from Delaware or any with our new A10 Conference schools.

Edit:

Just lost one:

Noah Plenn, A, Fr. to St. John's

He is not listed on the roster (maybe removed after entering the portal) and did not appear in the 2025 stats.

Noah Plenn was a nice recruit at attack from the same high school Charlie Kitchen attended in south jersey. Plenn was injured for most of the fall season but stayed on the roster until the week before the first game when his name was suddenly removed. He even took part in the team photo that was taken that week. Interestingly, Plenn was also lauded on social media that week for achieving a perfect 4.0 in his first semester at UD. It's only interesting to me because I expected him to transfer to a better academic school than St. John's (no offense to anyone who attended there - I just have too many friends that went there that were not exactly Rhodes Scholars).

It is only conjecture on my part, but I think the lefty attackman saw too many lefites in front of him like Brendan Powers, Finn Morgan (and one coming in Matt Triolo #28 recruit '25) and decided to move on. I think a healthy Noah Plenn gets the opportunity to be a real game changer at St. John's.

[Udforever1]

https://x.com/kevbrown89/status/1933504375592247317

[Cluck U]

Good to see Matt Montgomery on the Fall roster.

He told me last spring that he was coming back for a grad year and that he was feeling great (he was recovering from his injury that kept him out last year)...that will greatly help our D.

Nice to hear that Triolo and Dunn are already making waves.

Hope some of you guys can make at least one of the scrimmages at the Tub.