Big South Announces 2026 Preseason Women's Lacrosse Poll & Honors
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Four-time defending Big South Women’s Lacrosse Champion
Mercer University has been voted the favorite in the annual preseason poll by the league’s head coaches, it was announced today by the Conference office. The Bears are the preseason favorite for the fourth time in five years of associate membership. In addition, Mercer attacker
Caroline Glus (Hershey, Pa.) is the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, teammate
Ansley Walters (Canton, Ga.) is the Preseason Midfielder of the Year, and Wofford defender
Barrett Rowe (Richmond, Va.) is the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honoree.
Mercer received seven of the nine first-place votes and finished with 79 points to win the Big South Women’s Lacrosse crown in 2026. Since becoming associate members in 2022, Mercer is 32-2 in Big South matches and a perfect 8-0 in the conference tournament with four championship crowns.
High Point finished second in the preseason poll with 73 points and collected the two remaining first-place votes. Associate member
Furman was third with 62 points, while associate member
Wofford finished fourth in the voting with 48 points.
Winthrop followed in the fifth spot at 44 points.
Gardner-Webb landed in sixth-place with 29 points, just ahead of seventh-place
Radford (28 points).
Presbyterian College placed eighth with 22 points, with
Longwood (ninth, 20 points) rounding out the preseason ranking.
Glus was a First-Team All-Big South honoree in 2025, and is a two-time All-Conference honoree in her career. She led the Bears with 64 goals and 72 points last season, and tied for second overall in the Big South in goals scored. Glus eclipsed 50 goals in a season for the second consecutive year, and was the conference leader with 17 free position scores. After not scoring in the season opener, Glus went on to score in every game afterwards (19 matches), including 11 games with at least four goals scored. A two-time Big South Offensive Player of the Week selection in 2025, Glus had a career-high 25 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers.
Walters, the 2024 Big South Freshman of the Year, is a two-time All-Conference honoree as she was a First-Team selection last year and a Second-Team member in her freshman season. She finished the 2025 campaign with 26 goals, four assists, 30 points, 22 ground balls, 24 caused turnovers and 49 draw controls. Her 24 caused turnovers were second-most on the squad. During the regular-season, she scored a career-high four goals along with two caused turnovers against Furman on April 23.
Rowe is the first Wofford student-athlete to receive any Big South Preseason Player of the Year accolade. She was a First-Team All-Conference defender last season as she was second on the team in both ground balls (60) and caused turnovers (33). Rowe, who became Wofford’s all-time leader in ground balls last season with 128, ranked 12th in the NCAA in 2025 in ground balls per game with 3.16. She was third among Big South leaders in ground balls per game and sixth in caused turnovers per contest (1.74). Against San Diego State (Feb. 16), Rowe had six ground balls and three caused turnovers. On March 3 vs. Youngstown State, she had six ground balls and four caused turnovers. Rowe tallied five ground balls and three caused turnovers against Furman on April 2.
Glus, Walters and Rowe also earned spots on the preseason All-Conference team, which is listed below. The team is comprised of three attackers, three midfielders, three defenders, one goalkeeper and two at-large selections.
The first Big South conference match is scheduled for Wednesday, March 25, and the 2026 Big South Women’s Lacrosse Championship tournament is slated for April 28-May 3. The top six teams in the final Big South standings will qualify for the conference tournament, which will feature first round matches April 28 at the higher seed, with the semifinals and finals contested at the No. 1 seed. The champion receives the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
2026 WOMEN’S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Mercer (7) |
79 |
| 2 - High Point (2) |
73 |
| 3 - Furman |
62 |
| 4 - Wofford |
48 |
| 5 - Winthrop |
44 |
| 6 - Gardner-Webb |
29 |
| 7 - Radford |
28 |
| 8 - Presbyterian College |
22 |
| 9 - Longwood |
20 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
ATT – Caroline Glus, Mercer
ATT – Lily Toole, Furman
ATT – Shannon Smith, High Point
MF - Ansley Walters, Mercer
MF – Bella Germani, High Point
MF – Olivia Graebner, Wofford
D – Barrett Rowe, Wofford
D – Julia Dustin, High Point
D – Avery West, Presbyterian
GK - Ava Welsh, High Point
AL – Skylar Hilmer, D, Furman
AL – Haley Urban, D, High Point
PRESEASON OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Caroline Glus, ATT, Mercer
PRESEASON MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
Ansley Walters, Mercer
PRESEASON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Barrett Rowe, D, Wofford