Big South Announces 2026 Women's Lacrosse Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Mercer’s
Caroline Glus (Hershey, Pa.) has been voted the 2026 Big South Women’s Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Year by the Conference’s head coaches, it was announced today by the league office. In addition, the Bears’
Ansley Walters (Canton, Ga.) is the Midfielder of the Year, while Wofford’s
Brooke Meltcher (Wading River, N.Y.) was selected the Defensive Player of the Year. Furman attacker
Shea Insinga (Wantagh, N.Y.) was voted Newcomer of the Year, Gardner-Webb midfielder
Maddie Tredway (Alpharetta, Ga.) was tabbed Freshman of the Year, while Mercer’s
Samantha Eustace was voted Coach of the Year. Winthrop’s
Chloe Patterson (Roswell, Ga.) was voted the Women’s Lacrosse Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s Communications contacts.
Glus is the third Mercer student-athlete in the last four years to win Big South Offensive Player of the Year honors. She finished the regular-season with 68 points and 56 goals, which both led the conference. Her 56 goals are tied for 17th in the country, and she was tops in the Big South with 4.00 points per game -- the lone player to reach that threshold. In eight Big South matches, Glus led the league with 29 goals and finished second with 36 points. A three-time Big South Offensive Player of the Week selection in 2026, Glus scored two or more goals in all 17 games during the season, including a career-high tying six goals in Mercer's win over Arizona State. She also tallied hat tricks against Virginia Tech and Florida, and scored five points (three goals, two assists) vs. Clemson.
Walters is the second Mercer student-athlete in three seasons to be voted Midfielder of the Year. She finished the regular-season with 23 goals and five assists for 28 points, and her 23 scores were the third-most on the team. Defensively, Walters led Mercer with 21 caused turnovers to go with 22 ground balls and 12 draw controls. She helped the Bears hold conference opponents to a league-best 3.9 goals per game. Walters tied her single-game career high with four goals against Radford.
Meltcher is the second Wofford student-athlete in three years to be voted Big South Defensive Player of the Year. She is the national leader in ground balls (91) and ground balls per game (5.06), as she held the top spot for the majority of the season. Meltcher corralled seven or more ground balls on six different occasions -- including a program-high nine against Butler on March 20. She also set the Big South single-season record for ground balls, as well as the program season record for caused turnovers (42). Meltcher, who was voted Big South Defensive Player of the Week three times this season, tallied 31 ground balls (3.88 per game) and 18 caused turnovers (2.25 per game) in eight conference matches.
Insinga is the third Big South Women’s Lacrosse Newcomer of the Year, which was added in 2024 to recognize the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time, and is Furman’s first winner of the award. She ranks second on the Paladins with 49 goals and third with 56 points, while sitting third overall in the Big South in goals and seventh in points. Nationally, Insinga is tied for 36th in goals. She compiled 14 multi-goal games -- highlighted by a career-high six against Austin Peay. She started all 18 contests and set personal bests this season for points and caused turnovers in a game.
Tredway is the first Runnin’ Bulldog to be voted Big South Freshman of the Year. In her first collegiate season, Tredway became a staple for Gardner-Webb not only at the draw control position, where she amassed 111 -- the fifth-most by a freshman in the country and third-most overall in the Big South -- but offensively as well. She led Gardner-Webb with 29 goals to go along with 10 assists. Her best performance came against Quinnipiac where she produced a hat trick and what was a Big South single-game record of 18 draw controls. Tredway was named Big South Freshman of the Week on four occasions, and concluded the eight-game conference slate with 11 goals, 17 points and 50 draw controls (6.25 per match).
Eustace earned her second Big South Coach of the Year award after leading the Bears to the outright Big South regular-season championship at 8-0 -- the program’s fifth consecutive outright/shared regular-season crown. She guided the Bears to a 137-31 scoring differential in the conference season for averages of 17.1 goals scored against just 3.9 goals allowed. In league play, Mercer averaged 43.3 shots while limiting the opposition to 13.8, and the squad recorded the first-ever shutout in the 14-year history of Big South Women’s Lacrosse with its blanking of Radford on April 18. Overall, the Bears allowed five goals or less six times, and surpassed 20 goals in a contest on three occasions -- including a 20-16 victory over Arizona State on March 14. Mercer is the No. 1 seed in this week’s Big South Women’s Lacrosse Championship for the fourth consecutive year.
Patterson is a 3.95 student majoring in Human Development & Family Studies. She has been honored with IWLCA Academic Honor Roll distinction in 2025 and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District accolades in 2024. This season, she appeared in 14 matches and totaled 20 ground balls and 13 caused turnovers for the Eagles.
The Big South also announced the 2026 All-Conference, All-Freshman and All-Academic teams Thursday, which are listed below. The All-Conference team is voted by the head coaches and features two teams of three attackers, three midfielders, three defenders, one goalkeeper and three at-large slots, plus five honorable mention honorees regardless of position. The All-Freshman Team features seven players regardless of the position, while the All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the league’s Communications Coordinators.
2026 BIG SOUTH WOMEN'S LACROSSE ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Caroline Glus, Mercer
ATT – Shannon Smith, High Point
ATT – Sofia D’Angelo, Mercer
MF – Ansley Walters, Mercer
MF – Olivia Graebner, Wofford
MF – Gracie Vickery, High Point
D – Brooke Meltcher, Wofford
D – Sydney Martin, High Point
D – Avery West, Presbyterian College
GK – Emma Anderson, Gardner-Webb
AL – Fiona Tanis, D, Mercer
AL – Shae Insinga, ATT, Furman
AL – Maddie Tredway, MF, Gardner-Webb
SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
ATT – Lily Toole, Furman
ATT – Madison Rogers Longwood
ATT – Emily Currie, Presbyterian College
MF – Allie Kandel, Furman
MF – Mady Cheney, Radford
MF – Abbi Rupnow, Mercer
D – Sam Flippo, Radford
D – Ayla Galloway, Mercer
D – Kellie Voorhees, Mercer
GK – Isabella McCullough, Longwood
AL – Vivian Chiomento, MF, Wofford
AL – Anna Mullikin, MF, High Point
AL – Gabby Pierpont, MF, Winthrop
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Tori Iannotti, ATT, Winthrop
Zoe Milmoe, D, Furman
Lilly Dyer, D, Furman
Jordan Fitzgerald, MF, Longwood
Barrett Rowe, D, Wofford
ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Maddie Tredway, MF, Gardner-Webb
Anna Mullikin, MF, High Point
Sara Fenwick, MF, Wofford
Sophie Andrychowski, D, Mercer
Emily Muir, ATT, Furman
Cate Noone, ATT, Furman
Peyton Daley, D, Longwood
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Shae Insinga, Furman
Emma Meyer, Gardner-Webb
Caitlyn Baehr, High Point
Kendra DeFilippo, Longwood
Izzy Parrett, Mercer
Olivia Ballard, Presbyterian College
Mady Cheney, Radford
Chloe Patterson, Winthrop
Olivia Graebner, Wofford
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Caroline Glus, Mercer
MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR
Ansley Walters, Mercer
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brooke Meltcher, Wofford
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Shae Insinga, Furman
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Maddie Tredway, Gardner-Webb
COACH OF THE YEAR
Samantha Eustace, Mercer
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Chloe Patterson, Winthrop