NCAA 2026 Countdown: No. 20 Michigan May Have a New Goalie Whisperer

Opening day of the 2026 NCAA Division I men's lacrosse season is Jan. 31.

Throughout the month of January, we'll pose three burning questions for each team ranked in the USA Lacrosse Division I Men's Preseason Top 20, presented by CWENCH Hydration, starting with No. 20 Michigan and finishing with No. 1 Maryland.

 Join the conversation on social media @USALMag (IG/X/FB). Wrong answers only.

There was no Big Ten championship at the end of the rainbow for Michigan in 2025, but given the injuries that the Wolverines dealt with last season, it’s pretty amazing they were as close as they were.

After back-to-back Big Ten tournament titles in 2023 and 2024, Michigan led Ohio State 8-5 with less than six minutes to play in a game that would have given the Wolverines the regular season league title.

Instead, Ohio State rallied for a 10-8 win and the Wolverines bowed out of the Big Ten tournament in the first round to Rutgers to finish the year 7-7.

The Ohio State loss was one of four games against nationally ranked opponents (Duke, Harvard, Penn State) in which Michigan was either tied or had the lead in the fourth quarter that ended up in losses.

So close, but not good enough for a team that had multiple key contributors out at the end of the season.

“We don’t live in a what-if world,” Michigan coach Kevin Conry said. “These are the guys we had. We had more than capable, really talented young men in really great positions. We just didn’t get the job done.”

Here are three burning questions for Michigan as they enter the 2026 season looking to return to the NCAA tournament.

How good can Hunter Taylor be?

There’s nothing that helps a coach sleep better at night than having a reliable goalie. Hunter Taylor has 36 starts already in his Michigan career and the senior set career bests with a 52.8 save percentage and 9.34 goals against average last year. He appears poised to take an even bigger step with new assistant coach and U.S. team/professional goalie Liam Entenmann serving as a mentor.

“Coach [Jim] Rogalski has built a defense over the past eight-and-a-half years that has been physical, tough, reliable and Hunter has done a great job understanding our defense and being a real big rock,” Conry said. “[Taylor] had an unbelievable fall. He’s playing his best lacrosse. Part of that is the influence of Coach Entenmann and the other side is him being a leader and comfortable in his role.”

Will the pieces fit together?

Michigan has 21 new players joining the program this year between freshmen and transfers. Combined with some players that missed the fall as they came back from injuries, the preseason was more about building culture versus anything tactical.

The top three scorers from last year are gone, opening the door for youngsters like Luke Shannehan and Adam Udell. Both freshmen are from Connecticut – Shannehan is the younger brother of Boston University star Timothy Shannehan, who led NCAA freshmen with 61 points last year before playing for the U.S. U20 team over the summer.

They’ll aid an offense that welcomes back Jack Jenkins (24 points in nine games before injury), senior Bo Lockwood (57 points over the last two seasons) and Nick Roode (13 goals in his final five games of 2025 before missing the rest of the season with injury following his game-winner against Maryland in late March).

All three starting close defensemen are also gone from the lineup, including senior Mason Whitney, who is battling cancer. The experience of transfers SSDM Michael Kelly (Princeton) and defenseman Will Tominovich (Georgetown) takes on added importance for the unit. Tominovich was a three-year regular with the Hoyas before missing most of the last two seasons due to injury. 

Can the Wolverines get the ball?

Replacing Justin Wietfeldt (62 percent career faceoff wins) was always going to be difficult, but the job got even harder when Jackie Weller (55 percent) went down with an injury after just two games last year. Michigan won just 43.8 percent of its faceoffs for the season, putting extra pressure on the defense.

Weller did not play in the fall, but is expected back alongside senior Jack Rideout. Rideout took the majority of the draws last year and had some strong outings against top opponents. The unit also gets a boost with highly-touted freshman Tay Rodriguez, who won 75 percent for his career at national power Culver Academy (Ind).