Wheeling, W. Va. - Ahead of Wednesday's Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) semifinal round, the G-MAC announced their annual All-Conference award. The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team would go through a youth movement in 2026, but continued playing to their play-off standard, earning the #5 seed in the G-MAC Tournament before falling to Walsh in the quarterfinal round. The Cardinals finished the year with two All-G-MAC honorees, with senior defender Owen Worley and freshman defender Riley Lincoln each earning spots on the list.
Worley took home his second straight All-G-MAC honor, earning a spot on the Second Team for the second year in a row. He was a veteran presence on the Cardinal back line throughout the season, finishing with 12 caused turnovers and 37 groundballs during the season. He would finish with multiple caused turnovers three times during the season, with his season high coming in a four caused turnover effort against Point Park back on April 1st. He would set a new career-high in ground balls with 37, while averaging 2.47 ground balls per game. He helped lead a defense that allowed 11.7 points per game throughout the season, rounding out a strong career with the Cardinals as a two-time All-Conference honoree.
Lincoln is earning his first career All-G-MAC honor after a strong freshman season on defense with the Cardinals. He was the team's leader in caused turnovers, finishing with 25 on the year, while adding 39 ground balls to his effort. He would be honored as the conference's Defender of the week back on April 6th, after putting together a week that saw him caused seven turnovers and pick up nine ground balls. During that week, he set his career-high with five caused turnovers and tied his career high with five ground balls against Tiffin. His 25 caused turnovers have him tied for fifth in the conference with Point Park's Kaden Brown, while his 39 ground balls have him just outside the top 10. He helped stabilize the Cardinal's front line defenders, leading the Cardinals to a sixth place finish in the conference with 132 ground balls.
With Worley and Lincoln receiving honors, the Wheeling University Athletic Department has now had 62 student-athletes earn All-Conference honors this season. It is the third year in a row that the Men's Lacrosse team has had multiple honorees, after the team had three on the All-G-MAC list a season ago. The last Wheeling Athleic team to be honored was the Wheeling Women's Lacrosse team, who had six players earn All-MEC honors ahead of their conference tournament.
The Wheeling University Men's Lacrosse team now heads into the off-season as they continue to grow towards the 2027 season.
