Men’s Lacrosse Doles Out Team Awards

Nordlie named MVP

6/5/2026 10:00:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University men's lacrosse team announced its annual team awards and letterwinners following the 2026 season. Head coach Zach Iannucci handed out 34 letters to student-athletes, while senior Karsten Nordlie (Roscoe, Ill.-Hononegah Community) earned the team's Most Valuable Player honor.

Along with Nordlie, seniors Noah Dretzka (Delafield, Wis.-Kettle Moraine), Billy McHugh (Orland Park, Ill.-Mount Carmel), and Sam Scott (Worthington, Ohio-Thomas Worthington) took home team awards. Dretzka was named the Offensive Most Valuable Player, while McHugh was named the Defensive MVP. Scott was the recipient of the "Sam Scott" Teammate of the Year award. Scott was the recipient of the Teammate of the Year award, which Iannucci renamed in Scott's honor. Moving forward, the award will be known as the Sam Scott Teammate of the Year award.

Named to the First Team All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin for the second straight season, Nordlie appeared in all 18 games for the Green and White this season, starting all but one. Nordlie finished second on the team in ground balls and caused turnovers, recording 69 and 27, respectively. The defensive midfielder added one goal and six assists for a total of seven points on the season. His 27 caused turnovers rank eighth in program history, while his average of 3.83 per game is the second-best all-time.

Dretzka was tabbed the offensive MVP after recording 19 goals and 11 assists for a total of 30 points across 11 games. He added 11 ground balls and two caused turnovers to his stat line en route to earning First Team All-CCIW honors for the first time in his career. Dretzka was elevated to the first team after being named Second Team All-CCIW in 2024.

McHugh was a repeat First Team All-CCIW honoree after leading the Titan defense all season. A co-captain, McHugh was named the defensive MVP after recording a team-high 41 caused turnovers, along with 43 ground balls, nine points composed of four goals and five assists, and two faceoff wins on four attempts. His 41 caused turnovers and 2.42 per game average established new season-highs, while the 63 forced miscues in two years donning the Green and White rank him sixth all-time. McHugh finished his career as a Titan with the program's caused turnovers per game record holder, as he averaged 1.85 per game spanning 34 contests.

Head coach Zach Iannucci handed out letters to 34 student-athletes. Twenty-four letterwinners are slated to return for the 2027 season.

First Letter
Holden Webster
Jake Guerard
Ben Marban
Brody Jones
Tyce Baldwin
Charlie Burghardt
Garrett Wills
Dylan Walker
Nick Donohue
Jack Vander Kooi
Mitchell Breza
Matt Arnold
Jarett Brunson
Jake Sline
Lucas Patterson

Second Letter
Carlo Adams
Rylee Blair
Ethan Cavanaugh
Wyatt Hart
Owen Miller
Nate Pound
Jaymeson Zackery
Cole Kennedy
Jeremy Langosch
Billy McHugh
Kaden Gammelgaard

Third Letter
Jake Kahoun
Timothy McHugh
Andres Morales-Gomez
Sam Scott

Fourth Letter
Noah Dretzka
Kade Miers
Karsten Nordlie
Michael Rocco

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