WLL 2026 Season Recap: Maryland Charm Win Championship

Nov 13, 2026 / Nov 13, 2026 · 7 min read · WLL pro-lacrosse field-lacrosse college colorado girls ·

Share on:

The Women's Lacrosse League finished its first full season on Aug 15, 2026, when the Maryland Charm beat the California Palms 16-13 in Philadelphia to win the WLL Championship. In June, CU Boulder's Lily Assini, a Centennial native, became the first Buffalo selected to the league.

How the 2026 WLL Season Worked

The Premier Lacrosse League launched the WLL in November 2024, and it played its first games in 2025. The league has four teams: the Boston Guard, California Palms, Maryland Charm and New York Charging. For how the league is set up, see Women's Lacrosse League: Pro Women's Lacrosse Explained.

The 2026 season had two parts, and each part used its own format. The Championship Series came first. After its round robin, the fourth-place team was out and the first-place team got a bye to the final. Boston started it as the defending champion after beating New York 22-17 for the first WLL Championship Series title in 2025.

The summer season used the 10-v-10 field format, with ten players a side. It was the WLL's first full season. Each team played four regular-season games, and each game was in a different city. The season opened in Rhode Island.

	Championship Series	Summer season
Dates	Feb 27 to Mar 8	May 16 to Aug 15
Where	The St. James, outside Washington, D.C.	Eight regular-season cities, final in Philadelphia
Format	Olympic Sixes	10-v-10 field

Championship Series: A Rough Start for Maryland

Maryland's first win of the Championship Series was an 18-12 round-robin victory over New York. The first half had five ties and four lead changes. Then a four-goal Charm run late in the second quarter took control of the game. In another round-robin game, California beat Boston 22-15.

Even so, the Charm were the first team knocked out of the Championship Series. Going into the summer season, Maryland sat fourth of four teams in the power rankings.

Final Standings and Every Result

Two teams finished the regular season at 3-1. Score differential is the league's first tiebreaker, so California placed first at +20, ahead of Maryland at +4. Boston lost all four of its games.

Team	W	L	Scored	Allowed	Differential
California Palms	3	1	71	51	+20
Maryland Charm	3	1	65	61	+4
New York Charging	2	2	53	54	-1
Boston Guard	0	4	53	76	-23

Here is every 2026 game in order:

Date	City	Result
May 16	Rhode Island	New York Charging 17, Boston Guard 12
May 29	Baltimore, MD	Maryland Charm 18, California Palms 17 (OT)
Jun 6	Charlotte, NC	California Palms 17, Boston Guard 15
Jun 20	Long Island	New York Charging 12, Maryland Charm 10
Jun 27	San Diego, CA	California Palms 16, New York Charging 9
Jul 5	Annapolis, MD	All-Star Game: Team Izzy 16, Team Humphrey 15
Jul 11	Chicago, IL	Maryland Charm 16, New York Charging 15
Jul 17	Fairfield, CT	Maryland Charm 21, Boston Guard 17
Aug 8	Boston, MA	California Palms 21, Boston Guard 9
Aug 15	Philadelphia, PA	WLL Championship: Maryland Charm 16, California Palms 13

The season opened with New York's 17-12 win over Boston, covered in WLL Regular Season Opener: Charging Tops Guard 17-12.

Maryland's first game was an 18-17 overtime win over the Palms at Loyola in Baltimore. California did not lose again until the final, and that loss was also to the Charm. Every one of California's regular-season wins came by two goals or more.

Maryland's +4 differential came from close games. The Charm won 18-17 in overtime, lost 12-10 to New York, beat New York 16-15 and beat Boston 21-17. Three of their four regular-season games finished within two goals.

The Championship Game: Charm 16, Palms 13

Maryland and California played for the title on Saturday, Aug 15, in Philadelphia. The Charm won 16-13 and beat the Palms for the second time in 2026.

Sydni Black was named Championship MVP. In the regular season she had 18 points in four games, 14 of them goals.

Alex Holman had a career day in the final, with a hat trick and a big caused turnover. Caylee Waters made eight saves in the first half. Livy Rosenzweig took the draws and won 51% of them over the season.

The coach was Emily Parros, who won a gold medal with the USA national team in 2022.

Stat Leaders and 2026 Award Winners

Boston's Rachel Clark led the 2026 regular season in points. The table lists every player with 15 or more. These numbers cover the four-game regular season, not the Championship Series or the final.

Player	Games	Points	Goals	Assists
Rachel Clark	4	23	18	5
Brigid Duffy	4	20	11	9
Ashley Humphrey	4	20	6	14
Emma LoPinto	4	19	10	9
Izzy Scane	4	18	11	7
Sydni Black	4	18	14	4
Ally Kennedy	4	16	11	5
Sam Apuzzo	4	16	10	6
Ellie Masera	4	15	15	0

In goal, Madison Doucette made 58 saves with a 55% save percentage. On defense, Abby Bosco caused 12 turnovers.

The league gives nine end-of-season awards. Voting has two rounds. On Aug 12, 2026, active players and coaches voted to pick the finalists. On Sep 2, the WLL front office, alumni, award namesakes and select media cast the final votes. The league announced the winners live at its awards ceremony on Sep 18.

Award	Named for	Winner	Team
Most Valuable Player	Jen Adams	Brigid Duffy	Maryland Charm
Attacker of the Year	Rosabelle Sinclair	Rachel Clark	Boston Guard
Midfielder of the Year	Kelly Amonte Hiller	Brigid Duffy	Maryland Charm
Defensive Player of the Year	Rachael Becker DeCecco	Abby Bosco	Maryland Charm
Goalie of the Year	Devon Wills	Madison Doucette	New York Charging
Coach of the Year	Chris Sailer	Emily Parros	Maryland Charm
Humanitarian Award	Welles Crowther	Ally Mastroianni	California Palms
Teammate Award	—	Alex Holman	Maryland Charm
Leadership Award	Tina Sloan Green	Charlotte North	Boston Guard

Maryland won five of the nine awards, two of them by Duffy.

Getting Into Pro Women's Lacrosse in Boulder County

Lily Assini grew up in Centennial, Colo., and was selected to the WLL on June 10, 2026. She is the first CU Buffalo in the league and the sixth known CU player to reach the pro level. Assini is a three-time All-American and made the third team in 2025. As a senior she was fourth on the team with 30 goals and second with 23 assists, and she ran her point streak to 34 games in a row. That season Colorado reached the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.

The WLL did not play any 2026 games in Colorado. Its only West Coast stop was San Diego. The PLL has an exclusive media rights deal with ESPN, and the WLL's 2025 Championship Series final streamed on ESPN+, so Boulder County fans can follow the league there.

Women's Lacrosse League — the league's site, with its 2026 schedule, standings, stats and awards pages.
CU Buffs Women's Lacrosse 2026: A Historic Season — Assini's final college season, which ended in the NCAA quarterfinals.
College & University Lacrosse in Boulder County — college programs in the county.
Girls Lacrosse Programs in Boulder County — where local girls can start playing.

The women's game has its own rules. Men's vs Women's Lacrosse: Key Differences covers how it differs from the men's game.

References

Women's Lacrosse League — May 29 overtime result; Duffy's MVP award
2026 WLL Standings — final regular-season standings and the score-differential tiebreaker
2026 WLL Schedule — date, city and score of every 2026 game, the All-Star Game and the final
2026 WLL Stats — regular-season points, goals, assists, saves and caused turnovers
2026 WLL Awards — all nine awards and winners, namesakes, voting dates and ceremony date
PLL, WLL 2026 Championship Series Returns to D.C. — WLL launch, four teams, ESPN deal, Series dates, venue, Sixes format, round-robin rules, 2025 result
Charm, Palms Coast to Victories: WLL Championship Series Takeaways — round-robin results, Maryland's first Series win and how the game went
How WLL Champion Charm Shocked All Except Themselves — first full season, 10-v-10 format, the final, Championship MVP, Holman, Waters, Rosenzweig, Parros, Series exit, power rankings, Loyola opener
Assini Selected to Women's Lacrosse League — Assini's selection date, hometown, college stats and honors, CU's NCAA quarterfinal run