Willie Grieco Named 2024 USA Lacrosse D-II Men's Preseason Player of the Year

Wingate attackman Willie Grieco is the USA Lacrosse Division II Men’s Preseason Player of the Year, USA Lacrosse Magazine announced Friday. Grieco also secured Preseason Attackman of the Year honors.

Grieco is back for a graduate season with the Bulldogs with his sights set on a deep NCAA tournament run.

“It meant so much to me that he decided to come back,” Wingate head coach Tim Boyle said. “He had opportunities to play a fifth year at a number of places. He felt the loyalty, and he wanted to accomplish something here as a grroup. As a team.”

Wingate earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament a year ago but fell in the first round to UIndy. With Grieco back in the fold, the Bulldogs want more.

Continue below to see the three other players with preseason positional recognition.

PRESEASON ATTACKMAN OF THE YEAR 

Willie Grieco, Wingate

For the second year in a row, Grieco is the Preseason Player of the Year and Preseason Attackman of the Year. His elite quickness and feeding ability put him on the map, and Grieco has become an excellent scorer on his own during his college career. There are multiple scoring milestones in sight for Grieco, including 400 career points, and — with a particularly monstrous year — Grieco can snag the Division II scoring crown.

PRESEASON MIDFIELDER OF THE YEAR 

Mike McGarry, Limestone 

McGarry is an offensive dynamo and a serious shooting threat from the midfield. A season ago, McGarry put up 75 points (48 goals). He also never met a shot he did not like, letting it rip 185 times over 21 games. In his career, McGarry has played in just one game in which he failed to score a goal. He plays big in big moments, too, evidenced by his five-goal game against Lenoir-Rhyne a year ago.

PRESEASON DEFENSEMAN OF THE YEAR 

Victor Powell, Lenoir-Rhyne

When we last saw Powell, he was physically dominating attackmen in the national championship game. He caused four turnovers and had three ground balls that day, a nice follow to his semifinal performance of three caused turnovers and four ground balls. A 6-2, 210 pounds, Powell is a rock-solid defenseman, able to disrupt a dodge with pure physical strength. He also has the agility to match feet with smaller attackmen who try to win with quickness and change of direction. Powell is a welcome throwback to the era of the big, mean defenseman that attackmen can still feel when they get out of bed the next day.

PRESEASON GOALIE OF THE YEAR 

Dylan Renner, Adelphi

Renner had the third-best save percentage in the nation a year ago and made 206 saves. He was the vocal leader and the backstop of a very strong Adelphi defense and will be leaned on to do the same in 2024. His typical goalie stats stood out, but one thing is the real testament to what makes him so good. There were two goalies in Division II who played 1,000-plus minuutes last year, and Renner is one of them. In 20 games, he played 1,069 minutes and gave up 140 goals. The other goalie who played that much allowed 214 goals. Renner sees a ton of rubber and is always up to the task.