Maryland Charm, most active team in WLL waiver period, claim Ally Kennedy, five others

After missing the 2025 Championship Series playoff, the Maryland Charm had an active waiver period, claiming the most players of any team. Headlined by 2021 IWLCA Midfielder of the Year Ally Kennedy and 2025 national champion Ashley Humphrey, one of the WLL’s best defenses now has added offensive firepower to compete in 2026.

Along with Kennedy and Humphrey, the Charm also claimed McKenzie Blake, Olivia Dirks, Sam Swart and Kelly Denes.

As one of the top all-around players in the sport, Kennedy hardly needs an introduction. She was a two-time All-American at Stony Brook, where in 2021, she graduated third in program history in goals (266), ninth in assists (63), fourth in points (329) and second in ground balls (180) and draw controls (343). She was also named the program’s first IWLCA Midfielder Of The Year that season.

Kennedy also helped lead Team USA to gold at The World Games in 2022. She played in all eight games and had 12 points (11G, 1A), including three hat tricks in the first five games of the tournament.

Unsurprisingly, in the 2025 WLL All-Star Game, Kennedy met net five times. She and Sam Appuzzo had the second-most scores for Team Izzy, behind captain Izzy Scane‘s eight goals.

As for Humphrey, she demanded attention at North Carolina this past season, emerging a Tewaaraton Award finalist — losing the award to her younger sister and teammate, Chloe — and national champion. She finished her collegiate career with 258 assists, setting the NCAA record as the first player to reach that mark, while also breaking UNC’s single-season record with 90 assists in 2025.

Humphrey is the No. 3-ranked WLL prospect by lacrosse great Sheehan Stanwick Burch. To quote Stanwick Burch: “A beautiful and deceptive feeder, she has an elite feel for timing and placement, threading passes through tight windows to set up scoring chances. While known for her vision and creativity, Humphrey is also a dangerous scorer who needs very little space to get her shot off. Her dual-threat ability makes her one of the most dynamic and unpredictable attackers in the country.”

The Charm claimed one other Tar Heel in Dirks (2024 grad), who played one game for the Charm in the 2025 Championship Series after subbing in for an injured player, and one other Stanwick Burch-ranked player in Blake (No. 9).

Blake, a 2025 Princeton grad, was the Ivy League Attacker of the Year in her senior season. The program’s all-time leading scorer, Blake is a powerful lefty and dominant inside threat who has no trouble finding her space and getting her shot off.

“Blake plays with great poise and fluidity, using her body and stick creatively — dropping levels, shifting angles and picking the right shot in tight spaces,” Stanwick Burch wrote. “She thrives off feeds, has a strong presence around the crease and consistently punishes defenses with her smart, physical play.”

Swart, a former reliable Syracuse midfielder (Class of 2021) who used her grad year to play field hockey, and Denes, the 2024 Notre Dame grad who set the program record for draw controls (388), round out the Charm’s pickups.

To make room for the six new players on the roster, Maryland released Katia Carnevale and Jillian Wilson and placed Alex Aust Holman, Megan Whittle and Lizzie Colson on the holdout list. Whittle cannot play due to injuries, Aust Holman recently welcomed her first child and Colson has retired from professional lacrosse.

The 2026 WLL Championship Series kicks off Feb. 27 at The St. James outside Washington, D.C., with the winner being crowned March 8. Game play will take place over the course of the two weekends — a format change from last year’s week-long tournament. Round-robin play lasts from Feb. 27 to March 6. The second- and third-placed teams will play in the semifinal on March 7, meeting the first-seeded team — who earns a playoff bye — in the title game on March 8. The fourth-placed team after round-robin action will be eliminated from the tournament.

The PLL debuted the Sixes format Championship Series in 2023, and women’s play began last year, with the Guard taking home the first title. In its return at the 2028 Olympics, lacrosse will be played in the Sixes style, showcasing the fastest, most creative and aggressive angles of the sport.