SPARTANBURG, S.C. – High Point’s Dan Lomas and Richmond’s Brendan Hynes have been selected as the Southern Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, for the league’s inaugural season of men’s lacrosse, as announced by the league on Tuesday. Additionally, Furman’s Reilly McDermott was picked as Freshman of the Year while Richmond’s Dan Chemotti was tabbed as the Coach of the Year in the awards picked by the league’s head coaches.
Lomas netted a league-high 38 goals with three assists for High Point in 2015 to earn Offensive Player of the Year honors. The junior attacker scored on 36.5 percent of his shots with 62.5 percent of his shots on goal and scored a SoCon-high seven goals in man-up situations. He added 21 ground balls and six caused turnovers on the year for the Panthers and claimed the final Offensive Player of the Week honor of the season.
Hynes led the Richmond defense that allowed the fewest goals in the SoCon this season, including a league-best 31 goals allowed in conference play. The sophomore defender totaled team highs in ground balls (56) and caused turnovers (24) while also scoring four goals and adding three assists on the year. He was named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Week four times and earned the USILA National Defensive Player of the Week honor on April 15, the first SoCon player to receive a national honor.
McDermott made 11 starts as a rookie in 2015, recording 130 saves against 96 goals allowed for a save percentage of .575. The native of Waxhaw, N.C. allowed eight goals or fewer in seven of his 11 starts this season and earned four wins in goal in Furman’s second season as a program. He was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Month for February and earned Defensive Player of the Week honors on March 3. McDermott ranks third in the SoCon in both save percentage (.575) and goals-against average (8.45) this season.
Chemotti led Richmond to a 10-4 overall record and an unblemished 6-0 conference record to capture the inaugural SoCon regular season title in just its second season as a program. The Spiders scored 86 goals in six conference games while allowing just 31, both bests in the league. Chemotti’s squad earned a No. 20 ranking in the final regular season Inside Lacrosse media poll.
The league’s head coaches also selected a first and second team all-conference squad along with an all-freshman team.
Richmond led all schools with seven all-conference selections, including four first-team picks, while High Point was second with six across the two teams. Bellarmine and Mercer each had four all-conference selections with Jacksonville placing two on the teams and Furman adding one.
Lomas was joined by Richmond’s J.P. Forester and Bellarmine’s Austin Shanks as first-team attackers. Kenny Meinsen (Furman), Mitch Goldberg (Richmond) and Tucker Cisseau (Bellarmine) made up the first-team midfielders on the all-conference squad.
Bellarmine’s Colin Hart and Jacksonville’s Austin Curtis joined Hynes on the first-team as defenders. Richmond goalie Benny Pugh was a first-team pick, as was High Point faceoff specialist Jamie Piluso and Bellarmine longstick midfielder Taylor Stuart.
The second-team attackers were High Point’s Matt Thistle and Michael LeClair and Mercer’s Chris Baxa. They were joined by midfielders Alex Hatem of Richmond, Tim Geran of Mercer and Quint Miller of Jacksonville.
Defending the second team was Pat Farrell (High Point), Colin Massa (Mercer) and Ryan Dennis (Richmond). The group was rounded out by Mercer goalie Mike Nugent, Richmond faceoff specialist Peter Moran and High Point longstick midfielder Harris Levine.
The all-freshman squad was comprised of seven players, due to a tie in the voting. McDermott was joined by High Point’s T Moyer and Connor Robinson and Mercer’s Jackson Kleintz and Matt Quinn along with Richmond’s Eric Haehl and VMI’s Wesley Sanders.
The 2015 Southern Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship kicks off on Thursday with two semifinal games and will conclude on Saturday with the championship game at 2 p.m. on ESPN3.
2015 Men’s Lacrosse Awards
Offensive Player of the Year
Dan Lomas, Jr., Attacker, High Point
Defensive Player of the Year
Brendan Hynes, So., Defender, Richmond
Freshman of the Year
Reilly McDermott, Goalie, Furman
Coach of the Year
Dan Chemotti, Richmond
All-SoCon First Team
A - Austin Shanks, Bellarmine
A - Dan Lomas, High Point
A - J.P. Forester, Richmond
M - Tucker Cisseau, Bellarmine
M - Kenny Meinsen, Furman
M - Mitch Goldberg, Richmond
D - Colin Hart, Bellarmine
D - Austin Curtis, Jacksonville
D - Brendan Hynes, Richmond
GK - Benny Pugh, Richmond
FO - Jamie Piluso, High Point
LSM - Taylor Stuart, Bellarmine
All-SoCon Second Team
A - Matt Thistle, High Point
A - Michael LeClair, High Point
A - Chris Baxa, Mercer
M - Quint Miller, Jacksonville
M - Tim Geran, Mercer
M - Alex Hatem, Richmond
D - Pat Farrell, High Point
D - Colin Massa, Mercer
D - Ryan Dennis, Richmond
GK - Mike Nugent, Mercer
FO - Peter Moran, Richmond
LSM - Harris Levine, High Point
All-Freshman Team
Reilly McDermott, Furman
T Moyer, High Point
Connor Robinson, High Point
Jackson Kleintz, Mercer
Matt Quinn, Mercer
Eric Haehl, Richmond
Wesley Sanders, VMI