SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Regular-season champion Air Force will enter as the top seed in the 2016 Southern Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship, which will be held Thursday and Saturday at Robins Stadium in Richmond, Va. The four-team tournament will also feature Richmond, High Point and Bellarmine.

Competition will begin Thursday with a showdown between No. 2 seed Richmond (10-4, 6-1 SoCon) and No. 3 seed High Point (9-5, 5-2 SoCon) at 5 p.m. The contest will be a rematch of last year’s title game, which HPU won 9-8 in double overtime. On March 27, the Spiders beat the Panthers 7-3 in the two teams’ regular-season meeting.

Air Force (13-2, 7-0 SoCon) will face No. 4 seed Bellarmine (6-8, 4-3 SoCon) in Thursday’s second game at 7:30 p.m. The 12th-ranked Falcons boast a 13-game winning streak – the longest active streak among Division I squads. The Knights earned a spot in the tournament on Saturday by racing past Furman at home, 15-8. Air Force edged Bellarmine 8-7 in overtime earlier this month.

Both semifinal winners will enjoy a day off before battling for the SoCon crown on Saturday at noon. The championship game will be broadcast on ESPN3, while the two semifinal contests will be shown on the SoCon Digital Network.

2016 SoCon Men’s Lacrosse Championship

Robins Stadium – Richmond, Va.

Thursday, May 5

Semifinals

Game 1 – No. 2 Richmond vs. No. 3 High Point, 5 p.m., SDN

Game 2 – No. 1 Air Force vs. No. 4 Bellarmine, 7:30 p.m., SDN

Saturday, May 7

Championship

Game 3 – Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 12 p.m., ESPN3

Note: All times are Eastern.

-www.SoConSports.com-