SPARTANBURG, S.C. – With the conclusion of Southern Conference play Saturday, the field is set for the 2018 SoCon Men’s Lacrosse Championship at Robins Stadium in Richmond, Virginia. The host Spiders earned a share of the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the tournament, which will take place Thursday, May 3, and Saturday, May 5.
Richmond (9-5) and High Point (6-7) each won Saturday to finish with 6-1 records in league play and share the regular-season SoCon title, which is the third for the Spiders and the first for the Panthers. UR earned the top seed in the league tournament by virtue of its 15-12 win over High Point on March 24.
The Spiders, who will be making their fourth appearance in the tournament in as many seasons of SoCon men’s lacrosse’s existence, closed their regular season with a 12-6 win over Air Force on Saturday to earn a share of the regular-season title for the second straight year and deny the Falcons a berth in this year’s tournament, avenging a loss to Air Force in the title game last season. Richmond, which has hosted each of the previous three league championships, has reached the title game all three times, posting a trio of runner-up finishes. The Spiders, who are receiving votes in the Inside Lacrosse Maverik Media Poll, are paced on offense by junior Teddy Hatfield, the league’s career scoring leader with 143 points on 81 goals and 62 assists.
Richmond will face No. 4 seed Furman (4-9, 4-3 SoCon) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. The Paladins clinched the final tournament berth with a dramatic 8-7 win over Bellarmine on Saturday, getting the game-winning goal from junior David Williamson with three seconds left after the Knights had tied it at 7 with 34 ticks remaining. Furman, making its third SoCon Championship appearance and second in a row, is seeking its first title. The Paladins fell to Richmond in the semifinals in both 2015 and 2017.
Furman won this season’s regular-season matchup 10-9 on March 17, picking up its first-ever win over Richmond.
A year after failing to qualify for the tournament for the first time, High Point rebounded by earning its highest-ever seed at No. 2. The Panthers, who won the inaugural tournament as the No. 3 seed in 2015, downed Mercer by a 13-7 score Saturday to earn its share of the regular-season title. Freshman Asher Nolting, the league’s leading scorer and a midseason addition to the Tewaaraton Award watch list, scored two goals and added five assists Saturday to become the first player in league history with 30 goals and 30 assists in the same season. The Panthers will take on Jacksonville on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the second semifinal.
The third-seeded Dolphins (7-6, 5-2) are in the tournament for the second time after debuting as the No. 4 seed last season. Jacksonville, which recently saw seniors Hunter Forbes, Ryan Beville and McLean Chicquen selected in the Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft, posted its most SoCon wins in the league’s brief history, topping VMI 14-5 on Saturday to improve to 5-2 in the league. Forbes this season became the league’s leader in career ground balls and faceoff wins and ranks third in NCAA Division I in both ground balls per game and faceoff winning percentage this season.
High Point took an 11-9 win over Jacksonville on March 31 of this season. The sides have never met in the SoCon tournament.
The title game of the SoCon Championship will be Saturday at 2 p.m.
All three contests will air live on the SoCon Digital Network, with Jason Patterson handling play-by-play duties and Phil Cox serving as analyst.
SoCon Men’s Lacrosse Championship
(Richmond, Va.)
May 3 (Thursday)
No. 1 Richmond vs. No. 4 Furman, 5:30 p.m. (SDN)
No. 2 High Point vs. No. 3 Jacksonville, 8 p.m. (SDN)
May 5 (Saturday)
Championship game, 2 p.m. (SDN)
-www.SoConSports.com-