SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Defending Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion Richmond has been picked to win the league again in 2019 in a vote of the eight league head coaches. The coaches also picked a 14-member preseason All-Southern Conference team, with the Spiders leading the way with four selections.
Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams or student-athletes. The team included one extra defender due to a tie in the voting. Seven of the eight league teams were represented on the preseason All-SoCon team.
Richmond, which went 11-6 overall and 6-1 in SoCon play in 2018, earned six first-place votes and 48 total points in the poll. High Point, which shared the regular-season title with the Spiders last season, was second with 39 points and a first-place vote, with Air Force close behind in third with 37 points to edge Jacksonville by just one point. The Dolphins, who fell in overtime to Richmond in the SoCon Championship title game, nabbed the remaining first-place vote.
Furman was picked fifth with 24 points, followed by Bellarmine with 17 points, Mercer with 16 and VMI with seven.
High Point’s Asher Nolting, Jacksonville’s Eric Applegate and Richmond’s Teddy Hatfield earned preseason all-conference spots at attack after each earned first-team All-SoCon honors last season.
Nolting, who was the SoCon Offensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in 2018, rewrote the league’s record book in his rookie campaign, becoming the first player in conference history to record 30 goals and 30 assists in the same season. He finished with a SoCon-record 66 points on 30 goals and a league-record 36 assists and his 4.71 points per game and 2.57 assists per game were also league records. Nolting earned All-America honorable mention from the USILA.
Applegate finished 2018 with 43 points on 23 goals and 20 assists, ranking fourth in the league in points per game (2.87) and assists per game (1.33) and helping the Dolphins (8-7) to just their second season ever with a record above .500. Hatfield, a two-time first-team All-SoCon selection, was second in the league with 59 points on 34 goals and 25 assists and was the Most Outstanding Player of the SoCon Championship after scoring the game-winner in the title game with 1:32 left in overtime to give the Spiders their first-ever SoCon tournament title.
Air Force’s Cameron Carter, Furman’s William Holcomb and Richmond’s Mitch Savoca earned preseason honors at midfield. Holcomb was a first-team all-conference pick last season, finishing seventh in the league in scoring with 2.77 points per game, collecting 26 goals and 10 assists for 36 total points. Carter and Savoca earned second-team honors last season, with Savoca leading the league with three game-winning goals.
The preseason defensive unit includes Brandon Jones of Air Force, Dixon Smith of Jacksonville, Jason Reynolds of Richmond and Kyle Walsh of VMI. Walsh, a preseason selection for the second straight year, was second in the SoCon with 87 total ground balls and 6.69 per game last year, while Jones, the 2016 SoCon Freshman of the Year and a preseason selection for the second straight year, did not compete in 2018 but led the SoCon with 86 total ground balls and finished third with 4.78 per game in 2017. Reynolds and Walsh were first-team all-conference selections last season, while Smith was a second-team pick.
High Point’s Tim Troutner Jr. was the preseason selection at goalkeeper after finishing second in the league with a .532 save percentage and third with 10.57 saves per game last year. Troutner, who turned in an 11.21 goals against average and was a second-team all-conference selection, set a SoCon tournament record with 22 saves in a 12-11 overtime loss to Jacksonville in the semifinals. Troutner was also a preseason pick in 2017.
Air Force senior Trent Harper was the preseason selection at faceoff specialist for the second straight season. Harper, a first-team all-conference selection in 2017, went 152-135 (.530) from the X last season. He finished fourth in the league in ground balls with 68 total and 4.53 per game.
Richmond’s Tate Gallagher was the preseason pick at short stick midfielder after posting six points on two goals and four assists and collecting 19 ground balls in 2018. He also forced three turnovers.
Michael O’Brien of Mercer, who has earned second-team all-conference honors in each of the last two seasons, is the preseason selection at long stick midfielder. O’Brien turned in a pair of assists, collected 33 ground balls and forced 13 turnovers last season.
The 2019 Southern Conference men’s lacrosse season gets under way Saturday, Feb. 2, with five teams in action. This season’s SoCon Championship will be held at High Point’s Vert Stadium in High Point, North Carolina, on May 2 and 4.
2019 Preseason Southern Conference Coaches Poll
Team (1st-place votes) Total
1. Richmond (6) 48
2. High Point (1) 39
3. Air Force 37
4. Jacksonville (1) 36
5. Furman 24
6. Bellarmine 17
7. Mercer 16
8. VMI 7
2019 Preseason All-Southern Conference team
A Asher Nolting, High Point
A Eric Applegate, Jacksonville
A Teddy Hatfield, Richmond
M Cameron Carter, Air Force
M William Holcomb, Furman
M Mitch Savoca, Richmond
D Brandon Jones, Air Force
D Dixon Smith, Jacksonville
D Jason Reynolds, Richmond
D Kyle Walsh, VMI
GK Tim Troutner Jr., High Point
FO Trent Harper, Air Force
SSM Tate Gallagher, Richmond
LSM Michael O’Brien, Mercer
-www.SoConSports.com-