SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Richmond’s Ryan Lanchbury and Sean Menges have been named the Southern Conference men’s lacrosse offensive and defensive players of the week, respectively, for all competition Feb. 19-25. The awards are selected by the league office.
Lanchbury was also named to USILA Team of the Week, as was VMI’s John Schmank.
Richmond went 2-0 last week, beating UMBC 17-12 on Feb. 19 and No. 6 Notre Dame 9-8 on Feb. 23. The Fighting Irish were the highest-ranked opponent the Spiders have beaten in program history. Richmond entered the national rankings this week, debuting at No. 11 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Magazine poll, No. 14 in the Inside Lacrosse poll and No. 16 in the USILA poll.
Lanchbury scored nine points on eight goals and an assist on the week. In the win over the Retrievers, the sophomore attackman matched his career high with five goals, adding an assist for a six-point day. Lanchbury followed that up with three goals against Notre Dame, giving him at least three scores in all four games this season. The Burlington, Ontario, Canada, native has scored 17 goals this season, a program record through four games, and is already over halfway to the school’s singles-season record of 33.
Menges collected four ground balls and caused three turnovers on the week, adding an assist on the offensive end of the field against UMBC. Perhaps more importantly, the junior defenseman from Richmond, Virginia, was tasked with defending both UMBC’s and Notre Dame’s top opposing midfielders and held both below their season averages. Against the Fighting Irish, in a game decided by just one score, he held Bryan Costabile, who scored five times in a season-opening win over Detroit Mercy, to just two goals.
The Spiders (3-1) host nationally ranked Duke (No. 9 Nike/US Lacrosse Magazine, No. 6 Inside Lacrosse and USILA) on Friday at 7 p.m. on a contest that can be seen live on ESPN+.
Other offensive nominees: Riley Seay (Bellarmine), David Williamson (Furman), Asher Nolting (High Point), Eric Applegate (Jacksonville) and Ryan Perouty (VMI).
Other defensive nominees: Jordan Dondoyano (Bellarmine), Alec Van de Bovenkamp (Furman), Davis Sampere (High Point), Dixon Smith (Jacksonville) and Kyle Walsh (VMI).
2019 Southern Conference Men’s Lacrosse Players of the Week
Offense
Feb. 12 Asher Nolting, High Point
Feb. 19 Asher Nolting, High Point
Feb. 25 Ryan Lanchbury, Richmond
Defense
Feb. 12 Tim Troutner Jr., High Point
Feb. 19 Tim Troutner Jr., High Point
Feb. 25 Sean Menges, Richmond
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