SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Regular-season co-champion Richmond has claimed the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Southern Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship at the Spiders’ own Robins Stadium in Richmond, Virginia. The tournament begins with a pair of semifinals on Wednesday, May 5, with the final on Friday, May 7.
 
The host Spiders (6-5, 5-1 SoCon) will face No. 4 seed Air Force (4-8, 3-3), which knocked off 15^th-ranked Richmond on Saturday, 9-8, and waited out Bellarmine’s win over Mercer to clinch the final spot in the tournament. After Richmond scored three times in a span of 2 minutes, 23 seconds late in the fourth quarter to knot the score at 8, the Falcons’ Brenden Crouse put the visitors back on top less than a minute later, scoring with 3:19 left to secure Air Force’s upset win. Richmond, the two-time defending tournament champion, and Air Force will meet in a rematch on the same field at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the first semifinal of the day.
 
Richmond has appeared in each of the five previous SoCon Men’s Lacrosse Championships. Air Force, which joined the league in 2016, will be making its fourth appearance in five tries. The squads have met in the tournament three times previously, with the Falcons beating Richmond in the title games in 2016 and 2017 and the Spiders downing Air Force in the 2019 semifinals.
 
High Point (6-5, 5-1) downed Jacksonville 16-11 on Saturday to secure a share of the regular-season title and the No. 2 seed in the tournament, getting five goals from Brayden Mayea in the regular-season finale. The Panthers will face the third-seeded Dolphins (7-6, 4-2) in another instant rematch, with the squads squaring off again at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the tournament’s second semifinal.
 
High Point will be making its fifth tournament appearance in six tries, while Jacksonville, which didn’t qualify for the tournament in the first two years the league sponsored the sport, will be making its fourth straight appearance. The squads will be meeting in the semifinals for the third straight time, with the Dolphins earning an overtime win in 2018 before the Panthers cruised to a 17-3 win in the 2019 semis. The 2020 tournament was not contested due to the coronavirus pandemic.
 
The title game of the 2021 SoCon Championship will be Friday at 12 p.m.
 
All three contests will air live on ESPN+, with Jason Patterson handling play-by-play duties and Phil Cox serving as analyst.
 
 
SoCon Men’s Lacrosse Championship
(Robins Stadium; Richmond, Va.)
May 5 (Wednesday)
No. 1 Richmond vs. No. 4 Air Force, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
No. 2 High Point vs. No. 3 Jacksonville, 8 p.m. (ESPN+)
 
(Robins Stadium; Richmond, Va.)
May 7 (Friday)
Championship game, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)