SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Defending Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion High Point is the preseason favorite to win the league again in 2022. The six head coaches also picked a 14-member preseason All-Southern Conference team, with Jacksonville leading the way with five selections.
 
Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams or student-athletes. Five of the six league teams were represented on the preseason All-SoCon team, which included an extra defenseman due to a tie in the voting.
 
High Point earned four first-place votes and 24 total points in the poll to edge Richmond, which had the remaining two first-place votes and 22 total points. Those squads shared the regular-season title in 2021, with the Panthers topping the Spiders in the title game of the SoCon Men’s Lacrosse Championship, 11-8. HPU is the preseason favorite for the first time since 2016 and the second time ever.
 
Jacksonville collected 17 points in the preseason poll to finish third, followed by Mercer with 12 points and VMI with 10. Hampton, new to the league this year, rounded out the poll with five points.
 
High Point, which finished last season ranked in all three major national polls, went 8-6 overall in 2021 and 5-1 in SoCon play. All six of the Panthers’ losses came to nationally ranked opponents. HPU put two-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Year Asher Nolting and midfielder Hunter Vines on the preseason All-SoCon squad. Nolting, a graduate student attackman, is the SoCon’s career leader in points, points per game, assists and assists per game and enters his final season third in league history in goals and fifth in goals per game. He paced the SoCon last season in total points (72) and assists (45).
 
Richmond, which was ranked in the national polls for the majority of last season, went 7-6 overall and 5-1 in league play, with four losses coming against top-10 teams. The Spiders, who have reached the title game of the SoCon Championship each year it’s been contested, put four players on the preseason all-conference team, including reigning SoCon Offensive Player of the Year Ryan Lanchbury and SoCon Freshman of the Year Dalton Young, both attackmen. Lanchbury led the SoCon in points per game at 5.15 last season, while Young is the leading returning goal-scorer in the league, as he tied for second with 2.69 per contest last year. Midfielder Luke Frankeny, a graduate transfer from Mount St. Mary’s, and defenseman Ray Baran were also preseason All-SoCon picks.
 
Jacksonville, which went 7-7 overall and 4-2 in SoCon play last season, returns an experienced squad this season, as four of the Dolphins’ five preseason all-conference selections are graduate students. Jack Dolan, a first-team All-SoCon player at attack last season, earned the preseason nod at midfield this year, while JU claimed a pair of preseason spots on defense in Colin Hinton and Dixon Smith. Jason Yoquinto earned the goalkeeper spot on the preseason team, while redshirt junior Jordan Young was the pick at long stick midfielder.
 
Mercer (5-8, 2-4 SoCon) put a pair on the preseason all-conference team in defenseman Wesley Chairs and faceoff specialist Aston Wood. Wood, the SoCon’s career leader in ground balls per game and faceoff winning percentage, led the league in both categories last season.
 
VMI (1-10, 0-6) put senior short stick midfielder Trejan Cannon on the preseason squad. Cannon recorded 33 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers last season.
 
Hampton has not competed since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when the Pirates went 0-6 before the season was interrupted. Hampton has competed as an independent since the program’s debut in 2016, when it became the first Historically Black College and University to field a varsity men’s lacrosse team at the NCAA Division I level.
 
Nolting, Lanchbury and Dolan were first-team All-SoCon picks last season, while Young, Hinton, Baran, Yoquinto, Wood and Young were second-team selections.
 
The 2022 Southern Conference men’s lacrosse season officially gets under way Saturday, Jan. 29, when Mercer hosts former SoCon foe Bellarmine. This season’s SoCon Championship returns to High Point’s Vert Stadium on May 5 and 7.
 
2022 Preseason Southern Conference Coaches Poll
Team (1st-place votes)   Total
1. High Point (4)               24
2. Richmond (2)               22
3. Jacksonville                 17
4. Mercer                         12
5. VMI                             10
6. Hampton                     5
 
2022 Preseason All-Southern Conference team
A             Asher Nolting, 5th, High Point
A             Ryan Lanchbury, Gr., Richmond
A             Dalton Young, Jr., Richmond
M            Hunter Vines, Sr., High Point
M            Jack Dolan, Gr., Jacksonville
M            Luke Frankeny, Gr., Richmond
D             Colin Hinton, Gr., Jacksonville
D             Dixon Smith, Gr., Jacksonville
D             Wesley Chairs, Jr., Mercer
D             Ray Baran, R-Sr., Richmond
GK          Jason Yoquinto, Gr., Jacksonville
FO          Ashton Wood, Sr., Mercer
SSM        Trejan Cannon, Sr., VMI
LSM        Jordan Young, R-Jr., Jacksonville