LOCAL ROUNDUP: HPU tops SoCon men's lacrosse poll
Jan. 21—SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Defending Southern Conference regular-season and tournament champion High Point is the preseason choice by the league's coaches to win 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.
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 11-8 in the tournament title game and earning a berth in the NCAA tournament..
HPU, which went 8-6 last season and lost to Duke in the opening round of NCAA play, is the preseason favorite for the first time since 2016 and the second time ever. The Panthers finished last season ranked in all three national polls and all six losses were to ranked opponents.
HPU competes in the SoCon in men's lacrosse because the sport is not sanctioned by the Big South.
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.
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.
HPU placed two players on the All-Conference team — two-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Year Asher Nolting and midfielder Hunter Vines. Nolting was also named to Inside Lacrosse's preseason All-America third team.
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, put four players on the All-Conference 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.
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. Mercer had two and VMI one. had two and VMI one.
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.
TRINITY — Randleman's girls defeated Trinity 51-35 in a Piedmont Athletic 1A/2A contest Wednesday at Trinity.
The Tigers improved to 14-0 and 6-0 in the PAC while the Bulldogs slide to 3-13, 0-6.
In the boys game, Randleman won 67-64. Trinity dipped to 12-4 overall and 3-3 in the conference, while Randleman moved to 4-10, 2-4.
