SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Second-year program Richmond men’s lacrosse landed a trio of players on the Southern Conference’s Preseason All-Conference Team, the league announced Thursday. The coaches voted for both the preseason rankings and the All-Conference team.
The Spiders finished third in the preseason ranking, one point behind second-place High Point, the team Richmond defeated in the Atlantic Sun Tournament final to secure the bid into the NCAA Tounament, the first for a first-year program, dating back to the tournament’s inception in 1971.
The Spiders put redshirt senior transfer Mickey Hofmeister (Williamsburg, Virginia / Jamestown HS) on the squad at attack, sophomore Mitch Goldberg (Damascus, Maryland) on as a midfielder and sophomore Brendan Hynes (Mahopac, New York) on defense.
Goldberg was the ASun Conference Freshman of the Year and Tournament MVP, earning First-Team All-ASun honors after leading the Spiders in scoring, with 32 goals. He added 11 assists for 43 total points. He was fifth in the league in goals per game and seventh in points per game. He has registered a point in nine-straight games, scoring a goal in his last five contests entering this season.
Hofmeister came in after graduating at VMI last May after a three-year playing career with the Keydets. He was third in the Atlantic Sun Conference in scoring and 10th in assists per game, scoring 51 total points, fifth-most in the league.
Hynes was a Second-Team ASun selection, also landing on the All-Freshman team after leading Richmond in ground balls (78) and caused turnovers (35). He was second in the league and seventh in the NCAA with 2.06 caused turnovers per game. He also scored two goals and dished out four assists, leading the long poles in assists on the squad.
New conference opponent Bellarmine received four of the seven first-place votes and gained a total of 34 points to claim the top spot in the preseason voting. The Knights also placed three players on the preseason All-SoCon squad. Midfielder Austin Shanks, defender Colin Hart and longstick midfielder Bobby Schmidt each earned a spot on the inaugural preseason team.
High Point was selected second in the preseason poll, earning three first-place votes and a total of 30 points. The Panthers placed four players on the preseason All-SoCon team, most by any school. Attackers Dan Lomas and Matt Thistle joined goalkeeper Austin Geisler and faceoff specialist Jamie Piluso on the team.
Jacksonville was selected fourth with 19 points, followed by 2014 A-Sun Regular Season Champion Mercer in fifth with 18 points. Furman, also in its second season as a program, was picked sixth with nine points and VMI came in seventh with eight points.
Mercer midfielder Tim Geran and VMI defender Tyler Prasnicki rounded out the preseason All-SoCon squad.
The SoCon season gets underway on February 1, with High Point playing that day, with each of the other six SoCon schools beginning play on the weekend of February 7. The Spiders will host Saint Joseph’s at 1 p.m. The first ever SoCon lacrosse game will be played on March 7 when Richmond hosts in-state foe VMI.
The 2015 Southern Conference Men’s Lacrosse Championship will be held on the campus of the regular season champion and will feature the top four finishers from the regular season. The two semifinal games will take place on April 30 with the championship game on May 2.
