High Point players celebrate their 13-12 OT win Feb. 23 in front of dejected Virginia defenseman Logan Greco.
to beat traditional powers, and people in the lacrosse community say that’s not a team you want to play.”
SoCon, SO GOOD
THE MOST FASCINATING CONFERENCE IN LACROSSE
The Southern Conference has become a disruptive force in college sports. The so-called SoCon prides itself on producing giant-killers like Appalachian State football and Davidson basketball — even though it actually spawned the SEC and ACC, two of today’s power conferences, in 1921 and 1953. Fast-forward to Feb. 23, 2016, when on a dreary Tuesday night in Charlottesville, Va., the SoCon showed the ACC who its daddy was, so to speak, as the High Point men’s lacrosse team stunned 10th- ranked Virginia 13-12 on All-American Dan Lomas’ fourth goal in overtime at Klöckner Stadium.
The Panthers, in just their fourth season of existence, slayed one of the sport’s Goliaths.
And if you’re one of the people who were quick to dismiss High Point’s victory as an aberration, just remember that the first time anyone really paid attention to Denver was when the Pioneers took down — you guessed it — Virginia in 2004. High Point and Denver have a lot in common. They’re both small, private liberal arts universities that instead of big-time football have poured their resources into winnable sports like baseball, lacrosse, hockey and
gymnastics. Both lacrosse teams
cast a wide recruiting net and benefit from north-of- the-border talents like Lomas, an Ontario native. There’s one more link. High Point coach Jon Torpey was a rookie assistant on Jamie Munro’s staff at Denver when the Pioneers shocked the Cavaliers a dozen years ago. Torpey
laxmagazine.com
Air Force’s Chris Walsch is flying high after scoring the game-winner in quadruple overtime Feb. 20 at Marist.
April 2016»
spent four years at Denver and two at Dartmouth before the Panthers hired him as one of the youngest head coaches in Division I at age 32. High Point followed the same how-to-build model that has made other startups like Marquette and Richmond so successful so soon — hire an up-and-coming coach with a strong pedigree and give him plenty of lead time to construct a roster, establish a schedule and create a brand.
But Torpey hit a wall when he tried to line up a conference. When Richmond and Furman added teams in 2014, the Atlantic Sun Conference agreed to sponsor a men’s lacrosse conference consisting of Jacksonville plus Furman, High Point, Mercer, Richmond and VMI. The SoCon took it over in 2015. “You’ve got schools that kids gravitate toward. They’re in the South, and you’ve got programs that seem to be supporting the sport really well with funding, scholarships, coaching positions, and great facilities,” Torpey said. “You get to that point where you’re good enough
Bellarmine and Air Force, outcasts of the late Great Western Lacrosse League and ECAC, have since joined the SoCon, now one of the most fascinating conferences in Division I. Richmond, which memorably pushed Virginia to the brink in its inaugural game in 2014 and made the NCAA tournament that year, started 3-0 with wins over establishment teams like Fairfield, UMBC and Mount St. Mary’s. Air Force had defending NCAA champion Denver on the ropes for most of the game losing by one goal. Ohio State needed a fluky goal with four seconds left to beat Furman in its season opener. Will it scare away prospective opponents in the future?
“Unfortunately for some people, they drop us when we get to that point where we’re pretty good, and it’s hard for us to schedule,” Torpey said. “We’re good enough to beat you, but we’re not the name that people think you should be.” One place they can’t avoid the SoCon is the NCAA tournament. High Point, the conference champion, jumped out to a 5-0 lead at Towson before fading late in the play-in round last year. It very well could have been the Panthers giving Notre Dame fits the following week. In just its second season sanctioning men’s lacrosse, the Southern Conference, cobbled together from innovative startups and geographic misfits, is living up to its reputation as a disruptive force in college sports.
— Matt DaSilva
©BRIAN SCHNEIDER (MG); ©DAVE ANDERSON (CW)
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
