Falcon Lacrosse No. 1 Seed at SoCon Tournament, May 5
5/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
This Week...
Air Force (13-2 overall, 7-0 SoCon) will enter the 2016 Southern Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship as the top seed, which will be held Thursday, May 5 and Saturday, May 7, at Robins Stadium in Richmond, Va. The four-team tournament will also feature Richmond, High Point and Bellarmine. Air Force will face fourth-seeded Bellarmine on Thursday, May 5, at 5 p.m. ET.
National Polls...
The Falcons are 12th in both the Cascade/Maverik Media Polls and the USILA/NIKE Division I Men's Lacrosse Coaches Poll following their win over Jacksonville, Apr. 30. The Falcons first broke into national polls on March 21. Air Force has ranked as high as No. 9 in the media polls this season.
Live Stream...
The SoCon tournament championship game will be broadcast on ESPN3, while the two semifinal contests will be shown on the SoCon Digital Network. Fans can watch the game by going to the lacrosse schedule and clicking the watch button. A cable provider subscription is required for viewing the championship matchup, May 7.
The Streak...
Air Force has won 13 straight games and has improved to 13-2 overall this season. The streak marks the longest win streak in school history and is the longest active streak in the nation. The Falcons are third in the nation in win percentage (0.867). A four-overtime win at Marist initiated the Falcon win streak. Nine of the 13 wins have been by three goals or less, nine of the wins have come on the road, three wins came in overtime and seven of the wins were in conference matchups.
The SoCon Tournament...
Competition will begin Thursday with a showdown between Air Force, who took outright regular-season title with their win against Jacksonville, and No. 4 seed Bellarmine (6-8, 4-3 SoCon), at 5 p.m. ET.
In Thursday's second game, No. 2 seed Richmond (10-4, 6-1 SoCon) and No. 3 seed High Point (9-5, 5-2 SoCon) will face off at 7:30 p.m ET. The contest will be a rematch of last year's title game, which HPU won 9-8 in double overtime. On March 27, the Spiders beat the Panthers 7-3 in the teams' regular-season meeting.
Both semifinal winners will enjoy a day off before battling for the SoCon crown on Saturday at noon.
Series vs. Bellarmine...
Air Force and Bellarmine will meet for the 12th time in program history and for the second time this season. Air Force leads the series, 8-3. Air Force edged Bellarmine, 8-7 in overtime, April 2. The teams met in 2006, at Falcon Stadium and Air Force won, 9-7. The Falcons have bested the Knights by five goals or more on the three occasions, Air Force has won three straight in the series since 2014.
Scouting the Knights...
The Knights earned a spot in the tournament on Saturday by racing past Furman at home, 15-8. The Knights capped their regular season at 6-8 overall and 4-3 in the SoCon.
Junior A/M Tucker Ciessau leads the Knights with 35 points from 22 goals and 13 assists. Junior A/M Jack Perkins is second on the team with 25 points (19-6-25).
Bellarmine is second in the SoCon in face-off winning percentage, winning 54.9% of their face-offs. Sophomore midfielder Connor Harryman leads the conference in face-off win percentage, winning 59.3% of face-offs. Harryman also leads the SoCon in ground balls per game (5.08).
Bellarmine goalkeeper Chase Rose is second in the conference with a 9.18 goals against average. Jack Perkins is second in the SoCon with six individual man-up goals. The Knights have the third best scoring defense in the conference (9.07).
Air Force Sweeps the SoCon Annual Awards...
Regular-season champion Air Force swept the Southern Conference men's lacrosse postseason awards as voted on by the league's head coaches, the conference office announced, May 3. Falcon attacker Chris Walsch was tabbed SoCon Offensive Player of the Year, while teammate Doug Gouchoe was named Defensive Player of the Year. Head coach Eric Seremet and defender Brandon Jones made it a clean sweep, taking Coach of the Year and Freshman of the Year accolades, respectively.
Inside the Numbers...
Air Force leads the conference in scoring defense (7.20) and man-down defense (0.756). Air Force's scoring defense is second best in the nation while man-down defense is third. The Falcons also lead the conference in scoring margin (3.13) and shooting percentage (0.312). They rank second in the conference in scoring offense (10.33) and points per game (15.40) and are third in the conference in assists per game (5.07) and man-up offense (0.353).
Chris Walsch leads the team with 54 points from 29 goals and 25 assists on the season. He is third in the SoCon in points per game (3.60) and assists per game (1.67). Sophomore attacker Nick Hruby is second on the team with 35 points (21-14-32) while senior midfielder Christopher Allen is third with 34 points (29-5-31).
Walsch and Allen lead the team in shots with 82 apiece and are tied for fourth in the conference in goals per game (1.93). Sophomore Josh Radjenovich leads the team with 68 ground balls and 140 faceoff wins. Radjenovich ranks third in the conference in ground balls per game (4.53) and faceoff win percentage (.559). Freshman Brandon Jones leads the Falcons with 24 caused turnovers; a mark good enough for fifth in the conference in caused turnovers per game (1.53). Sophomore attacker Andrew Tien is tied for third in the conference with five individual man-up goals.
Last Week...
Air Force concluded regular season action with a win over league foe Jacksonville, 11-6, Saturday, Apr. 30, in Jacksonville, Fla. The win marked the Falcons' 13th straight victory and seventh straight win in the SoCon, making the Falcons' best overall and conference finish in modern era history. Jacksonville concluded their season at 3-10, 1-6 SoCon.
Allen led the Falcons with three goals while Walsch led the team in assists with three. Eight Falcons logged goals on the game. Smith finished with two goals while Hruby, Carter, Rohrbach, Duenes, Radjenovich and Larkin each had a goal apiece. Gouchoe finished the game with six saves while the Dolphin goalkeeper logged 12.
Air Force out shot Jacksonville 46-18 and both teams snagged 30 ground balls by the final whistle. Air Force won 12 of the 20 face offs.
