ROCK HILL, S.C. --- The Tusculum University men's lacrosse team has been picked to finish ninth in the 2022 South Atlantic Conference preseason coaches poll, the SAC office announced Thursday.

The Pioneers finished in seventh place in the SAC in 2021 with a 3-4 league record, then defeated Coker in the opening round of the conference tournament before being eliminated by eventual SAC Tournament champion and NCAA Division II runner-up Lenoir-Rhyne in the semifinals. Tusculum ended the year with a record of 7-5.

First-year head coach Rodney Tapp welcomes back six starters from last year's squad, including the Pioneers' top four scorers from a year ago in fifth-year midfielder Lorenz Brown (21 goals), senior attackers Nate Raymond (19 goals) and Kale Lawrence (17 goals) and junior midfielder Tristan Kirkham (15 goals). Senior goalkeeper Ross Geiger returns for his fourth season as the Pioneers' starter after recording a career-best save percentage during the 2021 campaign.

Lenoir-Rhyne, which lost to LeMoyne in the NCAA championship game and finished with a 15-2 record last season, earned seven first-place votes and 107 points to take the top spot in the SAC preseason poll. Wingate, which lost to Lenoir-Rhyne in the SAC Championship match and in the NCAA semifinals to end the year at 12-3, took the other four first-place votes and had 104 points in the poll.

Queens (7-4) is third in the preseason poll with 85 points, followed by Limestone (10-4) in fourth with 84 points and Newberry (7-5) in fifth with 80 points. Catawba (5-6) is sixth with 64 points, with Anderson (4-10) taking seventh place with 52 points. Coker (6-8) is eighth in the poll with 43 points, trailed by Tusculum (40 points), Mars Hill (3-10) in tenth with 36 points and Lincoln Memorial (0-9) in 11th with 20 points.

The Pioneers will open the 2022 season on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at Young Harris, and will play their conference opener on Saturday, March 5 at Pioneer Field against Mars Hill.

2022 SAC Men's Lacrosse Preseason Poll