Mercer men’s lacrosse tabbed fifth in SoCon coaches poll

MACON, Georgia (MERCER ATHLETICS) – The Southern Conference released its preseason men’s lacrosse coaches poll results on Thursday, with the Mercer men’s lacrosse team taking fifth in predicted order of finish.  Senior midfielder Tim Geran was also tabbed as one of 12 Preseason All-Conference selections, based on polling.

Mercer earned 18 total points to finish ahead of Furman and VMI in the standings. Bellarmine was picked to win the league, attracting four first place votes and 34 total points. High Point was second with three first place votes and 30 points, while Richmond got the final first place nod and was slotted third. Jacksonville edged out Mercer for fourth place with 19 points.

Geran, who set a program single-season record with 21 assists in 2014, joined Richmond sophomore Mitchell Goldberg and Bellarmine sophomore Austin Shanks as Preseason All-Conference midfielders. Geran’s 1.91 assists per game ranked 16th nationally and led the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Mercer returns seven starters off last year’s team that captured a share of the Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship and finished 7-7 (4-1 A-Sun). The squad is led by 2014 A-Sun Coach of the Year Kyle Hannan, who’s guided the team to 11 wins in two seasons on the Mercer sidelines.

Among Mercer’s returners are junior attackman Chris Baxa, junior goalkeeper Mike Nugent and sophomore defenseman Colin Massa, all of whom joined Geran on the A-Sun All-Conference second team in 2014.