Lenoir-Rhyne Tops the 2025 SAC Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches' Poll

ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – After making a run to their second straight National Championship game, the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Lacrosse Team has been tabbed as the preseason favorite in the 2025 SAC Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The Bears, who have made three National Championship game appearances in the past four years and won it all in 2023, received seven of the 11 first place votes and earned 96 points in the coaches poll. The Bears are led by two-time National Coach of the Year Greg Paradine who has won 156 games at the helm.

Narrowly behind Lenoir-Rhyne is Limestone who garnered four first-place votes and 94 points. The Saints went 17-2 in 2024 and advanced to the National Semifinal for the third straight season. Limestone boasts one of the most explosive goal scorers in college lacrosse in Zach Terry who has scored 153 times in the past two seasons and led the nation in goal scoring each of those seasons.

Coming in third in the voting is Wingate who tallied 83 points. The Bulldogs have been a perennial top 10 team in the national rankings but will need to replace the all-time SAC leader in career points and assists in Willie Grieco. Sean Clark is the reigning SAC Freshman of the Year and was voted First Team Preseason All-Conference along with Jaxon Grant, Kyle Spence and Peyton Farley.

Newberry is fourth with 71 points after going 12-4 overall and 6-3 in SAC play a season ago. The Wolves will look to replace Scott Reed's 65 goals a season ago. Reed led DII with 4.33 goals per game as the Wolves were ranked in the top 10 nationally the majority of the 2024 season.

Anderson slots in fifth with 64 points as the program enters just its fifth year. Head Coach Albert Mitchell has been at the helm since the inception of the program and has 32 wins in his first four years.

Catawba is ranked sixth with 55 points with Coker coming in seventh at 43 points. Lincoln Memorial is at No. 8 and Mars Hill slots in at ninth. Tusculum was voted 10th and Emory & Henry is picked 11^th as the Wasps enter the first season in program history.

The men's lacrosse regular season opens on Saturday, February 1 with the SAC Championship set to take place on May 3 at the Sportsplex at Matthews in Matthews, N.C.

2025 SAC Men's Lacrosse Preseason Coaches' Poll

2025 SAC Men's Lacrosse All-Conference

All-SAC First Team

A – Sean Clark, Wingate
A – Evan Voss, Lenoir-Rhyne
A – Zachary Terry, Limestone

MF – Austin Lamoureux, Limestone
MF – Jaxon Grant, Wingate
MF – Kyle Spence, Wingate

D – Jaiden Terry, Limestone
D – Peyton Farley, Wingate
D – Lennon Connolly, Coker

LP – Chris Czulada, Anderson
Short-Stick Defensive MF – Jack Butler, Catawba
Face-off Spec. – Aiden Dixon, Anderson
GK – Brenden Pecora, Tusculum

All-SAC Second Team

A – Frank Cetrone, Catawba
A – Rhodes Conroy, Lincoln Memorial
A – Justin Beighey, Coker

MF – Michael McGarry, Limestone
MF – Jarrett Huff, Lenoir-Rhyne
MF – Zyaire Marshall, Coker

D – Jack Travassos, Newberry
D – Nick Arnold, Wingate
D – Dylan Witt, Limestone

LP – Brian Lake, Newberry
Short-Stick Defensive MF - Ashton Wilson, Lincoln Memorial
Face-off Spec. – Matthew Mancini, Lenoir-Rhyne
GK – KJ Seymour, Coker

Players to Watch:

Austin Stroud, Mars Hill
Jake Lynch, Mars Hill
David Mewes, Emory & Henry
Kyle Dyott, Emory & Henry