2015 SoCon Lacrosse Tournament: THE FACEOFF

This weekend will mark the first time that the Southern Conference will award a men's lacrosse championship, crowning a titlist at Robins Stadium in Richmond. As the successor to what was Atlantic Sun lacrosse, however, the league itself is kind of in its second tour of duty, but this is the first time that the SoCon will award a championship with its name on the trophy. So, just to get it straight: This was the Atlantic Sun; now it's the SoCon. Got it? Good.

Richmond is looking to go a perfect two-for-two in NCAA Tournament invitations, the program never knowing a season without a trip to The Big Barbeque. The Spiders ran through an impressive 10-4 regular season campaign, the rush including an undefeated conference slate. Richmond also heads into the weekend ranked 20th in the latest media poll, indicating that the Spiders done their job to raise their conference's profile. On Richmond's heels is a Mercer team that's always in the hunt, a High Point team with plenty of upset pedigree, and a  Furman team lurking in the shadows after splitting its SoCon schedule. The winner of this thing is likely headed to a play-in game, but the ultimate goal of the champion is to pull off a huge upset if they progress to the bracket proper. Let's take a big picture look at how the SoCon is shaping up: