The High Point University men's lacrosse team begins the 2014 season on Saturday at Delaware. The program enters its second season, returning 30 letter winners and 10 starters from last year's squad.

Head coach Jon Torpey led High Point to three wins in the inaugural season, beating Towson, Michigan and Mercer. The Panthers will face all three teams again in 2014. High Point will face Mercer as part of the first season in the Atlantic Sun Conference, along with Jacksonville, VMI, Furman and Richmond. HPU was picked to finish second in the ASun as voted on by the leagues head coaches

"I was happy with our first season," said head coach Jon Torpey. "We got a few good wins, the guys improved every week and we built a solid foundation for the program. This year we are putting an emphasis on finishing possessions, games and the season strong. With such a young team last year there were times we started strong with a lot of emotion and weren't able to sustain it. We have to control emotions and finish as well as we start."

High Point's attack will be led by Atlantic Sun Preseason Co-Offensive Player of the Year Dan Lomas. Lomas led HPU with 36 goals and five assists last year. The attackman finished third on the team with 12 caused turnovers and picked up 31 ground balls. Lomas scored multiple goals in 10 of HPU's 15 games. He had a career-high six goals in the win over Michigan and scored four goals with three caused turnovers and six ground balls in the win over Towson. Sophomore Matt Thistle was HPU's points leader last season, tallying 42 points on 19 goals and 23 assists.

Torpey expects returners Hunter Edens and Dan Murray to increase their offensive output this season. Edens, a junior, scored one goal in five games last season while Murray redshirted the 2013 campaign. Freshmen Michael LeClair and Matt Koerner will add to the attack immediately.

The midfield will be anchored by a strong group of returning starters. Mitchell Dupere was a unanimous selection to the Atlantic Sun Preseason All-Conference team after scoring 15 goals with seven assists last year. He is joined in the midfield by returning players Brad James, Bucky Smith, Christian Beith, and Brendan Montrello. Adam Seal will make the move from attack to midfield for the 2014 season.

"This group has a lot of speed and athleticism," Torpey said. "Christian Beith has taken a big step up this season and we expect to see a lot more from him. Guys like Brad James and Bucky Smith have such a high lacrosse IQ and act like second coaches on the field. We ask a lot from our midfielders but feel like this group is capable of great thing."

Three newcomers, Sean Harrison, Nick Basile and Sam Klingsporn have earned playing time according to Torpey.

High Point has the most experience returning in the defense. Redshirt-senior captain Garrett Swaim, junior Pat Farrell and redshirt-sophomore Jeff Hale all come back after starting last season. Swaim was a Preseason All-Atlantic Sun selection after leading High Point with 18 caused turnovers in 2013. Farrell added 14 caused turnovers and eight ground balls while Hale had nine caused turnovers and 24 ground balls.

Zack Price, Nick Bittner, Harris Levine, James Dunn, Kyle Moses and Sam Johnston all return after contributing significant minutes last year. Freshman Tanner Landstra is the newcomer in the group expected to play a significant role for the Panthers.

"Defense is where we have the most experience," Torpey said. "This is a group of physical, athletic guys who has great chemistry after nearly two years of playing together."

Redshirt-junior Austin Geisler is back in the cage for High Point after finishing 13th in the NCAA with 12.00 saves per game last year. Geisler picked up all three of HPU's wins with a .512 save percentage. Geisler will be pushed by redshirt-junior Anthony Porchetta who played in seven games last year, making one start. He finished with a .562 save percentage. Sophomore Matt Siegmund and freshmen Russ Bartle and Skyler Morse are also available in goal.

The entire face-off corps also returns led by sophomore Jamie Piluso who won 126 of 248 face-offs and led the team with 68 ground balls. Piluso scored two goals with one assist on the year. Junior Chris Davila (48-of-99) and sophomore Daniel Czerkawski (4-of-15) also return as key elements of the face-off game.