Men’s Lacrosse Brings in No. 11 Mount Olive for Home Opener

Men’s Lacrosse Brings in No. 11 Mount Olive for Home Opener

HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Coker College men's lacrosse team (1-1) will bring in the No. 11 Mount Olive Trojans on Wednesday (Feb. 21) afternoon for a non-conference game at the Coker Athletic Field. Opening face off is set for 3 p.m. Live stats and video can be found by visiting www.cokercobras.com

This past Saturday (Feb. 17), the Cobras captured their first victory of the season by grinding out a 12-11 win over Chowan. Joe Venazio led the Cobras on the offensive end, recording a team-best four goals and dishing out two assists. Matt Murphy followed Venazio with three goals and two assists, while Ethan Irizarry tallied two goals and two assists. Other Cobras who found the back of the net included Denton Wilks and Lucas Hediger. On the defensive end, DeShaun Ormond led the way for the Navy and Gold, causing three turnovers and scooping up five ground balls. In goal, Chris Hagy collected ten saves. 

Two games into the year, Venzio leads the Cobras on the offensive end with seven points, burying five goals and dishing out two assists. Irizarry trails Venazio with six points, recording four goals and two assists, while Murphy has added five points off of three goals and two assists. Justin Hopkins, Rylee Marsh, and Wilks have all posted three points each. 

Hopkins has been a groundball machine for the Navy and Gold, gathering a team-best 10 ground balls from the face off. Defensively, Ormond and James Brugger have caused a team-high four caused turnovers. In addition, Ormond has collected seven ground balls and Brugger has four, respectively. In between the pipes, Hagy has accumulated 24 saves on the young season. 

No. 11 Mount Olive heads into tomorrow's contest with a 2-0 record, earning victories over Mars Hill (15-4) and Catawba (15-3). Jacob Ball leads the Trojans offensively with ten points from four goals and six assists. 

As mentioned, opening face off is set for 3 p.m. Tickets for the game are $5 for adults, $3 for students and free to all Coker faculty, staff and students.