Cobras Cruise Past Chowan for Non-Conference Victory on Wednesday

MURFREESBORO, N.C. - The Coker University men's lacrosse team cruised past Chowan for a road non-conference victory on Wednesday (Feb. 5) by a score of 16-6.

The Cobras got on the board less than two minutes into the game, when Joe Venazio scored from Matt Murphy. Coker would score again with seven and a half minutes to play in the quarter when Henry Haskett found the back of the net from Nicholas Maddox. With 3:40 to play in the frame, Andrew Dappen scored off an assist by Venazio to make it 3-0, before Haskett would find the back of the net again from Venazio 43 seconds later. Chowan would get on the board with less than two minutes to play, but Coker led 4-1 after one quarter.

Coker out-scored Chowan 3-2 in the second quarter to take a 7-3 lead to the half. Murphy scored unassisted one minute into the second quarter, before back-to-back Chowan goals cut the lead to 5-3 with eight minutes left in the quarter. Kaden Ross scored from Venazio with 2:45 left in the frame, before Dappen scored the final goal of the first half from Murphy 36 seconds later.

Coker out-scored Chowan 5-1 in the third quarter to pull away in the contest. The Cobras opened the third quarter with goals from Ethan Irizarry and Ross 59 seconds apart, before Chowan scored their only goal of the frame 1:21 after Ross's goal. Coker closed the quarter with goals from Richie Timothee (10:51), Venazio (7:06) and a man-up goal from Dappen assisted by Maddox (4:31).

Ross scored a team-high four goals for the Cobras on the day, while Dappen and Venazio each netted hat tricks in the game. Irizarry and Haskett each scored twice, while Murphy and Timothee each found the back of the net once. Venazio dished out a team-high four assists in the game, while Maddox helped on three goals. Murphy had two assists in the game, while Irizarry also had one. As a team, Coker finished just one shy of its single-game program record for ground balls set back on Sunday (Feb. 2) against Lees-McRae, finishing the game with 59. Irizarry, Venazio and Jason McNeany each posted a team-high seven, while Ethan Ramsey had five. Four other Cobras had four ground balls each, while three others had three each in the game. Six other Cobras picked up ground balls in the game. Coker also broke the program single-game record for caused turnovers in a game with 18. Venazio paced the Cobras with four caused turnovers in the game, while Murphy had three and three other Cobras registered two apiece. Five other Cobras had one caused turnover apiece in the victory. Chris Hagy (2-0) got the win between the pipes, making nine saves.

Coker returns home next Wednesday (Feb. 12) to face its third consecutive Conference Carolinas opponent in No. 12 Mount Olive. Opening faceoff is set for 3:00 p.m., with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.