HARTSVILLE, S.C. - The Coker University men's lacrosse team battled No. 11 Mount Olive on Wednesday (Feb. 12), but fell by a score of 14-8.

Mount Olive opened the game by going up 2-0 in the first three minutes, before Joe Venazio scored man-up from Nicholas Maddox to get the Cobras on the board just 44 seconds later. The Cobras tied the game at two with an unassisted goal from Ethan Irizarry at 4:35 of the first quarter, before Mount Olive re-gained the lead at 3-2 three minutes later. Kaden Ross would tie the game again from Irizarry with five minutes and change to play in the first, before Mount Olive would score the final two goals of the period to take a 5-3 lead after 15 minutes.

Coker scored two of the three goals in the second quarter, starting with another unassisted marker from Irizarry a minute and a half in to get the Cobras within 5-4. After Mount Olive scored with six and a half minutes left in the second to take a 6-4 lead, Justin Hopkins would score unassisted with 38 seconds left to get the Cobras back within one at the half.

Venazio opened the scoring 42 seconds into the third quarter with a goal from Matt Murphy to tie the game at six, before Mount Olive would hold the Cobras off the board for the remainder of the quarter while netting three goals to take a 9-6 lead to the fourth.

Mount Olive would score the first two goals of the fourth quarter, before Henry Haskett would break up the Trojans run with a goal from Irizarry with 10 and a half minutes to play. Mount Olive would score three out of the final four goals to hang on for the road win, with Kaden Ross scoring unassisted with six minutes to play representing the final Cobra marker in the game.

Irizarry, Venazio and Ross each scored twice in the game, while Hopkins and Haskett each netted one goal for Coker. Irizarry led the Cobras with two assists on the day, while Murphy and Maddox dished out one assist each. Coker out-worked Mount Olive for ground balls 34-30 in the game, led by six from Jason McNeany. Hopkins also picked up four ground balls in the game, while four others collected three each. Nine other Cobras scooped up ground balls in the game. Coker also caused 10 turnovers in the game, led by two from Emmanuel Adjaye. Eight other Cobras caused one turnover apiece in the game. Chris Hagy (2-1) took the loss in the cage for Coker, making 15 saves on the day.  

Coker (2-1) hosts North Greenville in non-conference action on Friday (Feb. 14) at the Coker Athletic Field. Opening faceoff is set for 6:00 p.m., with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.

McDonald's Player of the Game – Ethan Irizarry