HARTSVILLE, S.C. - Coker University junior attackman Joe Venazio scored his 100th career goal and tied the program's single-season points record in Coker's 17-8 South Atlantic Conference victory over Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday (Apr. 14).
Venazio opened the scoring off an assist from Matt Murphy less than five minutes in, before Lincoln Memorial responded with back-to-back goals to take a 2-1 lead with under six minutes to play in the quarter. Coker would tie the game when Tre Childers scored from Cal Gibson less than a minute later, before LMU scored the final goal of the quarter with 15 seconds left to take a 3-2 lead to the second.
Coker settled into its offensive rhythm in the second quarter, out-scoring the Railsplitters 7-1 in the frame. Venazio began the scoring again in the second off an assist from Henry Haskett three minutes in, before the duo teamed up in reverse roles for the next two goals less than two minutes apart. Venazio would assist on an Andrew Dappen goal 34 seconds later, before Dominic Madlang scored from Murphy with four and a half minutes to play in the half. Venazio would net his 100th career goal on Coker's next goal 25 seconds later, becoming the second player this season and the third in program history to hit the century mark in the goal category. Venazio would score again from Richie Timothee just over a minute later, before LMU would net its only goal of the second quarter in the final minute as Coker took a 9-4 lead to the half.
Coker out-scored Lincoln Memorial 5-2 in the third to take a 14-6 lead to the fourth. Haskett got the scoring started 45 seconds into the frame off an assist from Childers, before Jason McNeany scored unassisted just seven seconds later. Cal Gibson countered a Lincoln Memorial goal with an unassisted marker of his own, before Lincoln Memorial would get one back with nine and a half minutes to play in the period. Coker would net the final two goals of the frame, with Murphy scoring from Gibson with four minutes to play and Dappen scoring a man-up goal from Venazio with 10 seconds remaining in the frame.
Coker added three goals to LMU's two in the fourth to bring the game to its final score. LMU would score first in the quarter, before Coker would score three consecutive goals as the game went into its final six minutes. Venazio scored from Murphy with nine minutes to play, before Timothee scored unassisted with seven and a half to play. Coker's final goal of the afternoon came from Madlang unassisted.
Venazio paced Coker with nine points on five goals and four assists, tying Mike Martiello's single season record of 68 points back in 2016. Haskett netted a hat trick for Coker, while Madlang and Dappen each scored twice and five others each scored once. In addition to Venazio's team-high five assists, six other Cobras helped on Coker goals in the game. Coker collected 58 ground balls to LMU's 20, led by a career-high 11 ground balls from Ethan Ramsey. McNeany also picked up nine ground ball on the day, while Nolan DeBerry scooped up eight and 14 others were active in the ground ball effort. Coker caused 10 turnovers on the day, led by three from Dezmon Patten and two from Childers. Five others each caused one turnover in the game. Chris Hagy earned the win between the pipes, making five saves. Ethan Hofert also made one save in 15 minutes of relief.
Coker wraps up the regular season on Saturday (Apr. 17) at Anderson (S.C.) in South Atlantic Conference action. Opening face-off is set for 4:00 p.m. from Anderson, S.C., with video and live stats available at www.cokercobras.com.
McDonald's Player of the Game - Joe Venazio