Hartsville, S.C. – When regionally ranked #4 Coker and regionally ranked #10 Mount Olive met in their first Conference Carolinas men’s soccer match on Saturday night in Hartsville, S.C., it was a battle of the unbeaten, with neither team having lost a match in 2009. At the end of 90 minutes it was the Cobras that remained undefeated thanks to a goal from Tyler Senecal (Mt. Pleasant, N.C.) in the 80th minute, giving Coker a 1-0 victory.

The win improves Coker to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in Conference Carolinas play, while Mount Olive falls to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

It was a extremely even match from start to finish with each team having it’s fair chance to get on the board throughout the match, with each goalkeeper making some spectacular saves. The Cobras James Sweeney (Huntingtown, Md.) and the Trojans Zac Scott (Pittsboro, N.C.) each had five saves on the night.  Sweeney turned aside the majority of the Mount Olive shots in the first half, while Scott was made some unbelievable saves in the second half. 

In addition to the goalkeeper’s save numbers, each team had nearly equal shot numbers, with the Cobras holding a slight advantage 12-8.

Coker returns to the pitch in a week when they travel to Due West, S.C. to face Erskine College at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, while Mount Olive will travel to Francis Marion for a match on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 4:00 p.m.