Men's Lacrosse Falls in Double Overtime to Nationally-Ranked Trojans

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - The Coker College men's lacrosse team dropped a heartbreaker on the road at #13 Mount Olive 16-15 in double overtime on Wednesday (Feb. 20).

After falling behind by five goals at the beginning of the game the Cobras stormed back with a 12-4 lead to pull ahead of the nationally-ranked Trojans. Matt Murphy got the Cobras going 10 minutes in with his 10th goal of the season. Nicholas Maddox found Joe Venazio for a goal in the closing minutes of the first quarter and Denton Wilks cut the deficit down to just three early in the second quarter. After another Mount Olive goal the Cobras went on an absolute tear, rallying for seven consecutive goals to pull out in front 11-7. Charles Stafford started the run with eight minutes remaining in the half and in the last five minutes of the half Wilks, Justin Hopkins, and Andrew Dappen all found the back of the net.

Coker picked up right where they left off in the third quarter as Murphy put the Cobras on the board once again and not even a minute later Ethan Irizarry fired one passed the Trojan goalie. Dappen and Lucas Hediger connected for the second time in the game midway through the quarter before Hediger scored a goal of his own shortly after.

The Trojans managed to fight back into the game, and despite a pair of goals by Maddox, they tied it up at 13 with just under nine minutes left in regulation. Faceoff man Jason McNeany, who won 21 of 36 faceoffs on the day, picked up the ground ball following a faceoff win and promptly fired the Navy and Gold back into the lead and Venazio extended that lead to two with seven minutes to play. Mount Olive hit the back of the net twice to tie it up and had a few chances to take the lead but Chris Hagy was a wall in front of the Coker goal, making a few key saves to keep it level.

Both teams fought hard in both overtime periods and once again Hagy came up with a few clutch saves but the Trojans would get the winner with two minutes left in the second overtime period for the win.

The Cobras will be back in action on Saturday (Feb. 23) when they travel to Barton for a non-conference contest at 2:00 PM.