MOUNT OLIVE (Feb. 10) – In non-conference action, the University of Mount Olive men’s lacrosse team faced Catawba and won by a 13-10 margin on Saturday afternoon at the Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex.
With the win, Mount Olive improves to 1-1 overall after winning its home opener today. Meanwhile, the Indians fall to 1-1 overall after beating North Greenville University 16-11 last Saturday. The series between these two programs goes back to 2013 with UMO leading with a 10-1 record. Mount Olive also welcomed back longtime head coach Mike Murphy, who served at the helm for 10 seasons and posted a 103-46 record with the Trojans.
In the first quarter, the Trojans scored four straight goals to start the contest. With an unassisted goal by senior Chapman Parker, UMO went up 1-0 at the 13-minute mark. Soon after senior Zachary Taylor found teammate Aidan Lalonde to score the second goal of the contest, 2-0. Less than two minutes later, senior Chaz Goodman fed the ball from behind the cage to find Lalonde to take the 3-0 lead.
Nearing the end of the first quarter, Goodman found fellow senior Chance Urban to score at the 2:42 mark to take a 4-0 edge. At the 1:53 mark, Catawba was able to put one past the keeper to close the first quarter 4-1. At the start of the second quarter, the Indians scored two consecutive goals to cut the deficit by one, 4-3. In response, Urban found sophomore Hudson Karasek to extend the lead by two, ending the first half of the game, 5-3.
The second half of the game became neck and neck as the Indians and Trojans went back and forth. Catawba was first to score at the 13:11 mark, 5-4. With a straight shot to goal, Urban scored his second of the game, 6-4. The Indians saw three more goals in the third and the Trojans saw a pair of unassisted goals by Goodman and Parker, 8-7.
In the last frame of the game, Catawba scored the equalizer just 55 seconds into the quarter, 8-8. With another goal from the Indians, Catawba found its first lead of the game, 9-8.
A diving play by Karasek, the game was even at nine a piece. To take the lead, senior Jack Lewis scooped up a ground ball and ripped one to the back of the cage, 10-9. After a turnover by the Trojans, the Indians used it to their advantage and scored to tie the game, 10-10.
At the 2:44 mark, Goodman came up with a groundball and fired toward the goal to extend the lead by one. Trying its best to get one more goal, Mount Olive’s goalkeeper sophomore Kurtis Lensing came up with a pivotal save to keep UMO’s lead.
With a laser pass by Parker, Lewis scored with a backhanded shot to put one past the keeper at the 1:08 mark, 12-10. After winning the faceoff, UMO played keep away as they gave the ball to Urban to run out the clock.
Seeing an open cage, Urban ripped a shot near the 30-yard line and scored with 43 seconds left of the game, 13-10
Goalkeeper Lensing earned the win and collected eight saves in a full 60 minutes of play.
Catawba and Mount Olive each had 36 shots while UMO had a 23-18 edge in shots on goal.
Urban led the team with three goals and one assist while five Trojans collected a pair of goals.
Sophomore Nicolas Logue and junior Davin Ikert both collected four groundballs.
The Trojans are idle for the week before hosting Newberry at home on Feb. 17 at noon.
