Second half propels UMO over Catawba
SALISBURY – In their first road game of the season, the UMO men’s lacrosse team mounted a four-goal surge in the third quarter to win by a 9-6 margin against Catawba in non-conference action on Feb. 11.
With the win, Mount Olive improved to 1-1 overall, and head coach Dylan Price claimed his first career win at the helm. The Trojans improved to 9-1 in the all-time series against the Indians with nine consecutive victories. Meanwhile, Catawba opened the year 0-1 at its home opener under first-year head coach Mike Murphy, who joined the program after 10 years at Mount Olive in the same position.
The Trojans were first to get on the board as senior Samuel Skousen scored at the 11:39 mark of the match. With less than six minutes left of the quarter, graduate student Blake Tallon netted the ball off a pass from senior Chance Urban to stretch the advantage to 2-0. To open the second quarter, the Indians went on a four-goal run to establish a 4-2 lead. With 12 seconds left in the quarter, senior Chaz Goodman received a pass from graduate student Braydon Hickey to score and bring the Trojans within one goal at the break, 4-3.
Dominating the start of the second half, the Trojans regained the lead with two goals by junior Chapman Parker, a man-up goal by junior Aidan Lalonde, and a solo goal from junior Matthew Ateshian to lead 7-4.
In the opening minute of the fourth, Catawba found the back of the net to close the gap to 7-5. Mount Olive responded and took advantage of a man-up opportunity and extended the lead to 8-5 with a goal by Hickey. In the closing minutes of the match, sophomore Caleb Tatum scored on another man-up opportunity with nearly five minutes left to increase the lead to 9-5. The Indians were able to register another goal at the 2:22 mark, but the Trojans sealed their 9-6 victory on the road.
Junior goalkeeper Jacob Brown collected 14 saves while facing 20 shots on goal in the victory. Senior Mike Marto won 13 out of 18 face-offs and Parker secured two goals and one ground ball.
— From University of Mount Olive Athletics
