Trojans fall short at No. 12 Newberry

NEWBERRY, S.C. – Facing a ranked opponent for the second straight week, the University of Mount Olive men’s lacrosse program suffered an 18-12 loss at No. 12 ranked Newberry on Feb. 23 in non-conference play.

With the loss, the Trojans fell to 1-3 this season after confronting three South Atlantic Conference opponents to start the year. It marks the fourth meeting between the sides with the series split at 2-2. Meanwhile, the Wolves improved to 4-0 overall with a pair of victories over Conference Carolinas programs.

In the first quarter, senior Chance Urban scored his first goal of the season at the 13:15 mark to give UMO an early 1-0 advantage. Over the following six-plus minutes, both sides exchanged the next four goals with graduate student Braydon Hickey and junior Chapman Parker finding the back of the net for a 3-2 UMO lead. Newberry closed the quarter with three unanswered goals in the final five minutes to hold a 5-3 edge.

Mount Olive stormed back early in the second with senior Samuel Skousen and graduate student Blake Tallon tallying goals, while Urban registered his second of the contest to put UMO ahead by a 6-5 margin. The Wolves delivered three of the following four goals to close out the first half with an 8-7 advantage, while Parker collected his team-leading seventh goal of the year.

Newberry opened the third quarter with four straight goals to extend the lead to 12-7 before Hickey halted the run with a man-down goal to close the gap to 12-8 at the 7:44 mark. Both sides went scoreless down the stretch of the third quarter before the Wolves recorded a goal with two seconds left to lead 13-8.

In the fourth, the Trojans rallied with four consecutive goals to cut the deficit to 13-12 after Skousen and Tallon each tallied their second of the game, while senior Tristen Dempers produced his first goal of the season. During that run, Hickey recorded his first career hat trick following a goal at the 7:44 mark. Unfortunately, Newberry gathered offensively and scored five unanswered over the final six minutes to secure an 18-12 win.

Junior Jacob Brown started at goalie and totaled 13 saves on 44 shots faced, including 31 on goal.

UMO featured four players with multi-goal performances, including Hickey with the hat trick, while sophomore Brady Laurance led the team with five ground balls. Graduate student Mike Marto finished the contest 19 of 32 on faceoffs.

— From University of Mount Olive Athletics