Carrigan records hat-trick in SAC opener versus Coker

HARTSVILLE, S.C. - The Mars Hill men's lacrosse team (1-3, 0-1 SAC) fell to Coker (4-3, 2-0 SAC) in their 2019 South Atlantic Conference opener by a score of 14-9 on the road Saturday afternoon.

The Cobras opened the contest on a 3-0 run with two goals scored by Lucas Hediger.  With 2:11 left in the first, Parker Beaudry put Mars Hill on the board to cut the deficit to two.  However, the Cobras struck twice in the final 30 seconds with tallies from Jonah Robertson and Justin Hopkins to go up 5-1 entering the second.

Down 6-1, Zac Carrigan scored pulled Mars Hill within four with 9:08 left in the half.  His first goal of the day was assisted on by Zach Wright.  Two Coker goals put the Cobras up by six before the duo of Carrigan and Wright connected once more for the second Mars Hill goal of the frame.

In the highest scoring frame of the game, the teams combined for nine goals with Mars Hill outscoring Coker 5-4.  Jake Trafton netted the first goal of the second half to narrow the Coker lead to four.  Beaudry picked up his second point of the contest.  Coker reeled off three of the next four goals to go up by six before the Lions ended the half by scoring three of the last four in the frame.  Goals were scored by Trafton, Spencer Andrews and Carrigan, who netted his hat-trick marker at the buzzer.

Coker netminder Chris Hagy made 11 saves in the third to maintain the Cobra lead heading into the fourth.

The Cobras added two goals in the fourth while Wright netted the lone Lions' goal.  

Joe Venazio led all players with five points (2g, 3a) on the day.  Hediger added four (2g, 2a) for Coker.  Carrigan (3g), Trafton (2g, 1a) and Wright (1g, 2a) each had three points to lead the Lions.

Hagy made 21 saves for his third win of the season while Joel Borman stopped 15 in the loss.

Mars Hill returns to action on Wednesday, March 6th when they host Tusculum in their home conference opener versus Tusculum.  Action is set for a 7 p.m. start.