PREVIEW: Men’s Lacrosse battles Mount Olive in home opener

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's lacrosse team plays in front of a home crowd for the first time this weekend, hosting Mount Olive at Shuford Stadium on Saturday at noon.

Brought the BOOM

- Catawba opened its 2025 campaign with a resounding 20-6 victory over Chowan last Saturday

- The blue and white piled half of its scoring output in the third quarter while keeping the Hawks silent

- The Catawba Indians posted a .571 shot percentage, the best single-game mark in all of Division II through the first week

- Catawba has netted 20 goals in a season opener three times with the last occurrence in a 29-5 thrashing of Lees-McRae in 2012

Six-Point Starts

- Peyton Turner failed to miss a beat after his 15-score, 26-assist sophomore campaign as he netted four goals and dished out two helpers against Chowan

- Turner also tallied six points in last season's 18-6 win over Tusculum using three darts and three dimes

- Freshman Peter Geraffo registered the same statline in his first college game, coming off the bench to collect a hat trick

Freshmen of Bel Air

- Rookies Devin Trzeciak and Owen Conway made immediate impacts in their college debuts

- Trzeciak notched a first-half hat trick, sending all four of his shot attempts to the back of the net and picking up an assist

- Conway led the defensive corps with three caused turnovers and three ground balls

All-Time Series

- Mount Olive leads the series by a firm 11-1 margin

- The programs have met every year since 2013 – the Trojans' inaugural campaign – as the contest has been Catawba's first or second game in 11 of the last 12 seasons

- The Catawba Indians' lone win in the series came on Feb. 20, 2013 when Mount Olive was playing its second-ever affair; tied 8-8 in the third quarter, Catawba stormed ahead to bag a 14-10 victory

- A win for Catawba snaps an 11-game streak of losses to the Trojans and marks its first 2-0 start since 2013

Scouting the Trojans

- Ranked 20th by USA Lacrosse and receiving votes in the preseason USILA poll, Mount Olive is coming off a Conference Carolinas title with a 12-3 finish in 2024

- USILA All-American Alan Usher returns for UMO after amassing a team-high 16 caused turnovers with 31 ground balls to be named CC Defensive Player of the Year

- Usher earned a USA Lacrosse Preseason All-American selection on Friday as one of two league representatives

- Kurtis Lensing is back in goal for the Trojans on the heels of an all-conference sophomore year with a .538 save percentage

- Head coach Dylan Price, formerly UMO's associate head coach under Mike Murphy, is in his fourth year at the helm after being voted the 2024 CC Coach of the Year

Follow Along

The game will be broadcast on FloCollege ($) and live stats will be available on CatawbaAthletics.com.