MARS HILL, N.C.--The No. 5 Anderson Trojans (5-0, 1-0) traveled to Mars Hill (1-4, 0-1) on Wednesday afternoon and opened South Atlantic Conference play with a dominant 23-9 victory over the Lions.
The game was close through the first quarter with both sides scoring four each, including Trojan goals from the sticks of Sean Archibald (Southbury, Conn.), Sammy Lewis (Maple Grove, Minn.) and two from Brodie Deutsch (Wilmington, N.C.). Freshman Archibald has now tallied a goal in three-straight games, while Lewis continued his streak of scoring every game so far this season. Deutsch had a season-high point total on the afternoon, recording four goals and two assists.
The Lions scored in the opening minute of Q2, before the Trojans took control of the game, putting up 11-straight. AU won the final three quarters by margins of 6-1, 8-3 and 5-1 respectively.
In total, 15 Trojans contributed goals in the contest, including a hattrick from Cooper Laughlin (Wooster, Ohio) and braces from Cole Sparks (West Islip, N.Y.), Jacob Kirchhofer (McKinney, Texas) and Will Hazelhurst (Greenville, S.C.). Freshmen Drew McCall (Columbia, S.C.) and Ford Graham (Spring, Texas) both scored in their collegiate debut.
Also debuting for the Black and Gold was freshman goalie PJ Flynn (Huntersville, N.C.), who owned the final 15 in the net for the Trojans and tallied his first two career saves.
As a team, Anderson boasted season-high totals across many offensive categories—goals (23), assists (15), points (38) and shots on goal (46). The Trojans also completed 39 of 41 clears successfully, their highest completion rate of the season.
The Trojans now look to Saturday when they host No. 2 Tampa at noon. The Spartans also enter the matchup undefeated.
