ANDERSON, S.C. – The Anderson University men's lacrosse team is getting set for a weekend road trip to Florida, as they will play two non-conference opponents in Florida Southern (Feb. 10) and Embry-Riddle (Feb. 12).
"The Florida trip will be a great bonding experience for our team," said coach Albert Mitchell. "We have never in our program's history spent a night in a hotel due to COVID our first year and a lot of home games last season. I am excited to see how we become that much closer with a lot of time together. On the field, it will test hard and prepare us for our goal of winning the SAC tournament. We had great games against both of those teams last year and I expect the same competition, if not more, this year."
Anderson came out and set the tone early in the Chowan match last Saturday (Feb. 4) by scoring 12 goals in the opening period, with freshman Matthew Rodgers leading the way for the Trojans by setting a program individual record with 11 goals on the afternoon to earn himself SAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Faceoff specialist Cam Weeks also earned player of the week honors by winning all 18 of his faceoffs with 13 ground balls. Garrett Hawkins totaled five goals off six shots on goal.
Florida Southern was ranked fourth in the USILA preseason poll, and are off to a 2-0 start this season after picking up wins against Alabama Huntsville (14-4) and Montevallo (23-4) this past weekend on the road. The Mocs swept the Sunshine State Conference Player of the Week honors as Sean Nolan (offensive) and Jacob Czyz (specialist) were recognized. In last season's matchup, Florida Southern defeated Anderson 23-12 at Spero Financial Field, a match in which the Trojans were without All-American faceoff specialist, Cam Weeks.
Embry-Riddle enters this weekend with a 1-1 record, defeating Flagler (11-10) and losing to No.6 Limestone by a score of 16-10 in Gaffney. The Eagles finished the season 4-13 a year ago, including a 10-4 loss to the Trojans at Spero Financial Field on Feb. 27.
The Trojans are preparing for a weekend road trip to Florida as they travel to face Florida Southern on Friday (Feb. 10) and Embry-Riddle on Sunday (Feb. 12). Video and live stats can be found at www.autrojans.com.
