HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Coker College men's lacrosse team pulled away from the visiting Chowan University Hawks in the fourth quarter for a dominant 16-7 season opening victory Saturday (Feb. 18) evening. The Cobras put up five goals and shut out the Hawks in the final quarter of play to secure the victory.

Shane McEnery opened up the scoring in the first quarter with a goal with 13:13 remaining. Next, goals from Rylee Marsh, Austin Holgate, Vinny Magro, and Brooks Long gave Coker a comfortable 7-2 lead heading into halftime.

In the third quarter, Chowan fought themselves back into the game by outscoring Coker 5-4 and trailed the Cobras 11-7. However, the Navy and Gold elevated their level of play and dominated Chowan in the final quarter. As mentioned, the Cobras outscored Chowan 5-0 in the fourth quarter and received scores from Rylee Marsh, Denton Wilks, Tim Wright, and Jacob Glass.

Tim Wright highlighted the fourth quarter scoring with a smooth swim dodge into a left-handed finish for the hat trick. Coker displayed a well-balanced attack throughout the game as Denton Wilks and Rylee Marsh tallied hat tricks as well.

Statistically, the Cobras bested the Hawks in ground balls (38-13), face off victories (20-6), and committed fewer turnovers (15-18). Coker will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 22 when they travel to Mount Olive to take on the Trojans for a 3 p.m. start. 

McDonald's Player of the Game - Rylee Marsh