Dominant First Quarter Leads Cobras Past Bobcats on Senior Night

Photo by Stan Barnhill
Photo by Stan Barnhill

HARTSVILLE, S.C. - The Coker College men's lacrosse team (7-6 overall) used dominant play in the first quarter of action to lead themselves to a 13-10 victory over the visiting Lee-McRae College Bobcats Saturday (Apr. 14) evening on senior night.

The Navy and Gold jumped all over the Bobcats from the opening whistle and scored six unanswered goals to begin the opening quarter. Ethan Irizarry, Matt Murphy, Rylee Marsh, Charles Stafford, and Denton Wilks all scored during the run. The Bobcats found their first goal of the quarter with 3:57 remaining. However, the Cobras responded when Brooks Long found Marsh for a goal as time expired in the frame.

Following the lopsided opening quarter, the Cobras struggled in the second stanza and failed to find the back of the net. Coker took a slim 7-5 lead into halftime.

In the third quarter of the contest, Coker outscored Lees-McRae 3-2 to extend their lead to 10-7. Coker began their scoring in the third frame from a long pass by DeShaun Ormond to Marsh, who beat the goalkeeper on the crease for the score. The Cobras were a man-down when they tallied the goal. Andrew Dappen and Wilks were the other Cobra scorers in the quarter.

Lees-McRae trimmed Coker's lead to just two at the 13:21 mark of the fourth quarter. Next, the Cobras answered by recording back-to-back goals from Wilks and Ormond to regain a four-goal advantage. Brooks Long added on an insurance goal and the Cobras came out with the 13-10 victory.

Marsh impressed during his senior night, leading the team in scoring with three goals and three assists. Dappen, Long, Wilks, and Irizarry all finished the night with three points each. On the defensive end, Ormond, Ryan Bass, Stafford, and Justin Hopkins finished the game with two caused turnovers. In addition, Ormond finished with a team-best six ground balls, while Stafford added five. In between the pipes, senior Austin Kelly collected seven saves and earned his first victory of the season.

The Cobras will be back in action on Saturday (Apr. 21) when they travel to Lenoir-Rhyne to take on the Bears in their regular season finale. Opening faceoff is set for 2 p.m.

McDonald's Player of the Game - Rylee Marsh