Men’s Lacrosse gets back on track with 19-3 thumping of Coker

SALISBURY, N.C. – Tanner Stout poured in six goals, the best individual scoring mark in four seasons, to headline the Catawba College men's lacrosse team in its 19-3 victory over Coker at Shuford Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

TEAM STATS

- Leading off with a 19-3 shots advantage in the first quarter, Catawba (7-1, 3-1 SAC) cruised to a 66-18 margin in attempts

- The blue and white amassed 37 ground balls against Coker's (4-5, 1-2 SAC) 27 pickups

- On the clear, Catawba went 18-for-20 while the Cobras were less successful at 16-for-22

- The snakes were hampered by 26 turnovers — 11 of which were forced by Catawba — as the hosts coughed up possession 15 times

- Cael Petroff accounted for 16 of the Catawba Indians' 18 faceoff wins, dwarfing the eight triumphs by Coker

- In his first career start, Ben LoPiccolo made five saves to move to 1-0; KJ Seymour logged 18 saves in 51 minutes for the guests

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Stout buried six of his team-high 14 shots with a whopping six ground balls

- Gabriel Barker captured a hat trick in his first game back from injury, putting all of his three shots on goal into the twine

- Frank Cetrone and Peyton Turner each recorded four points on identical two-goal, two-assist stat lines

- Petroff worked quick enough on the dot to collect nine ground balls, scooping up the rock on over half of his faceoffs

- Defensively, Xan Varner and Jack Butler notched multiple caused turnovers with two takeaways apiece

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

- Turner struck 45 seconds into the matchup, then scored again two minutes later before the Cobras could attempt a shot

- Moving right along, Boston Rehrer connected with Barker as the senior fired in his first goal of the campaign; after the sides alternated possessions, Barker found paydirt again to make it a 4-0 Catawba lead less than halfway through the opening period

- Jack Hart tossed in a feed from Peter Geraffo 41 seconds before Stout was assisted by Turner on the Catawba Indians' sixth goal of the day

- Seymour gobbled up a pair of Catawba shots late in the quarter, limiting the damage at 6-0 through one

Second Quarter

- Following a Cobra faceoff violation, Jordan Dash hit the post but snagged the rock again with help from Garrett Simi, finishing the job to add his name to the ledger

- Stout netted his second score of the afternoon, preceding back-to-back goals from Cetrone in a span of 13 seconds to reach a double-digit lead

- Jack Mercer dished a dime to Stout for the hatty with 2:41 until halftime

- Coker knocked on the door as Britt Rumbaugh nabbed a ground ball and took a shot seconds before the break, but the Catawba defense deflected it to lock up an 11-0 edge at the half

Third Quarter

- The Cobras won the faceoff before Eric Fruge snatched possession away, but the Catawba Indians' scoring chances were spurned by Seymour who hauled in three saves

- LoPiccolo was also put to work, using the second of his two stops to flip the field and set up a Simi-to-Stout strike to end the dry spell

- Catawba killed off its second penalty of the quarter prior to Hunter Clarke getting in on the action with an unassisted dart

- Coker was flagged for slashing shortly before the period's end; Catawba capitalized as Devin Trzeciak found Stout for the man-up score that upped the gap to 14-0 with one quarter to go

Fourth Quarter

- Kaleb Hiltz put Coker on the board less than a minute into the final stanza; Stout responded with his sixth bullseye

- The hosts hurled a bombardment of shots at the net, missing five times before Simi and Barker went back-to-back to extend the margin to 17-1

- The Cobras added a second goal, this time from Tyler Ajemian, as Catawba punched back with strikes from freshmen Zander Adkins and Cody Fanzo

- Augie Ford lifted the guests to three darts, not enough to bring down the Catawba Indians who piled on 19 goals in their third South Atlantic Conference win

UP NEXT

Catawba is back in action on Saturday, Mar. 22 at 20th-ranked Newberry. Opening faceoff is slated for 3 p.m. at Setzler Field.