Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University senior attack Austin Murphy (Orillia, Ontario) led all scorers with four goals as the 18th-ranked Bulldogs collected a 15-4 triumph over the Coker College Cobras in South Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse action from Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Track Complex Saturday. The Bulldog defense also allowed a season-low in opposing goals on the afternoon. Murphy also had two assists and moved his 2017 season goal total with 19 tallies.
 
Wingate wins its third straight contest, improving to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the SAC. Coker is now 3-5 overall and 1-2 in league play. The Wingate Bulldogs are back in action this Wednesday for a huge conference road encounter versus 16th-ranked Queens University of Charlotte at 7 p.m. Coker travels to Catawba on the same day and time.
 
WU sophomore attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) supported Murphy's efforts with three goals in the contest to increase his season total to 15 tallies. Junior attack Jeremy Sullivan (Crofton, Md.) added two goals, while six other Bulldogs finished with one goal each. For Coker, four different student-athletes contributed one tally each.
 
Wingate began the first quarter on a dominant 6-0 run with 27 seconds remaining in the stanza and never looked back. Murphy had two of Wingate's six goals in the first frame. The Bulldogs added three straight tallies to increase the WU advantage out to 9-0 with 1:41 left in the second quarter. Murphy added another score in the second stanza.
 
Coker ended the run with a goal from junior midfielder Charles Stafford (Hampstead, Md.) to make it a 9-1 game with 22 ticks on the clock. As a result, the 'Dogs held the eight-goal lead at the halftime intermission. Wingate commenced the third quarter of play with four unanswered goals for its largest lead of the contest at 13-1 at the 3:29 mark.
 
The Cobras answered with back-to-back tallies from freshman midfielder Denton Wilks (Osteen, Fla.) and senior defender Austin Holgate (Victoria, B.C.) to cut the deficit down to 13-3 with 39 seconds left in the third frame. Wingate freshman attack Josh Ferentinos (Gaithersburg, Md.) scored his first career goal at the third quarter buzzer to extend the margin out to 14-3.
 
Trailing 15-3, Coker freshman attack Vinny Magro (Sugar Hill, Ga.) netted his first tally of the contest with 8:50 in the fourth quarter, but it would not be enough as Wingate held firm for the convincing 11-goal victory.
 
Wingate junior goalkeeper Will Sheridan (Woodstock, Ga.) posted three saves and got the win, improving his record to 6-2. He played for a total of 35:19. WU senior goalie Michael Connor (Stockport, England) played for 24:41 and tallied three saves. Coker senior goalkeeper Anthony Malik (Knoxville, Md.) added six stops and took the loss. He played for a total of 45 minutes Saturday. Freshman goalie Travis Pereira (Riverside, R.I.) played for the remaining 15 minutes and had five total saves.
 
Wingate heavily outshot Coker 48-15, while maintaining the 40-30 edge in ground balls. The Bulldogs won 12-10 in face-offs and 20-14 in clears. The Cobras tallied one goal on three extra-man shots, while the Bulldogs had one tally on two extra-man opportunities.
 
(Wingate University athletic media relations/sports network student assistant Jackson Kaplan contributed this article. A sophomore from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate.)