Mother Nature Couldn't Stop The Chants in a 12-11 Win

The Chanticleers trekked up to the Queen City of Charlotte, NC for a neutral site game against SELC Division II foe, Columbus State University, and emerged with a hard fought 12-11 victory. Mother Nature did her best to derail the Chanticleers (3-1, 1-0) during the third quarter with a 45 minute rain delay, but as seems to be a trend in 2017, Coastal found a way to pull out the win with merely 7 seconds left in regulation.

The Chants started off hot scoring 5 goals in the first quarter on just 8 shots lead by Sophomore Nick Aquino who netted 2 in the first and 5 in total on the day. Freshman Nick Madari also chipped in with both of his goals in the first quarter.

Junior Nate Ryan contributed a goal in the second quarter, which was the only one for either side and gave the Chants a 5-3 lead at the half. The Chants stretched the lead to four when Junior Ryan Slane found the back of the net with one of his three goals. Slane finished the day shooting an absurd 75% on the day. But at the 7:33 mark of the third quarter, the skies opened up and the thunder clapped, forcing the games 45 minute delay. Once the game was able to resume, the Chants picked back up where they had left off by seeing Aquino finish off a feed from Junior Janson Doyle.

The five goal lead was not safe though as the Cougars of Columbus State fought back with several quick goals late in third quarter and into the forth forcing a tie at 11 with less than three minutes left in the game. But the resiliency of the Chants shown through as they patiently waited for the opportunity to arise and with 7 seconds left, Ryan found Aquino for the game winner.

Sophomore Goalie Patrick Dempsey recorded the victory and 13 saves playing all 60 minutes. Senior Long Stick Midfielder Sam Wheatley paced the team with 8 ground balls and Sophomore Matt Peters took all the faceoffs going 15-25 (60%).

The Chanticleers now look forward to a three game home stand beginning on Saturday March 25 as they host SELC Division I, East Carolina University at 2 pm followed by a Division II tilt against Nationally Ranked Appalachian State, Sunday March 26 at 10 am.