MURFREESBORO, N.C. – There were some tense moments early and late for Post University Men's Lacrosse as the Eagles allowed five first-quarter goals on the road against Chowan University on Tuesday afternoon, before the defense clamped down to allow three the rest of the day and hold off a late rally by the Hawks for a 9-8 victory. The win is the third straight for the Eagles and first in program history in two tries against Chowan. 

THE BASICS

Post University 9, Chowan University 8

Post University (6-3)

Chowan University (4-6)

HOW IT HAPPENED
While it took only a minute for senior attacker Leighton Cooke to get the Eagles on the scoreboard with his first of two goals in the victory, the first quarter would go anything but Post's way as they allowed five goals in 15 minutes to the Hawks. Fellow senior attacker Ryan Denike recorded the assist on Cooke's goal, which would be his only one of the game, as sophomore midfielder Will Brien recorded the only other assist for the Eagles in the game on Cooke's second goal of the quarter.

For Chowan, their offense was paced by junior midfielder Thomas Rohal's team-leading three goals, all of which came in the first quarter to help his team take that early 5-3 lead. Despite the game being tied at one, two, and three all, Rohal's third goal of the frame and senior attacker Todd Egan's lone goal of the game after assisting Rohal moments earlier, would give the Hawks that edge going into the second.

At that point, the Post defense and sophomore goalie Aiden Waller held the Chowan offense to just three goals in the final 45 minutes, including a scoreless second quarter in which Post took the lead and never looked back. The trio of goals would come from Denike as well as two from Brien, as part of his three-point game, while Waller faced no shots in net and the Hawks only got one shot off in general in the second, now trailing by one, 6-5, heading into the second half. 

It would be a defense stalemate for both sides in the second half compared to the scoring that was in the first half, as junior attacker Reed Low tied the game at six all before Post took the lead for good. Using another three-goal run from sophomore midfielder Kegan Swain's two goals and freshman midfielder Edward Wesche's one goal, the Eagles held a three-goal lead, 9-6, with only 11:40 to go in regulation. However, two penalties in the fourth helped bring the Hawks back to within one, 9-8, at the 1:49 mark, and they would win the ensuing faceoff to have one last shot to tie the game up.

However, Rohal's shot would be stopped by Waller, and Post would take the ball the other way, running out the clock for the narrow 9-8 win. Moving to 3-2 in net this year, Waller made 11 saves on 19 attempts from the Hawks, while senior goalie Rocco Smith took the loss after making 12 saves on 21 attempts by Post. Across nearly all the team statistics besides overall shots and ground balls, which Post led by a 40-25 margin and 29-19 edge, respectively, every other statistical category would see the two teams separated by only one or two. 

Sophomore long-stick midfielder Gavin Lee led the team alongside sophomore defenseman John Karas with two caused turnovers, while Lee was tied for the team lead in ground balls with sophomore midfielder Charlie Foster at five. Foster also went 9-for-16 in the faceoff dot on a day where the Eagles were 10-for-21 overall in that situation. Among the offensive players for Post, Brien led the team with three points, followed by two points each from Swain, Denike, and Cooke. 

BY THE NUMBER

• Both Gavin Lee and Charlie Foster paced the Post University defense with five ground balls each, while Lee had two caused turnovers, and Foster was 9-for-16 in the faceoff dot
• Of the combined 17 goals scored between the two teams, only seven of them were assisted, with Post University having just two assists total on their nine goals 
• Post University moves to 6-1 this season when allowing 10 goals or less to an opponent, holding Chowan University to only eight goals in the win -- The one loss for the Eagles came against Wilmington University, in which they allowed 10 goals in a 10-7 loss at home 
• Post University picked up its first win in the all-time series against Chowan University, dropping the first-ever meeting between the two schools, 17-7, back in 2020

WHO'S NEXT
Entering back into conference play, Post University faces Dominican (N.Y.) on the road this Saturday at 1:00 PM. The Eagles have won four in a row against the Chargers since the 2023 season after losing the previous five matchups before that.