Coker College Opens Lacrosse History With Victory

Cobra lacrosse team marches onto field for first game in the Coker College lacrosse history. The team came out with a 14-7 victory.



Head Coach Tony Smith and his assistant coach Matt Spivey shake hands after first Coker College lacrosse victory on Friday, February 10, 2012, at Byerly Park in Hartsville, S. C., home of the Cobras. The Cobras topped Shorter College 14-7.

A couple of hundred people braved the cool temperatures to take in the first lacrosse match in the history of Coker College. From the sounds of the cheers throughout the game, they were excited to be part of this new Coker tradition. It has been a lot of years since I have viewed lacrosse, except on the television screen. After being on the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons (usually on the bench)team for a year, I have always believed lacrosse is my favorite sport. After watching the Cobras in their opener, I am still convinced.

The game requires skill, speed, strength, and a certain disregard for a sense of personal security. It is exciting to watch and should be a great addition to the roster of sports at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina.

Morning News sports editor Mark Haselden has a great end-of-game story featuring the Captain of the Cobra team.

Lacrosse team looks good in collegiate scrimmages

The Coker College lacrosse team reached another milestone on Saturday, October 8, 2011 as they played their first intercollegiate lacrosse in a series of scrimmages at the Greensboro Fall lacrosse tournament. Coker played Guilford, Ferrum and UNC-Greensboro in three forty-minute games.

How do they do? They did not win. They did however play some excellent lacrosse with two of the games decided by one goal and the other by two, despite the fact that Coker had a midfielder in goal as both goalies were not able to play in the scrimmage. The team, which just came onto campus this fall, looked like a team. The guys worked well together and executed well. Defense was especially good as each of the three scrimmages wee low scoring, in a sport that can often have scores in double figures, Saturday's games were in the 4-3,5-4,6-4 type of scores. One other exciting aspect of this three-game scrimmage was the following the lacrosse team had. There were parents and relatives from Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina and probably a couple of other states cheering on the Cobras. In the small-world category, one of the mothers is a graduate of Rome Catholic High School of Rome, NY -- the same school from which I graduated.

This year I have the opportunity of being what Lynn Griffin, Coker Athletic Director, is calling a faculty mentor for the team and it is fun getting to know these guys in their lacrosse environment. Driving the bus to Greensboro is not really in the faculty mentor job description but it was a way to connect with the team and reconnect with some long-ago memories of my own very inadequate lacrosse playing days. The game was intense back then. Heck, lacrosse was a way the Indians used to settle serious disputes instead of going to war so it has always been intense. But, the talent, the speech, the athleticism of today's players is amazing to watch. It is a very different game from the days of wooden sticks.

Yesterday ended the Fall Season and now, except for study halls, the lacrosse team is anxiously awaiting the coming of second semester when they start their official lacrosse schedule, opening with Shorter College of Georgia.

Lacrosse season coming to Coker

 

The Coker College Lacrosse team is getting closer to reality. Coach Tony Smith has been night and day recruiting and current students have been talking about becoming walk-ons as the college gears up for its first lacrosse team beginning in the Fall of 2011. The mean looking helmet is more tangible evidence of the approaching season.

I was able to play lacrosse for a couple of years while in college -- guess because they needed bodies. I was not that good and had never seen a lacrosse stick before getting to Cortland. I still remember it as one of the most enjoyable sports I have played. I do believe it is called the fastest sport on two feet and, while I could be wrong about this, i think it is the official sport of Canada. I know hockey is more popular up there but I believe lacrosse has that title. No matter, college lacrosse is an amazingly entertaining sport!

I am looking forward to Coker Lax.

Cobras Name New-First Coker Lacrosse Coach

Taking the easy way out here as the Coker media folk put out the news release. Lacrosse is a great sport to play and an exciting sport to watch. In the Spring of 2012 we will have the first Coker season. Tony Smith, who has been at Belmont Abbey in North Carolina since 2007 is the new coach and he will be joining Coker in early December, after classes are over at Belmont-Abbey.

Coker College adds lacrosse to sports offerings

Way too many decades ago I learned to play lacrosse and spent two years on a college team as one of the people helping to make the numbers. While I played a little, I was certainly not very good but I did enjoy the sport. Have considered lacrosse my favorite sport for most of my life. That is why is it great news that Coker College announced this morning that we will have a lacrosse team playing in Conference Carolinas for the 2011-2012 season. It will be a tough conference as I hear there are already two Division II Lacrosse Champions in the conference.