HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Freshman midfielder Ronny Paulino (Copiague, N.Y.) matched a game-high mark with three goals as the Lincoln Memorial University men's lacrosse team (1-4, 0-2 SAC) dropped an 18-9 decision to the Coker Cobras (2-3, 2-1 SAC) in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday afternoon in Hartsville, S.C.
 
The Railsplitters and Cobras combined for 10 goals in the first period alone. Coker's Rylee Marsh notched the first goal of the match at the 13:41 mark, but Paulino and Tylor Justin (Buffalo, N.Y.) tallied goals 50 seconds apart to give Lincoln Memorial a brief 2-1 edge less than five minutes in.  
 
The Cobras erased that deficit quickly and assumed all of the momentum by outscoring the Railsplitters 6-1 over the last nine and a half minutes of the period. Mike Martiello evened the match with 9:33 left in the period, and Shane Wilson gave Coker the lead with a goal just eight seconds later.
 
Lincoln Memorial tied the match as 7:29 on a tally from Justin Stewart (Copiague, N.Y.), but goals by John Bretton, Wilson, Austin Holgate and Josh Smith in the final 4:11 of the first period bulged the Cobras' lead to 7-3.
 
Coker pushed the lead to 10-3 until Jusstin Ruffin (Copiague, N.Y.) ended a lengthy scoring drought for the Railsplitters at the 2:42 mark of the second stanza. LMU and Coker traded goals in the last minute of the half, with Paulino collecting his second goal of the afternoon, to send the Cobras into the locker room with an 11-5 cushion.
 
Marsh and Wilson found the back of the net early in the second half to extend Coker's lead to 13-5. Adam Golia (Victoria, British Columbia) used an assist from Jared Courchene (Sagkeeng, Manitoba) to trim the deficit to 13-6 at the 5:43 mark, but Martiello struck again with 17 ticks left in the third to make it a 14-6 match.
 
The Railsplitters scored three more goals in the fourth stanza, but it was not enough to overcome the Cobras' big lead. Paulino capped his three-goal day by striking 47 seconds into the fourth period, while Stewart scored at the 12:18 mark. Ruffin accounted for the final Railsplitter goal with an unassisted score with 10:53 left in regulation.
 
Lincoln Memorial mustered a 38-37 advantage on shot attempts, which was mostly a product of a 13-6 cushion in the fourth quarter alone.
 
Dylan Neisler (Detroit, Mich.) and Stewart led all players with eight shot attempts. Neisler came up empty on three shots on goal, but Stewart tallied two goals on his five shots on target. Ruffin finished with six shots and four shots on goal, while Golia also registered six shot attempts. Ruffin and Golia combined for three of LMU's nine scores.
 
The Cobras narrowly controlled the possession battle, scooping up 45 of the 71 ground balls available and winning 17 of the 31 face-offs.
 
Josh Hernandez (Middletown, N.Y) went 14-for-30 on face-offs and led the Railsplitters with eight ground balls.
 
Three different goalkeepers appeared in Saturday's match for the Railsplitters. Kyle Deriemacker (Chesterfield, Mich.) spent right at 42 minutes in net, allowing 10 goals with 10 saves over that span. Joe Medel (Virginia Beach, Va.) was pulled after allowing seven goals with one save in the first 15 minutes of action. Jeffrey Handman (Tampa, Fla.) allowed one goal in three minutes in the fourth period.
 
The Railsplitters are back in action on Sunday, visiting the Wingate Bulldogs for a 3 p.m. match. Live stats for that contest will be available at www.LMURailsplitters.com.