Stingrays Drop 7-Spot On Greenville In Home Opener

The South Carolina Stingrays (2-2-0-0) scored seven goals in front of an opening night crowd of 7837 to defeat the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (1-2-1-0) 7-4 on Saturday night at the North Charleston Coliseum.

Defenseman Tim Davison had his first professional goal and three assists, while forward Grant Besse scored for the third straight game while adding two assists and both Sam Fioretti and Andrew Cherniwchan added a goal and an assist.

After an early tally from Michael Pelech had the Swamp Rabbits up 1-0 at 2:40 of the first period, Tim Harrison deflected a shot by Tim Davison past Greenville goaltender Devin Buffalo to tie the game at less than a minute later at 3:25. The strike was Harrison’s first as a member of the Stingrays and came with a second assist for Tad Kozun.

Pelech struck again at 6:24 to make it 2-1 Greenville but once again the Rays responded. Davison found the back of the net on the power play at 15:26 to tie the game and Besse gave South Carolina a 3-2 lead, scoring his third of the year with 13 seconds to play in the period.

The Swamp Rabbits tied the game at 3-3 on a goal by Chris Izmirlian at 2:55 of the middle period.

Sam Fioretti’s strike at 8:07 of the second gave South Carolina the lead for good. John MacLeod scored his first professional goal to add to the lead at 12:18 of the third and Matt Pohlkamp pushed the advantage to 6-3 in favor of the Rays with a power play marker at 14:08.

A late power play goal by Trevor Owens brought Greenville back within two at 15:56 of the third, but Cherniwchan iced the game for South Carolina with an empty net strike in the final 22 seconds.

SC outshot the Swamp Rabbits 36-30 in the game. Stingray netminder Parker Milner started and won his second straight contest by making 26 saves. Greenville’s Buffalo fell in his first start of the season, making 29 stops.

The Stingrays finished 3-for-7 on the man-advantage, while Greenville was 2-7.

South Carolina is home to face the Atlanta Gladiators for the first time during 2018-19 on Sunday afternoon at 3:05 p.m.

Season tickets are also on sale now! For more information or to purchase, contact the Stingrays by phone at 843-744-2248 or visit 3300 W. Montague Ave. Suite A-200 during business hours.