Box Score ABILENE, Texas – Junior Cody Gentry notched his first-career hat trick en route to a 4-0 McMurry University win over Howard Payne University Saturday afternoon.

"It feels good to get our first win of the year and bounce back after a couple loses," McM coach Paul Tate said following the game. "It was a hard fought win and they battled hard and played the entire 90 minutes."

McM (1-3-1) scored two goals less than a minute apart. Freshman Jon Lozano scored at the 29:48-minute mark and Gentry (Boerne, Texas/Boerne Champion HS) at the 30:52 mark  on a perfect pass from Lozano (Waco, Texas/University HS) and the War Hawks led 2-0. 10 minutes later Gentry added goal No. 2 and McM entered halftime with a commanding 3-0 advantage.

"It was great to see a fast start," Tate said. "We moved some people around and that helped us attack on offense, especially in the first half."

McM controlled the tempo throughout and outshot HPU (1-7) 15-7.

Gentry completed the hat trick at the 70-minute mark of the second half. Senior Antoine Freitas (Salvador, Brazil/Seward County CC) delivered a perfect pass to Gentry, who was streaking down the middle of the field, and beat the goalkeeper to put McM 4-0.

"It was nice to get the hat trick but we won the game and that's most important," Gentry said. "It was a great team win and now we need to get ready for Dallas Baptist."

The War Hawks return to action Monday night at Dallas Baptist.