New Britain, Conn. – The Coast Guard Academy Men’s Lacrosse team (3-0) rallied for five goals in the 4th quarter and a 13-8 win over Central Connecticut State University (0-1) in the first PCLL conference game for both teams. Cadet 2/c E. J. Schmid (Robbinsville, N.J./Robbinsville) was the “big-man” on campus tonight with five goals and 1 assist, while 1/c Austin English (Kent Island, Md./Kent Island) finished with a 3-3 stat line for the evening. Six other Bears registered at least a point.
For the third consecutive game, the Bears started slow and quickly found themselves down 0-1. However, the Bears got back on track with the ‘Old Bay Crew” (the sobriquet for our Maryland player contingent) as English and 2/c Paul Dell’isola (Bethesda, Md./Georgetown Prep) scored back to back goals for a 2-1 lead (Dell’isola’s goal was off a feed from English). Not to be out done, the Man from the Garden State, E. J. Schmid got a step coming from behind with 2:48 left in the first quarter and absolutely stung the far corner on the run from about 7-yards out to give Coast Guard a 3-1 lead at the break.
English got the Bear’s 2nd quarter scoring started with back-to-back individual efforts sandwiched around a CCSU goal for a 5-2 lead. Then 4/c Justin Huemme (Sherborn, Mass./Dover-Sherborn) finished on the doorstep off a no-look feed from Schmid to make it 6-2. After a CCSU goal, English fed Schmid from behind the net to make it 7-3 at halftime.
The Blue Devils played a strong third quarter, outscoring the Bears 3-1. Steven Danseglio (Islip Terrace, N.Y./East Islip) scored Coast Guard’s only goal for the period beating his man for a ten yard bounce shot into the back of the net. The quarter ended at 8-6.
Despite a lackluster performance in the third quarter, Coast Guard came out firing on all cylinders in the fourth after a CCSU goal had cut the lead to one at 8-7. Several fans following the Facebook play-by-play noted that 2/c Stu Carley (Houston, Texas/James E. Taylor), an offensive spark plug during the Georgia trip, was having an unusually low key night. As if to answer the critics, Carley – the quiet man from Texas – scored on a nice dodge and shoot from behind for a 9-7 lead. That’s when E. J. Schmid got his groove on with three straight tallies, two on feeds from Carley and one from pole 1/c Conor Breckenridge (San Francisco, Calif./Novato). The “Schmid offensive” put the Bears up 12-7 with eight minutes to go. Carley used an English pass and scored from 10 yards out with 5:32 on the clock for 13-7 score. CCSU scored one more goal at the 5:00 mark to make it 13-8 and that was how it ended.
Defensively, goalie 1/c Michael Cooper (Baltimore, Md./Boy’s Latin) got his first career start and played magnificently making 19 saves with eight goals against. The four man close-defense rotation of 1/c Tim Wyderko (Detroit, Mich./Orchard Lake St. Mary’s), Breckenridge, 1/c James Fennessey (Milton, Mass./Milton) and 2/c Nick Fredericksen (Nashua, N.H./Nashua South) played exceptionally well throughout.
Coast Guard will head back to New London and is back in action on Wednesday, March 20th at 6:00 PM against Division 1 University of Rhode Island at Cadet Memorial Field. Pre-game activities will also include the traditional goal-flag ceremony commemorating Coast Guard Academy graduates and lacrosse players lost on operational missions. Two tribute flags will be attached to the goals and displayed at every home game throughout the season.
Game Notes:
–The Bears are currently ranked No. 9 overall in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse MCLA Coaches Poll this week.
–Coast Guard shared the ball as 7/13 goals were assisted (53.8%).
–Cadet 4/c Justin Huemme scored his first collegiate goal.
–In his first collegiate start, goalie 1/c Michael had a .704 save percentage.
