Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy blanked Wesleyan University in a "DIG PINK" volleyball game on Wednesday, and also defeated Nichols College in a fall tennis game. In other action, the Bears fell to Wesleyan in a men's soccer game. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Men's Soccer: Wesleyan 2, Coast Guard 0

Wesleyan (7-0-2), ranked 11th nationally, extended its unbeaten streak in 2011 to nine games with a pair of second-half goals, both on headers, and the shutout goaltending of junior Adam Purdy as the Cardinals defeated visiting Coast Guard (4-4-1) in a non-conference game.

It was Wesleyan third straight win over its in-state rival and sixth in the last seven meetings. Wesleyan holds a 40-18-5 lead in the long-standing series.

After a scoreless first period which featured just one shot on goal by Wesleyan and none by Coast Guard, play opened up in the second half. Wesleyan broke the tie in the 58th minute when junior Rory O'Neill netted his team-leading fourth goal of the year as he headed a corner kick by junior Noah Schlesinger into the right side of the net past Coast Guard freshman keeper Richie Burns, who ended the game with nine saves.

Less than a minute earlier, Burns made an outstanding diving stop of a shot by junior Evan Hazelett that was labelled for the lower right corner, bringing about the goal-scoring corner kick.

Junior Walter Rodriguez added the insurance goal for the Cardinals in the 80th minute as he headed in a shot from close range on the left after getting a feed from down low on the left by Hazelett.

Sophomore Cabell Maddux began the play with a long pass to Hazelett midway in the offensive zone on the left. Hazelett then took it deep and turned the corner to find Rodriguez for his third marker of the season.

Coast Guard had several good scoring chances in the contest as two of Purdy's three saves were true goal-savers. Both came in the second half off direct kicks. The first came from junior Greg Kennerley, which deflected off the Wesleyan wall, forcing Purdy to dive to his right to make the stop. Later, senior Brett Godiksen fired a hard shot from a similar position about 25 yards out with Purdy again making a diving save. Sophomore John Rendon rang a shot off the right side of the cross bar from 30 yards away in the 30th minute, the closest either side came to a tally in the first half.

Purdy posted his fourth consecutive shutout and seventh of the year, improving his Wesleyan career-record figure to 20. He has now gone 408 minutes of play without allowing a goal over a five-game span.

Men's Tennis: Coast Guard 3, Nichols 1

Coast Guard won all six singles matches and two of three doubles matches to improve to 3-1 on the season with an 8-1 win over Nichols in a non-conference matchup, the Bears final match of the fall portion of the schedule.

Greg Mitchell won at #1 singles 6-2, 6-1, Blake Maurer won at #2 singles, 6-2, 6-3, Nick Martin won 6-2, 6-4 at #3 singles, Josh Fischer won 6-4, 6-1 at #4 singles, Chris Hoffman was victorious 6-4, 6-4 at #5 singles while David Blystone won 6-2, 6-1 at #6 singles for the Bears.

Mitchell and Martin won easily 8-1 at #2 doubles while Fischer and Blystone won 8-4 at #3 doubles.

Steve Carella and Brandon Roode of Nichols beat Hoffman and Maurer 9-8 (2) at #1 doubles.

Nichols drops to 1-3 on the season.

Volleyball: Coast Guard 3, Wesleyan 0

Junior Keriann Mason had ten kills and seven digs leading Coast Guard to a 3-0 win over Wesleyan in a DIG PINK game to honor those who have survived cancer, those who are currently fighting it and those who will experience it.

Coast Guard, wearing its special pink uniforms for the match, won by game scores of 25-13, 25-17, 25-17 to improve to 13-4 on the season. Wesleyan dropped to 4-11 overall.

The Bears jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening game and pushed the lead to nine at 17-8. Coast Guard maintained that advantage leading 22-13 before senior Fallon Bowers came on to serve the final three points to close out the game.

In game two, Wesleyan led 2-0, but Coast Guard rattled off four straight to take the lead for good turning a 4-3 deficit into a 7-4 lead. The Bears increased the lead to 17-9 and won by that margin 25-17.

Coast Guard turned a 7-7 tie in the third game into a 20-14 lead with a 13-7 run before closing out the match with a 25-17 win.

Freshman Kelsey Hickle had nine kills while sophomore Kelsey DePorto added eight kills in the win for Coast Guard. Freshman Elise Sako had a team-high ten digs, junior Karen Matic led the way with 27 assists and freshman Leigh Anne Brazier had a team-high four blocks in the win.

Sophomore Monica Leslie led Wesleyan with six kills, juniors Jeanne McPhee and Laura Yim each led the way with nine digs while freshman Claire Larson led the Cardinals with 21 assists.