Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The Coast Guard Academy couldn't pick up any wins in its Saturday football or soccer games, but both cross country teams took home a gold in an invitational while the volleyball team prevailed in two out of three matches. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Football: Bridgewater State 34, Coast Guard 16

Bridgewater State University scored late in the second quarter and on its first possession of the second half to take 20-2 lead enroute to a 34-16 win over Coast Guard in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division game.

Bridgewater State sophomore quarterback Mike McCarthy accounted for four of the Bears’ five touchdowns on the afternoon as he threw for two scores and ran for a pair.

Coast Guard, which drops to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the Bogan Division, had a few key turnovers in the first half, including the opening touchdown of the game, 67-yard fumble return by junior safety Eddie Jewel for a 7-0 lead with 3:51 left in the opening quarter.

Coast Guard controlled play in the first quarter with 82 total yards to Bridgewater State’s 36 yards, but the turnover was costly.

The visiting Bears had no problem moving the ball in the first half. On its second possession of the second quarter, Coast Guard drove from its own 11-yard line, 88 yards, all the way down to the Bridgewater State one, where another turnover, this time an Owens fumble kept the Bears off the scoreboard.

On the very next play, Coast Guard junior John Manganiello stopped BSU freshman running back Blaise Branch in the end zone for a safety to cut the deficit to 7-2.

After the ensuing Bridgewater kick from the 20, Coast Guard took over at their own 46-yard line. The visiting Bears were not able to capitalize on the good field position as they turned the ball over on downs after four plays.

Bridgewater took over at the BSU 45 and five plays later McCarthy connected with junior wide receiver Jake Scott on a 23-yard scoring strike to give the host Bears a 14-2 lead late in the second quarter.

After Coast Guard was forced to punt to open the second half, Bridgewater promptly marched 70 yards on six plays with McCarthy finding the end zone from ten yards out.

Trailing 20-2, Coast Guard made things interesting when Owens capped off a five-play, 56-yard drive with a one-yard QB sneak late in the third quarter.

But Bridgewater answered with a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to put the game out of reach. First McCarthy and Scott hooked up once again, this time on a 41-yard TD pass with 10:24 remaining in the game. Then, after Jewel intercepted a junior backup quarterback Jon Resch pass and returned it 40 yards to the Coast Guard 18, McCarthy punched it in from a yard out to put Bridgewater up 34-9.

Resch, who replaced Owens in the second half, found sophomore tight end Luke Kenzik in the end zone with a 23-yard touchdown pass to cap off the scoring with just seven seconds left on the fourth quarter clock. It was the first career touchdown for Kenzik.

Offensively for Bridgewater State, McCarthy completed 4 of 6 passes for 95 yards and also rushed for 50 yards on 15 attempts. Branch, who was filling in for injured running back Justin Fuller, ran for a game and career-high 111 yards on 21 carries. Bridgewater outrushed Coast Guard by a margin of 213 to 111.

For Coast Guard, Owens finished 13-for-20 for 113 yards, while Resch completed 9 for 17 passes for 120 yards. Owens also ran for 32 yards on 11 attempts. Sophomore running back Tyler Hames added 74 yards on the ground, and junior wide out Erik Gerken led all receivers with eight catches for 84 yards.

Along with his 67-yard fumble return for a touchdown and 40-yard interception return, Jewel also registered four solo tackles.

Sophomore defensive end Tate Doehler recorded six solo tackles including two for loss. He also forced a fumble and batted down two passes for Bridgewater State.

Manganiello led the Coast Guard defensive effort with seven tackles (six solo) with one tackle for loss.

Men's Soccer: Wheaton 3, Coast Guard 2

Freshman Travis Blair’s goal in the 77th minute, his second of the game, broke a 2-2 tie leading Wheaton College to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Coast Guard in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game.

Blair blasted a shot from 25 yards out past Coast Guard goal keeper freshman Richie Burns as the Lyons overcame a 2-1 deficit early in the second half to improve to 5-6-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

Blair opened the scoring with a goal just 4:11 into the match with junior Max Swanson assisting.

Coast Guard senior Brett Godiksen tied the game with his team-leading seventh goal of the season in the 16th minute with sophomore Joe Bodzewski adding the assist the close the scoring in the first half.

The Bears took the lead in the 52nd minute as Bodzewski was taken down in the box and junior Greg Kennerley converted the penalty kick for a 2-1 lead.

Just over five minutes later, Kennerley was called for an intentional hand ball in the box and issused a red card. Swanson converted the penalty kick to tie the game with 33:19 remaining.

Coast Guard playing a man down the rest of the match, kept it tied for the next 20 minutes before Blair’s goal gave the Lyons the lead for good.

Freshman Devin Delfino had five saves in registering the win for Wheaton while Burns had eight saves in the loss for Coast Guard, which has dropped three straight and is 0-3-1 in its last four games.

Wheaton outshot Coast Guard 18-15.

Women's Soccer: Wellesley 1, Coast Guard 0

Sophomore Emily Wilson's 36th-minute goal proved to be game-winner as the Wellesley College picked up a hard-fought 1-0 win over NEWMAC-rival Coast Guard on a warm Saturday afternoon in Wellesley.

Wilson carried the ball across midfield and launched a perfect shot from 20 yards out that found the back of the net for the eventual game-winner. The goal, her first as a collegiate player, handed the Blue their second conference victory.

The win improves Wellesley to 2-3 in NEWMAC play, 3-8-3 overall. The loss dips Coast Guard to 4-6-1, 0-3-1 in the NEWMAC.

Wellesley dominated play, outshooting the Bears 28-2, including 14-1 advantages in both periods. However, Coast Guard got solid play from keeper Mary Mills, who made 13 saves to keep the Bears in the game.

Wellesley's offense was led by Ava Mokhtari who tallied four shots on goal, while Lena Cardoso added three of her own. Coast Guard's Kristin Euchler recorded the Bears' lone shot on goal.

The Blue's SJ Gray and Claire Cerda combined for the shutout victory in goal, each playing a half. Both remained largely untested, with Cerda making the only save needed.

Volleyball

Coast Guard won two of three matches at the UMass-Boston Invitational.

Coast Guard opened the day with a 3-2 win over RIT. The Bears won the opener 25-20 before dropping both the second and third sets 25-23. Coast Guard then tied the match with a 25-22 win and closed it out with a 15-10 win.

UMass-Dartmouth, ranked 11th nationally, beat the Bears 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-13) in Coast Guard’s second match of the day.

Junior Catherine Walker had eight kills and eight digs while sophomore Kelsey DePorto had eight kills, five digs and a team-high three blocks in the loss to UMass-Boston while junior Karen Matic led the way with nine digs and 25 assists.

Coast Guard closed out the day with a 3-1 win over Western Connecticut. The Bears dropped the first set 25-18 before winning 25-23, 25-20 and 25-19 for the victory.

In the win over Western Connecticut, DePorto led the way with 18 kills while Walker added 15 and junior Keriann Mason 14 kills for the Bears.

Sophomore Sam Marmolejo led the way with 18 digs while freshman Elise Sako added ten digs in the win. Matic had a team-high 44 assists.

Coast Guard improves to 15-5 on the season.

Cross Country Running

Senior Trevor Siperek, sophomore Gary Ezzo and senior Joe Hill each placed in the top ten as Coast Guard won the 31-team James Earley Invitational at Westfield State University.

Siperek was the top Coast Guard finisher placing seventh overall with a time of 26:26. Ezzo was eighth with a time of 26:35 while Hill finished tenth with a time of 26:43.

Senior Kevin O'Brien (13th place/26:54), junior Tommy Heikkinen (31st/27:36), senior Myles McCarthy (34th/27:38), sophomore Ryan O'Neill (35th/27:40) and sophomore Brad Pienta (36th/27:42) rounded out the top eight finishers for the Bears.

The invitational also went to the Bears in the women's competition. Freshman Beth Gollin placed second overall as Coast Guard secured their first place finish scoring 68 points and outpaced host Westfield State in second with 85.

Coast Guard placed five runners in the top 25 places in a field of 38 teams and over 250 competitors.

Gollin was the women's overall runner up finishing the 5k course in 18:51. Second for Coast Guard was junior Sarah Blatt in 8th place with a time of 19:15.

Next, placing 12th and crossing the line in 19:22 was freshman Ellie Wu.

Sophmomore Meghan Kalinowski was the fourth finisher in scoring position and placed 21st running 19:44. Rounding out Coast Guard's scoring runners was freshman Mary Hazen in 25th place covering the course in 19:55.

Also posting stong performances were freshman Cameo Ulbricht (20:09), freshman Kendall Auth (20:20), and senior Katie Schumacher (20:32).

Next weekend, the Bears will compete at the Connecticut College 6K Invitational hosted at Harkness Park in Waterford.