Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

The volleyball team earned the only Coast Guard Academy win on Saturday, splitting a pair of games with Roger Williams University. The Bears lost a football game and two soccer games. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Volleyball: Coast Guard 3, Roger Williams 0; Roger Williams 3, Coast Guard 1

Guard split a pair of matches at Roger Williams University as the Bears cruised past Gordon 3-0 before being beating by the host Hawks 3-1.

Coast Guard beat Gordon 25-13, 25-11, 25-9 to start the day as junior Catherine Walker led the way with eight kills and freshman Kelsey Hickle added seven kills. Sophomore Sam Marmolejo had ten digs and four aces to lead the way while junior Karen Matic had a team-high 26 assists.

The second match of the afternoon was a rematch of a first round matchup in the NCAA tournament last season, won by Coast Guard 3-1.

The Bears won the first set 25-20 and jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the second set, but Roger Williams battled to tie it 12-12 and evened the match with a 25-23 win.

In the third set, Coast Guard led 24-21, but the Hawks fought off three set points and scored five straight for the 26-24 win.

Roger Williams closed out the match with a 25-23 win in the fourth set to improve to 18-3 on the season.

Junior Keriann Mason led the Bears with 18 kills and 11 digs in the loss while Walker added 17 kills. Marmolejo had a team-high 18 digs and Matic had 34 assists to go with seven kills.

Coast Guard drops to 11-4 on the year.

Football: Fitchburg State 28, Coast Guard 21

For the second time this season Coast Guard lost a road game on a touchdown pass in the final seconds. This time is was a 37-yard strike from Brian McDonald to Jeremy Kimber with 13 seconds left leading Fitchburg State University to a 28-21 win over the Bears in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division game.

Coast Guard lost the season-opener 35-28 at Merchant Marine on a 32-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds left. The Bears drop to 1-3 on the season and 1-1 in the NEFC Bogan Division while Fitchburg State snaps a three-game losing streak improving to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Bogan Division.

The Bears, just as they had in the season opener, rallied to tie the game on a touchdown run by senior quarterback Jarrod Owens. This time, trailing 21-13, Owens scored on a two-yard scamper, and senior Eric Gerken caught the two-point conversion from Owens to tie the game with 2:48 left.

The Coast Guard defense, got a huge turnover, its only forced turnover in the game, a forced fumble by junior safety Dante Adams and fumble recovery by senior Steve Lozier on the Fitchburg 20-yard line with 4:04 left in the game to set up the game tying score.

The Bears shot themselves in the foot throughout the game as they turned the ball over three times, including the first two interceptions of the season, missed an extra point, missed a field goal and had a key late-hit penalty in the fourth quarter which extended a drive and led to a Falcons touchdown.

Gerken, the leading receiver in the NEFC, had another outstanding game for Coast Guard as he had ten or more receptions and over 100 receiving yards for the third straight week. He finished with ten catches for a career-high 150 yards and two touchdowns. He leads the team with 42 receptions for 515 yards and five touchdowns in the first four games of the season

Coast Guard outgained Fitchburg State 347-285 and had more first downs (21-15). The Bears had 272 of those yards in the air.

Junior linebacker Curt Barrett led the Bears defense with ten tackles, 3.5 for loss while senior defensive lineman Paul Hahn-Rauch added nine tackles in the loss.

On the afternoon, Fitchburg State mustered 285 yards of total offense, including 157 on the ground and 128 in the air. Kimber led all Falcon receivers with five catches, 91 yards and two scores, while freshman running-backs Steph’fon Teague and Farren Davis rushed for 98 yards and 88 yards respectively.

Owens finished 23-of-37 for 272 yards with two touchdowns and 40 yards rushing. He also threw a pair of interceptions, his first two of the season.

Coast Guard came out gunning, taking a 7-0 lead just 1:49 into the contest as Owens connected on a 29-yard strike to Gerken, but Fitchburg State responded ten minutes later as Teague found pay dirt on a nine yard run to knot the score at 7-7.

The Bears answered on their next series as the pair of Owens and Gerken connected again, this time for a 16-yard strike to cap a seven play, 59 yard drive. Gerken sparked the Coast Guard scoring drive with three catches for 39 yards, while freshman Collis Brown and junior tight end Casey Paris added a pair of catches in the series. The Bears missed the extra point.

The score remained at a 13-7 standstill until midway through the third quarter when Fitchburg State grabbed its first lead of the contest on a McDonald one-yard touchdown plunge. The score capped a six-play, 71 yard drive for the Falcons, including 61 yards rushing from Davis.

In the fourth, the Falcons padded their lead, taking a 21-13 advantage on Kimber’s first TD snag of the day. McDonald hit Kimber on a 10-yard fade, beating double coverage in the back of the end-zone for the score.

After a three and out by Coast Guard, the Bears turned to their defense forcing a Falcon fumble on the Fitchburg State 20 and setting up first and ten for the game-tying score. A 13-yard rush by sophomore Tyler Hames put the ball at the Falcons two yard line before Owens found the end-zone with a two-yard blast.

With the score tied at 21-21, Fitchburg State was forced to a four and punt, but a beautiful punt by Lenny Masciangioli forced the Bears back to their own one yard line. The Falcons held strong, limiting Coast Guard to only five yards in the series and forcing a punt. Sophomore Luis Cruz brought the punt back to the Bears 37, setting up Kimber’s game-ending heroics.

Men's Soccer: Springfield 2, Coast Guard 1

John Mankus scored a header off a David Chessen corner kick with 3:20 left to give the Springfield College men's soccer team a 2-1 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The win allowed the Pride to remain unbeaten with a 6-0-3 record overall.

Coast Guard is now 4-3-1 overall, In the NEWMAC, SC is now 3-0.

In the first half, just one goal was scored at the Irv Schmid Sports Complex. It was scored by freshman midfielder Kevin Nowak with an assist by freshman Jon Ramirez at 25:40. The goal came from the right side of the box as the Pride led 1-0 at the break.

At the half, despite being down, the Bears had the advantage in the stats, taking a 3-0 edge in corner kicks and a 4-3 edge in shots.

In the second stanza, junior defender Greg Kennerley scored, firing a shot from outside the box. It appeared that SC freshman goalkeeper Brett Bascom was screened, not moving until the shot was almost by him. That goal was unassisted at 52:47.

It all game down to an SC corner kick with 3:20 remaining. From the corner, Chessen sent a kick to the far goal post. Mankus, a sophomore defender, headed the ball very smartly into the back of the net.

Coast Guard finished with nine shots to SC's six. Each team finished with three corner kicks.

Bascom ended with five saves. For Coast Guard, junior goalkeeper Will Lefler came up with one save.

Women's Soccer: Clark 1, Coast Guard 0

Sophomore striker Janelle Pasternack scored the game’s lone goal in the 72nd minute, propelling host Clark University to a 1-0 win over Coast Guard in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) women’s soccer action.

The win for the Cougars (3-6-1, 1-1-1 NEWMAC), snaps a six match winless streak, while the Bears (4-4-1, 0-2-1 NEWMAC) have not scored in their last three games.

Clark controlled the game but couldn’t find the back of the net despite having several excellent chances. The first came at the 16:46 mark when Jenna Zarou hit the crossbar on a shot from the left of the box. Later, Zarou found herself open with the ball in the front of the net but her shot found the center of Coast Guard goalkeeper Mary Mills’ chest.

Sara Conway had the best chance of all when Mills lost control of a ball and her shot on a wide open net went wide left at the 64:36.

The Cougars finally got on the board at 71:34 when Zarou’s pass off of a corner kick went to Pasternack who blasted a shot past Mills for her first marker of the season.

Clark held 24-7 edge in overall shots, but just a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal.

Mills made six saves for the Bears, while Audrey Eisemann just needed to make two saves to collect her third shutout of the season.