Coast Guard Academy Sports Roundup

A late touchdown from Westfield State University put the Owls past the Coast Guard Academy on Saturday, while the Bears also dropped soccer games to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Babson College. The Coast Guard volleyball team picked up a game against Eastern Connecticut State University, while the cross country teams competed in two invitationals. The following information was provided by Jason Southard, sports information director at the Coast Guard Academy:

Football: Westfield State 24, Coast Guard 21

Coast Guard leading 21-17 with 1:49 left and Westfield State out of timeouts fumbled the snap on its own three-yard line and senior quarterback Tyler Dow threw a three-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end Jeff Winchell with 49 seconds left as Westfield State stunned the Parents’ Weekend crowd and beat Coast Guard 24-21 in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) Bogan Division game.

The loss marked the third time this season that Coast Guard has lost a game in the final minute as the Bears dropped to 1-5 overall and 1-3 in the NEFC Bogan Division.

Coast Guard had taken the lead, its first of the game, 21-17 on a 41-yard touchdown pass from senior Jarrod Owens to junior Eric Gerken with 4:41 left in third quarter. The Bears however were held to just one total yard of offense in five possessions after that touchdown.

The Coast Guard defense came up huge time-and-time again in the fourth quarter as Westfield State missed a 35-yard field goal on its first possession of the quarter. The Owls drove from their own 38 to the Coast Guard two-yard line where Dow was tackled at the one-yard line by junior Mark Bonner on 4th-and-goal with 10:04 left to give the Bears the ball.

The Westfield defense forced Coast Guard to a three-and-out and then took over on the Bears 28-yard line, but the Owls moved just four yards turning it back over on downs.

Once again, Coast Guard went three-and-out and the Owls moved from their own 40 to the Coast Guard 11-yard line when Bonner picked off Dow at the one-yard line with 1:58 left. It appeared Bonner’s momentum took him into the endzone for a touchback, but the ball was spotted at the one-yard line setting up the fumbled snap and game winning touchdown for the Owls.

Coast Guard had taken a knee on first down forcing the Owls to use their final timeout before Owens fumbled the snap on second down and junior Justin Ehrhardt recovered.

Early on, it appeared as it was going to be a shootout as the first three possessions all ended in touchdowns. Westfield State (3-4, 2-2) scored first, a two-yard touchdown by freshman Michael Mercadante with 9:54 left in the opening quarter.

Coast Guard tied the game on a one-yard run by Owens with 7:15 left before Westfield regained the lead 14-7 on a 31-yard pass from Dow to sophomore Kevin Nicol with 1:34 left in the first quarter.

The only scoring in the second quarter was a 33-yard field goal by junior Kennan Startzell with 11:39 left in the half as the Owls led 17-7 at the half.

Westfield State had 283 yards of total offense in the first half, 186 passing while Coast Guard finished the half with 144 yards, 68 passing.

The Bears got right back in the game with a touchdown on their first possession of the second half capped on three-yard touchdown run by Owens making the score 17-14 with 12:08 left in the third quarter.

Westfield State finished with 472 yards of total offense, 307 passing. Dow was 20 of 40 for 307 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Mercadante led the Owls with 25 carries for 70 yards while sophomore Brian Beauchemin had 11 carries for 56 yards. Nicol led the Owls with seven receptions for 134 yards and the touchdown while junior tight end Jake Storey had five receptions for 89 yards.

Coast Guard, which has dropped three straight, finished with 287 total yards, 151 passing. Owens was 12 of 28 for 136 yards while junior Jon Resch was 2 for 5 for 14 yards. Sophomore Tyler Hames led the Bears on the ground with 14 carries for 78 yards while Owens had 13 carries for 50 yards. Junior Eric Gerken, the leading receiver in the NEFC, had six catches for 77 yards.

Junior linebacker Anthony Raneri led the Owls with eight tackles, seven solo and one tackle for loss while junior linebackers Parker Bateson (12 tackles) and Curt Barrett (11 tackles) each had double-digit tackles for Coast Guard.

Men's Soccer: MIT 2, Coast Guard 0

Two first-half goals helped propel MIT to a 2-0 victory over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in a NEWMAC men’s soccer game on Saturday morning.

The Engineers picked up their first conference win of the season, improving to 1-3-0, and evened their overall record at 6-6-0. The Bears, meanwhile, saw their ledger dip to 0-4-1 in the NEWMAC and 4-7-1 on the year as they dropped their fifth straight.

MIT wasted little time applying pressure on Coast Guard goalie Will Leffler as sophomore Matthew Monheit’s bouncing shot from eight yards away forced him to make a diving stop at the far post after five minutes expired.

Following a battle for possession in the midfield, the Engineers opened the scoring in the 20th minute. From the far side, sophomore Jonathan Tebes lobbed a 30-yard pass that sailed through the box and resulted in Leffler, a defender, and Monheit drifting to the near post. Monheit managed to head the ball, which bounced in the box and then was pushed across the goal line to the far post courtesy of the windy conditions.

The Cardinal and Gray extended its lead to 2-0 eight minutes later on a solo effort by senior Zach Kabelac. The forward dodged a pair of defenders on the far side and then caught Leffler off balance for the easy strike. The Bears’ best opportunity to get on the board in the first half came on a breakaway by Tradd Lovern but he was called offsides from 25 yards out.

Coast Guard registered its first shot on goal in the 57th minute on a low rolling free kick by Brett Godiksen that went directly to freshman netminder Samuel Cannon. MIT almost increased its margin moments later on a quick touch by Tebes at the near post but it was instantly scooped up by Leffler. The hosts continued to attack, recording a shot by junior Ben Lewis that rolled wide of the near post and a Monheit blast that bounced off the bottom of the crossbar during the final 10 minutes of action. The Bears nearly ended the shutout on a bouncing shot from Godiksen, but Cannon thwarted the attempt.

Making the first start in his career, Cannon finished with two saves. He also intercepted numerous crosses and throw-ins to deny Coast Guard a chance to end the shutout. Leffler finished the day with six saves for the visitors.

Women's College: Babson 1, Coast Guard 0

Senior goalie Lisa Wojnar earned her ninth shutout of the season and freshman Jessica DiPhilippo scored her team-leading sixth goal as the Babson beat Coast Guard 1-0, in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game on Parents' Weekend.

Coast Guard outshot the first place Beavers 16-12, but the Bears were shutout for the fifth time in their last six games.

With their 10th win in their last 11 games, the Beavers improved to 11-2-1 overall and a perfect 6-0-0 in the NEWMAC while Coast Guard dropped its fifth straight and the Bears are now 4-7-1 overall and 0-5-1 in conference play.

The Beavers scored the game's lone goal in the 15th minute, as DePhilippo converted a feed from junior Ashley Tourso for her sixth marker of the year at 14:25.

That lead would hold up behind Wojnar, who made four saves in the first half and five more in the second to finish with nine stops in the game.

Senior Mary Mills played all 90 minutes in goal for Coast Guard, finishing with five saves.

Volleyball: Coast Guard 3, ECSU 1

Freshman Kelsey Hickle had a match-high 15 kills while sophomore Kelsey DePorto had 13 kills as Coast Guard snapped Eastern Connecticut's six-match winning streak with a 3-1 win over the Warriors.

Coast Guard won 25-15, 22-25, 25-14, 25-21 to improve to 17-5 on the season while Eastern Conn. drops to 14-7.

Junior Catherine Walker had 12 kills and a team-high five blocks for the Bears while sophomore Sam Marmolejo had a career-high 29 digs in the win. Junior Karen Matic led the Bears with 37 assists.

Junior Katie Wilson had 13 kills to lead Eastern Connecticut.

Cross Country Running

Sophomore Gary Ezzo was the top Coast Guard finisher as he placed 14th overall out of 347 runners leading the Bears to a fourth place finish at the 31-team Gettysburg Invitational.

Ezzo posted a time of 27:53.79 while senior Trevor Siperek was the second Coast Guard finisher placing 17th with a time of 28:03.62.

Other top performers were senior Joe Hill (28:37, 34th overall), senior Kevin O'Brien (29:04, 52nd overall) and sophomore Jordan Lee (29:19, 62nd overall).

In the women's competition, freshman Beth Gollin and junior Sarah Blatt led the Bears to an 8th place finish among 17 teams in field of nationally and regionally ranked competition at the Invitational.

Gollin and Blatt placed 29th and 37th out of 209 competitors breaking their personal records and covering the six kilometer course in 23:29 and 23:37 respectively.

Next in scoring position for Coast Guard was freshman Ellie Wu in her first 6k race finishing 56th running 24:13. To round out the top five scoring places for the Bears were sophomore Meghan Kalinowski and freshman Cameo Ulbricht placing 70th and 73rd crossing the finish line in 24:41 and 24:42 respectively.

Also posting solid improvements on their 6k performances were freshman Kendall Auth (24:58) and seniors Katie Schumacher (25:22) and Tess Swiecanski (25:33).

While the weather was cool with gusty winds for distance racing, the Bears pulled through and gave a great effort on the Harkness Park course.

The team will be off next weekend and will compete next at the NEWMAC Conference Championships hosted at Franklin Park in Boston, Mass. on October 30th.