SPRINGFIELD, Mass.-- Senior Matty Johnson scored the game-winning goal to give Coast Guard men's lacrosse a 14-13 season opening victory over Springfield on the road on Saturday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action. It was just Springfield's second home loss in NEWMAC play, both to Coast Guard, who also beat them in 2017.

Sophomore Caleb Holdridge led the way with a game-high six goals and one assist. Johnson added two goals and an assist and classmate Will Iorio tallied a pair of goals with a game-high three assists. Senior Conor Rowan and sophomores Ryan Flynn, Dan Zarillo, and Taylor Gustafson all added a goal each to round out the Bears scoring. The goals from Flynn and Zarillo are the first career goals.

Sophomore goalkeeper Dan Lucas made his first career appearance in-between the pipes, making 12 saves for the Bears.

Kevin Tierney led Springfield with four goals and Riley Burgmyer added three goals for the Pride. Alek Turi and Zac Schuette each added a pair of goals for Springfield and Jackson Lane and Joe Hawley had a goal each to close out the scoring for the Pride.

Springfield's goalkeeper Jake Cupak made 13 saves for the Pride.

On a man-up opportunity, Iorio found Johnson with 2:05 remaining to put the game away 14-13. The Bears held possession for most of the final two minutes. Coast Guard blocked a shot from Springfield and got the ball back to hold onto it for the final 20 seconds of the game to take the win. 

Coast Guard jumped to a 3-1 lead in the opening four minutes of play with goals from Holdridge, Johnson, and Rowan. Springfield answered with three goals of their own to take a 4-3 advantage. Zarillo and Holdridge added two more goals to end the quarter with a 5-4 lead for the Bears.

The Pride opened the second quarter with three goals, taking a 7-5 lead in the first eight minutes. Holdridge and Gustafson added back-to-back goals to tie the game 7-7 but Springfield answered with three-goals to close out the half with a 10-7 lead.

Holdridge scored the opening goal of the half to bring the Bears within one but Springfield answered with two more, extending their lead 12-9 with 6:07 left in the third. Iorio put away his first of the game at 3:15 in the third, trailing 12-10. Springfield would score their final goal of the game with 47 seconds in the third to take a 10-13 lead.

The Bears shut down Springfield in the final quarter, outscoring the Pride 4-0 with goals from; Holdridge, Iorio, Flynn, and Johnson. Coast Guard won 18-31 of face-offs and held a 42-18 advantage in ground balls but the Pride outshot the Bears 56-45.

Coast Guard is back in action at home next Saturday, April 3 at 1 PM against Babson. No fans are allowed but a live stream will be available on uscgasports.com.