DARTMOUTH, Mass.  -  The Coast Guard Academy men's soccer team maintained their excellent form on Tuesday evening in a 3-0 victory at UMass Dartmouth. The Bears separated themselves early after two goals by Brennan King (Shepherdstown, W. Va.) less than 20 minutes into the match, and later added the third on an unassisted score in the second half by Nicholas Yorgason (Pleasant View, Utah).

Coast Guard improves to 7-0-1, while UMass Dartmouth move to 1-5-1. For their next game, the Corsairs' will host the University of Southern Maine in the former's Little East Conference Opener. The Huskies have had similar fortunes starting the season as their future hosts, playing to a 1-3-4 record, with their latest result was a one-goal draw with Eastern Connecticut State this past Saturday.

The first goal of the night for Coast Guard came about in the 11th minute. Aidan Miles (Tampa, Fla.) would clear a ball from a few feet behind the half-field line on the Bears' side of the pitch; the long try was received by Cole Miller (Annapolis, Md.) in the penalty area, who dribbled away from his defenders and took a shot. His try was deflected by Dartmouth's goalkeeper, who had come out of the six-yard box to pressure Miller into a bad attempt. Unfortunately for him, King would be there to follow-up and take advantage of the opposing keeper's positioning and slow recovery time to put the visitors up, 1-0.

King scored again just a few minutes later in the 15th minute. Jude Sargent (West Hartford, Conn.) kicked the ball ahead from the half-field line, and it would be played by Michael O'Brien (Mays Landing, N.J.) just beside the penalty area. O'Brien dribbled into the 18-yard box with a defender almost smothering him, leading him to send a short pass to an incoming King, who immediately connected and sent it past the Corsairs' goalie and into the back-left corner of the net. The senior midfielder's two goals in the contest were his first two of the season and brought his career total up to four.

Dartmouth had the opportunity to shorten the Coast Guard lead on a corner kick in the 22nd minute. The ball was sent into the box, where it was redirected low towards an empty portion of the net by the head of a Corsair. But before any damage could be done to the Bears' lead, Sargent swooped in and booted the ball back towards the right sideline. Later on, Coast Guard appeared to extend their lead a few minutes before the end of the half. After a rocket of a throw-in for the Bears from their right sideline towards the center of the box, Sargent was there to meet it with his head, and the ball snaked past the goalie to give the visitors an apparent 3-0 lead. However, the goal was waved off after the linesman ruled the senior defender to be offsides.

Coast Guard took five shots in the first half while allowing only two chances for Dartmouth; first-year goalkeeper Connor Hickey (South Berwick, Maine), making his fourth appearance and first career start, made saves on both shots. The Bears committed no fouls during the first 45 minutes, while the Corsairs were whistled for one.

The score for the first 20 minutes of the second half stayed at 2-0 until Coast Guard extended their lead on a sequence started by Naveen Jayaram (Tampa, Fla.). The sophomore defender received a short goal kick from Hickey to the left of the box and sent a long clearing pass to the middle area of Dartmouth's side of the pitch. A Bear and a Corsair struggled to gain advantage on the other to get the ball, but it would wind up with King after a resulting deflection. King then sent it towards Yorgason, who dribbled around his defender and towards the left outside corner of the 18-yard box; he then let loose an attempt that flew past the outstretched arms of a diving Dartmouth keeper, extending the Bears' lead to 3-0. It was the first goal of Yorgason's career.

Dartmouth's best opportunity of the half came in the 78th minute. The Corsairs forced a turnover while Coast Guard was trying to get the ball out of the backfield. One of Dartmouth's attackers won it on a physical challenge and fired a rocket towards the goal once he got far away enough from the Bears' defenders. It turned out he wasn't far enough, as Sargent put his body on the line and jumped in front of the shot to block it. The ball careened to another Corsairs forward, who tried to srt up another attempt before Hickey rushed out of the six-yard box grab the ball himself and put an end to the chance.

Both teams were more aggressive on both sides of the ball in the second half. In terms of attacking, Coast Guard took 10 shots, while Dartmouth took seven. The Bears finished the game with 10 of their 15 total shots being on goal; meanwhile, the Corsairs turned out to be another subject in a string of stalwart defensive performances for the Bears backline, who only allowed the Corsairs to make two attempts on goal out of their nine total tries. On defense, both teams were called for fouls six times.

Coast Guard men's soccer will be continuing their NEWMAC campaign on Saturday, Sept. 28th with a match on the road. The Bears will travel to Norton, Mass. to take on Wheaton College. Wheaton is sitting on a 4-2-3 record after defeating Brandeis, 1-0, in their match-up on Tuesday afternoon. The Lyons were tabbed as the NEWMAC's third-best team in the pre-season coaches poll after making it to the semifinals of last year's conference tournament, where they were knocked-out in a 1-0 loss to eventual runners-up Babson College.