PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Coast Guard men's lacrosse picked up their first win of the season today in a 17-7 neutral site away game against Nichols. The Bears broke a six-game losing streak dating back to last season in the process.
Coast Guard improves to 1-1, while Nichols starts their season at 0-1. The Bison will look for their first win on Wednesday, February 26th, as they host 1-1 Saint Joseph (Conn.).
A 3-0 start for Nichols was broken up by a pair of Coast Guard goals at 7:41 and 6:37 before the Bison scored again at 5:27. The Bears closed out the first quarter with three unanswered goals of their own to take a 5-4 lead, which they extended with two more to start the second. The Bison stopped the run with a goal at 10:35, but Coast Guard would score twice more to take a 9-5 lead into halftime.
The Bears showed no signs of slowing down following the break, opening the third quarter on a four-goal run to extend their lead to 13-5. Nichols scored at 7:11, but the Coast Guard found the back of the net at 4:01 for the final goal of the quarter. The fourth opened with a Bears goal at 13:52, to which Nichols responded with a score at 9:49 to cut it down to 15-7. That was be the last Bisons goal of the day, but Coast Guard scored a pair in the final three minutes to send off their opponents.
The result broke a six-game, multi-season losing streak and was the first Bears win since March 30th, 2024 at Clark (Mass.). Coast Guard had 18 turnovers to Nichols' 26, went 18-for-20 on clears while the Bison went 17-for-22, and held advantages on ground balls at 36-23 and face-offs at 19-9.
Eric Key (Clarksville, Md.) led the way with a game-high ten points (7 goals, 3 assists); following him was
Ryan Hunter (Bethesda, Md.) with eight points (2 goals, 6 assists).
Patrick Smith (Leesburg, Va.) and
Ezekial Christian (Stoington, Conn.) had three points each, with Smith's made of a goal and two assists and Christian's coming from a hat trick.
Other goal-scorers were
Max Silver (Jupiter, Fla.),
Ryder Bonser (Spring Brach, Tex.), and
Noah Heller (Baltimore, Md.), while
Nick Butler (Northport, N.Y.) and
Mason LaForte (Waterford, Conn.) tallied an assist each.
Mason Tucker (Alpharetta, Ga.) went 16-22 on the bulk of the Bears' face-offs and picked up a game-high ten ground balls. Coast Guard caused 12 turnovers during the day.
Dustin Miller (Tyler, Tex.) made six saves while picking up the wi.
Nichols was led by
Dylan DeRubeis (Wayland, Mass.) and
Conor Doherty (Billerica, Mass.), who both tallied three points on two goals and an assist.
Brady Morgan (Framigham, Mass.) was hit with the loss after saving ten and allowing 14.
Bears men's lacrosse will look to build a win-streak as they face Wentworth on Thursday, February 27th. The game will be the first match-up between the two programs.
