NEW LONDON, Conn.  -  Coast Guard men's lacrosse put up 19 goals on visiting Norwich University today while allowing just four from the Cadets. The final result was the third win in a row for the Bears.

Coast Guard improves to 3-1 and eclipses their win total from last season, while Norwich moves to 1-2. The Cadets will look to get back on track when they travel to Plymouth State (1-1) on March 4th.

The Bears took a 9-1 lead into halftime thanks to a quarter-spanning nine-goal run; Norwich avoided a first-half shutout with a goal at 2:57. Max Silver (Jupiter, Fla.) achieved a hat trick during the onslaught and Eric Key (Clarksville, Md.) scored once and assisted twice; Ezekiel Christian (Stonington, Conn.), Ryan Hunter (Bethesda, Md.), Mason LaForte (Waterford, Conn.), and Nolan Grizzle (Severna Park, Md.) each tallied a score and an assist.

The two teams traded scores to open the third quarter before Coast Guard scored three in a row to extend their lead to 13-2. The Cadets got their third of the day with 2:02 remaining, but the Bears struck again with six seconds on the clock to take a 14-3 lead into the final session.

Coast Guard found the back of the net four more times in the fourth before Norwich interrupted that streak by scoring with less than a minute to go to cut the Bears' lead down to 18-4. Davis Lee (Newport, R.I.) responded with a goal at the 23-second mark to bring it to the 19-4 final. During the four-goal run, Key scored back-to-back man-up goals at 3:35 and 3:09.

The Bears' offense proved too much for Norwich's defense as the hosts tallied 55 shots on the day, while Norwich mustered 28. Coast Guard also had more success in clearings, going 17-for-19 to the Cadets' 13-for-18, corralling ground balls with a 41-20 advantage, and having the upper hand in face-offs by a 23-4 margin. Both teams were similar in turnovers with the Bears narrowly edging their visitors, 17-19, in the stat.

Key would finish with a game-high six points (four goals, two assists), followed by Christian with five (two goals, three assists) and Hunter with four (hat trick, one assist). Mason Tucker (Alpharetta, Ga.) went 7-for-9 on face-offs while picking up a game-high seven ground balls, while Abraham Al-Khalili (Haymarket, Va.) went 7-for-7 on the head-to-heads and grabbed four grounders.

Evan Granahan (Aldie, Va.) had a game-high three caused turnovers and Dustin Miller (Tyler, Tex.) earned the win while making seven saves between the sticks in 30 minutes. Brett Tobasky (Brookline, Mass.) and Elijah Hinson (Seattle, Wash.) also got some time in goal and combined for four saves.

The maroon-and-gold were led by Jake Marcotte's (Old Orchard Beach, Maine) three points (two goals, one assist) and Christian Rainis' (Wynantskill, N.Y.) two (one goal, one assist). Clayton Cisar (Aberdeen, Md.) led the team in ground balls with four and caused turnovers, also four. Goalie Thomas Hopkins (Chelmsford, Mass.) was tacked with the loss after making four saves.

Coast Guard men's lacrosse gets a week off of game action before they head to Pennsylvania to face Messiah (1-3) on March 8th. The Falcons are on the bad side of a three-game streak and will look to get out of it against the Bears.