KINGS POINT, N.Y.  -  This year's annual meeting between Coast Guard women's lacrosse and Merchant Marine went the Bears' way in a close 12-8 win. Along with singing last, Coast Guard welcomed Maici Mintchwarner (Cream Ridge, N.J.) into the program's 200-save club.

The Bears improve to 2-0, while Merchant Marine moves to 0-1 after dropping their season opener. The Mariners will look to notch their first win of the season on March 8th against 2-1 Clark (Mass.) at home.

Mintchwarner entered the game with 194 saves under her belt and exited it with 200 on the dot. The milestone stop happened with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter when the Bears' senior co-captain deterred a shot from Kings Point's Leslie Wysong (Mount Pleasant, S.C.). Mintchwarner is the fourth player in Coast Guard women's lacrosse history to reach the mark and sits fourth all-time in saves; currently, she's 18 away from matching Devon McCue '24 for third all-time.

Despite not seeing game action in over a week, Coast Guard showed little rust by taking a quick 2-0 lead thanks to back-to-back goals by Abby McAllister (Pleasantville, N.Y.) at 13:44 and 9:20. Kings Point got on the board at 7:52, but the Bears put up two more at 6:49 and 5:01 to make it a 4-1 game. The Mariners' Grace Picozzi (Collegeville, Pa.) scored with 4:40 remaining to make it a 4-2 game, but Laine Weber (Granite Bay, Calif.) would get that goal back at 1:26 to send her team into the second quarter with a 5-2 lead.

It was all Coast Guard for most of the second quarter as the Bears rang off four unanswered goals to make space with a 9-2 lead. Weber started the scoring by securing a hat trick at 11:17, while McAllister recorded her hat trick for herself with the last goal of the run at 4:04. Merchant Marine scored twice by the period's end to trim the lead down, with the first score coming at 3:31 and the second on a buzzer-beater by Picozzi in a man-up opportunity.

Both teams found the net once in the third quarter. Coast Guard struck first thanks to Weber's fourth of the day, coming from a man-up opportunity to make it a 10-4 game, but Kings Point would get it back to a five-goal deficit at 2:04. The fourth started with Picozzi scoring at 11:02 to get a hat trick while making it a 10-6 game, but the Bears would put it out of reach for good with scores at 9:58 and 8:58. Merchant Marine scored at 5:56 and 3:54 to make the final result.

Coast Guard was able to take 29 shots throughout the day while limiting the Mariners to 16; 14 of those shots for Kings Point were on goal, while the Bears had 20 aimed at the net. Coast Guard also had more success on clears, going 15-for-19 while the Mariners went 14-for-24, and draw controls with a 14-7 advantage. The two teams had the same number of ground balls with 20 and were similar in total turnovers, with Merchant Marine edging out their guests by a 25-26 margin.

McAllister led the Bears offense with six points (four goals, two assists), while Weber and Caitlyn Coates (Hanover, Pa.) had four each; Weber's was made solely of goals, while Coates scored twice and recorded two assists with a game-high eight draw controls. Isabella Judge (Buffalo, N.Y.) had a team-high three ground balls with five other Bears, including Coates and McAllister picking up two. Rowan Walsh (Hampstead, Md.) led the defense with three caused turnovers; Gabriella Kraus-Rivera (West-Linn, Oreg.) had two.

Merchant Marine was led by Lauren Jablonowski (Levittown, N.Y.), who matched McAllister with five points (two goals, three assists); Picozzi, like Weber, ended up with four points on goals while reigning in a game-high seven ground balls and pacing the Mariners with three caused turnovers and three draw controls. Wysong matched Picozzi in the latter stat, while Karianna Eagle (Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) was tacked with the loss after making eight saves.

Bears women's lacrosse suits up next on March 5th for their much-anticipated home opener, in which they'll face Connecticut College (0-1). The Camels will make the long and arduous journey down the street seeking their first win of the season after falling to no. 2 Tufts earlier today. This will be the first match-up between the two teams since the 2020 season.