NEW LONDON, Conn. — 

Andres Villasana (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) and James Von Dyl (San Diego, Calif.) collaborated on two goals in the first half and Cole Miller (Annapolis, Md.) added another in the second to help the U.S. Coast Guard Academy men's soccer team pick up a mid-week win against Rhode Island College on Tuesday.

Coast Guard improves to 4-2-2, while RIC moves to 1-2-4 after their second loss in a row. The Anchormen will host Little East Conference rivals Southern Maine University (0-2-5) this upcoming Saturday for their next one.

With head coach Chris Parsons looking to let a few of his usual suspects some rest against a non-conference opponent, Von Dyl was given the nod for his first career start. The sophomore striker has been one of the Bears' first options off of the bench this season for relief up-front, and he took full advantage of his opportunity in the 13th minute.

The play was set up by Brenden Engstrom (Brea, Calif.), also making the first start of his career, who dug the ball out of the right-side corner amid two Anchormen defenders. After dribbling to the edge of the box, Engstrom laid a short pass to Villasana. Von Dyl sensed where the play was going and began a short cut towards the net from his position at the edge of the goalie's box. Villasana took notice and sent a great chip shot towards the sophomore, who redirected it to give his team the fist advantage. It was the first goal of Von Dyl's career, while Engstrom got credit for his first career assist on the pass to Villasana.

The killer V's teamed up again in the 25th minute, and it was Von Dyl making things even in style this time. Aidan Miles (Tampa, Fla.) got the play going by receiving a cross at half field and played it forward to Von Dyl at the edge of the box. The sophomore was clearly dissatisfied with having just one highlight on the day, so he used the back of his heel to play it forward into the box to a following Villasana. The junior tapped it forward to himself and away from an incoming Anchorman before sending one into the bottom right corner, giving himself his first goal of 2025 and Von Dyl his first career assist.

Rhode Island College cut the deficit back down in the 41st, setting it up off by winning a big clear from their own box. Izaiah Karweh, seeing his opportunity, broke away up the left sideline before getting the ball upfield from his winning teammate. He got it to the left edge of the box before sending a cross into the box, where teammate Jacob Holland met it in front of the goal for the easy tap-in.

It took until the 58th minute for Coast Guard to get that goal back. The Bears were awarded a corner kick opportunity, which was taken and lobbed into the box by Villasana. After an RIC defender seemed to head the ball out and put the chance to rest, Miller swooped in at the front of the box and sent a rocket of a volley into the back of the net. It was Miller's second goal of the season, coming two weeks to date since his first.

After scoring just two goals in their last three games, the plan for Coast Guard's offense was aggressiveness. It showed in the final box score, which noted 25 shots on the night for the Bears with nine being on goal; in comparison, Rhode Island College took 11 shots with seven on goal. The opposing sides were more even on corners and fouls, with Coast Guard holding a 5-3 edge in the former and both teams getting whistled for six of the latter. The Anchorman in net all night was Elhadji Ndoye, who made six saves on the night to match the combined efforts of Coast Guard's Samuel Linkous (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) and Connor Hickey (Portsmouth, Maine), both of whom saved three apiece while splitting shifts.

Bears men's soccer returns to action this upcoming Saturday, hosting NEWMAC rivals Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2-3-2, 0-0-1 NEWMAC) for a noontime game. Coast Guard were 2-1 victors of last season's match-up in Cambridge, which saw Aki Freeman (San Diego, Calif.) assist on the first goal of the game int he 22nd minute before delivering an 80th minute game-winner on his own.