United States Coast Guard Academy

NEWPORT, R.I --

NEWMAC playoffs started with a rematch from last year as No. 5 seed Coast Guard men's lacrosse squeezed out a gritty win over No. 4 seed Salve Regina 10-8 Tuesday night. The Bears (5-9, 3-4 NEWMAC) were led by their leading scorer Ezekiel Christian (Stonington, Conn.) with 7 points and will face Babson College in the NEWMAC semifinal round on April 30.  

Coast Guard started the game cold, but recovered in a big way in the first quarter. Following back-to-back turnovers, the Bears found themselves down 1-0 just 2:26 into the game. Christian got his first of the day unassisted with just under five minutes left in the quarter. Less than 30 seconds later, Christian beat a defender and found Patrick Smith (Leesburg, Va.) wide open to give Coast Guard a 2-1 lead. Christian then got by two defenders and scored another unassisted goal to increase the lead to 3-1 with a minute remaining in the quarter. 

In the 2nd, The Seahawks found the back of the net after being denied twice by Dustin Miller (Tyler, Tex.), who had seven saves in the second quarter and finished the night with 15. Ezekiel Christian worked more of his magic as he got by 2 defenders again and found Smith, again, to regain the 2-goal advantage with 11:52 left in the quarter. Following another save from Miller, Christian got his 3rd of the night to give the Bears a 5-2 lead halfway through the second. Noah Heller (Baltimore, Md.) got his first of the night as he beat a defender in a footrace along goal-line-extended to the net. Eric Key (Clarksville, Md.) joined in on the action as he ran down the alley and found the far side of the net to increase Coast Guard's lead to 7-2. In the second, the Bears stepped up on defense, a few big defensive stops, including getting rid of two man-up opportunities kept the Bears up five goals at halftime 

Out of the half, Salve gained some momentum with three saves to start out the second half by Salve Regina's goalie to give them the jump they needed as they scored on a fastbreak with 10:21 to play in the third. The Bears converted on their first man-up opportunity of the night as Patrick Smith scored again on a skip-pass from Christian. Entering the 4th quarter, the Bears led by a score of 8-4. 

The Seahawks got on the board first again just 1:29 into the fourth quarter to keep the game competitive. Ezekiel Christian pulled out some nifty moves to score from right outside the crease and give the Bears some breathing room. Coast Guard then converted on another man-up opportunity as Patrick Smith scored again. They were 2-2 on extra-man opportunities. 

From there, a fastbreak goal for Salve Regina with 7:13 remaining made it 10-6 before Chris Koltzan found Casey Johnson twice in less than 20 seconds apart to cut the Bear lead to two goals with 4:45 left to play. A couple turnovers from the Seahawks allowed the Bears to run out the clock and win the contest to survive and advance to the next round. 

Up Next: 
Coast Guard men's lacrosse move on in the NEWMAC tournament to face No. 1 seed Babson College on April 30th at Babson Park, Mass. 7pm EST.