PROVIDENCE, R.I. —
The United States Coast Guard Academy men's soccer team picked up a mid-week, non-conference victory on Tuesday with a 2-0 result at Rhode Island College. Senior midfielders
Cole Miller (Annapolis, Md.) and
Andres Villasana (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) netted the Bears' two goals.
Coast Guard improves to 4-2-1 with back-to-back wins while riding a three-game unbeaten streak, while RIC moves to 2-3-2. The Anchormen will look to for a bounce back result Saturday, the 26th, when they visit the University of Southern Maine (2-2-3) for Little East Conference play.
Villasana scored his second goal of the season in the 5th minute to get the Bears on the board in fast fashion. Coast Guard won the ball at midfield and worked it up to Miller at the top of the box, who powered through a pair of defenders to play one over to
Jack Lopez (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) on the left side. The senior captain then crossed it through to the center, where Villasana was waiting to chip it past the goalie.
The Bears set up another great chance in the 42nd when they sent an arching throw-in into the box. It was redirected off the head of a Coast Guard attacker towards the bottom right of the goal, but the RIC keeper showed great reflexes at his position to make a diving save and keep the score at 1-0.
The hosts created consistent pressure on the Bears throughout the first half, with one of their best tries being a rocket in the 26th minute that flew just over the woodwork. A similar play would happen in the 40th as an Anchorman found space about ten feet before the box, but the shot would again sail high.
RIC's pressure extended into the second half, ricocheting a shot off of the woodwork in the 57th this time. Miller would respond to the try less than a minute later by weaving through a pair of Anchormen to get a shot off from the right side of the box, sending it past the keeper for his fourth goal of the season and the potential dagger.
One of RIC's best chances of the night came immediately after as they sent a cross into the box in the 59th. The ball would be headed away, but it fell to an Anchorman right in front of the net for a point-blank try. The Bears would thwart it as sophomore back
Elliot Belton (Mechanicsville, Va.) put his body on the line for the block to redirect it out of the box.
Belton struck again in the 83rd, leaping in the way of an RIC shot that had just a couple of Coast Guard defenders to beat. The same attacker regained the ball immediately for another shot outside the box, but Belton would deflect it again to put the chance to rest.
The hosts held an 18-13 advantage in shots taken on a night of bad luck that saw only three of those attempts directed towards the net. That misfortune came to a head in the 84th as RIC worked their way into the box for another point-blank try, but junior keeper
Joseph Mason (Lewisville, Tex.) turned into a wall to save it. The Anchormen got it back in the box, but the Bears once again got a defender in front of it for the deflection.
Mason and starting keeper
Connor Hickey (South Berwick, Maine) tallied three saves together in the second shutout of the season for Coast Guard. The center ref called 24 fouls on the night, with 15 going against Anchormen's way, while two of the game's three yellow cards were drawn against the Bears.
Coast Guard men's soccer returns to action this Saturday, the 26th, as visitors NEWMAC foes MIT (1-3-2, 0-0-1 NEWMAC), with kick-off set for 1:00 PM ET. Last year's meeting a Nitchman Field ended in a 1-0 shutout for the Bears.
