NEW LONDON, Conn. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team was defeated by host United States Coast Guard Academy, 17-7, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference action at Cadet Memorial Field in New London, Conn. The Lyons fall to 8-3 overall and 0-3 in league play, while the Bears improve to 6-4 and 2-0.

Coast Guard dominated the face-off, winning 20 of 27 draws on the "X". The Bears owned a 67-40 shot advantage as well as a 57-40 margin on ground balls. Coast Guard held Wheaton's clear in check as well, holding the visitors to a 19-28 success rate.

Senior attackman Alec Morin (Belmont, Mass.) and junior attacker Shane Ross (Hanson, Mass.) each tallied a pair of goals for the Lyons. Ross also added a ground ball and a caused turnover, while Morin picked up a ground ball as well. Senior attacker Lou Mainella (Falmouth, Maine) finished with three points on a goal and two assists in addition to four ground balls. Sophomore defender Jacob Wharton (Worcester, Mass.) led the defense with five ground balls and a career and game-high six caused turnovers. First year goalie John Drew (North Andover, Mass.) stopped 17 shots in the loss for Wheaton.

Junior attackman Caleb Holdridge (Waterford, Conn.) led all players with a career-best nine points on six goals and three assists to go with a ground ball and a caused turnover for the Bears. Junior attacker Taylor Gustafson (Littleton, Colo.) tallied three goals and added a ground ball, while senior attacker Nate Gee (Big Flats, N.Y.) recorded four points, including two goals, in addition to four ground balls and a caused turnover. Junior attacker Gaige Kruger (Coronado, Calif.) came up with nine ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers, while scoring a pair of goals and assisting on another. Senior midfielder Logan Tobias (Commack, N.Y.) dominated the face-off, winning 19 of 24 draws and picked up 12 ground balls. Junior goalie Dan Lucas (Weston, Conn.) made 15 saves for Coast Guard.

The Lyons opened the scoring when junior attacker Robert Sullivan (Newton, Mass.) took a feed from senior Ben Stomberg (Glastonbury, Conn.) and scored with 9:57 left in the first quarter. Gee scored for the home team just 45 seconds later and Holdridge followed just 24 seconds after that to give the Bears a 2-1 edge. Ross and Morin answered for Wheaton to give the Lyons a 3-2 margin with 7:06 to go in the quarter. Holdridge scored the next two goals for Coast Guard as part of a stretch of six unanswered goals that was capped by Holdridge as well to give the Bears an 8-3 lead. 

Morin scored at 7:50 of the second quarter for the Lyons to pull them to within 8-4. Coast Guard reeled off seven straight goals, including the final goal of the second quarter and the first six scores of the third to take a 15-4 advantage with 6:49 to play in the third quarter. The home team received two markers each from first year middie Ryan Hunter (Bethesda, Md.) and Gustafson during the stretch. 

Wheaton scored three of the final five goals, including markers from first year attacker Ethan Powers (Braintree, Mass.), Mainella and Ross, to make it a 10-goal margin.

The Lyons return to play on Saturday, April 9 when they host NEWMAC opponent Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Nordin Field at 4:00 p.m., while the Bears travel to Worcester, Mass. on the same day to take on NEWMAC foe Clark University at 7:00 p.m.