NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's lacrosse team was defeated by visiting United States Coast Guard Academy, 16-5, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.

The Lyons fall to 5-6 overall and 0-3 in league play, while the Bears improve to 4-5 and 1-1.

Coast Guard won 15 of 25 faceoffs and held a 46-41 shooting edge.

Senior midfielder Shane Ross (Hanson, Mass.) matched his career high with four goals to lead the Wheaton offense and added two ground balls and a caused turnover. Sophomore midfielder Mike McLaughlin (Stoughton, Mass.) netted a goal to go with an assist and a ground ball. Junior defender Jacob Wharton (Worcester, Mass.) picked up a career-high seven ground balls in addition to a pair of caused turnovers, while sophomore midfielder Charlie Racine (Oradell, N.J.) won eight faceoffs and came up with nine ground balls. Sophomore goalie John Drew (North Andover, Mass.) turned away 13 shots for the Lyons.

Senior attackman Gaige Kruger (Coronado, Colo.) tallied a career-high eight points, including five goals and added a ground ball to his day for the Bears, while senior midfielder Ryan Flynn (Sterling, Va.) and sophomore midfielder Ryan Hunter (Bethesda, Md.) both scored a pair of goals and added an assist and a ground ball each. Senior attackman Caleb Holdridge (Waterford, Conn.) tallied four points with a goal and three assists in addition to a pair of ground balls and a caused turnover and senior attackman Taylor Gustafson (Littleton, Colo.) scored a pair of goals to go with two assists. Sophomore middie Oliver Bolton (Darien, Conn.) caused five turnovers and picked up five ground balls. Junior midfielder Wyatt Rumpf (Dutchess, N.Y.) won eight of 11 faceoffs for the visitors. Senior goalie Dan Lucas (Weston, Conn.) stopped 12 of 15 shots in 50:56 of play to earn the win for Coast Guard.

The Bears scored the first seven goals of the game, including man-up scores from junior midfielder Ian Feely (Spring Branch, Texas) and Kruger for the only goals of the opening quarter. Flynn netted a pair of goals in a span of 31 seconds to give Coast Guard a 7-0 lead with 8:18 to play in the first half. 

Ross put Wheaton on the board at the 6:04 mark of the second period to cut the deficit to 7-1. Holdridge and Kruger tallied the final two goals of the quarter in a matter of 21 seconds to give the Bears a 9-1 lead before the end of the half.

McLaughlin found the back of the net just 46 seconds into the third quarter before he found Ross for a goal at the 12:07 mark of the period to pull the Lyons to within 9-3.

Gustafson and Kruger scored in a span of 67 seconds for Coast Guard, before Hunter tallied a man-up marker with just eight ticks left on the third quarter clock to give the visitors a 12-3 lead after three quarters of play.

Kruger and Ross traded goals to open the fourth period and make it 13-4 with 7:26 remaining in the contest. The Bears scored three straight goals, including the first collegiate goal for junior defender Avery Humphrey (Dallas, Texas), to give Coast Guard a 16-4 cushion. Ross capped the day's scoring for Wheaton with 16 seconds left in the game to set the final at 16-5.

Coast Guard returns to action on April 8 when it hosts Clark University at 3:00 p.m. in NEWMAC action, while the Lyons travel to Willimantic, Conn. on Wednesday, April 5 to take on Eastern Connecticut State University at 7:00 p.m.