Men’s lacrosse tops Coast Guard 14-6
Sophomore scores first goal in opening minute of new season
In a game played in steady snow throughout, MIT and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy opened the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men’s lacrosse season on Saturday afternoon (March 28). The Engineers scored five goals in the first period and never looked back as they took a 14-6 victory over the Bears.
MIT (6-2, 1-0 NEWMAC) scored in the first minute of action when Harris Stolzenberg ’17 rifled a shot home. Just two minutes later Jonah Hessels ’16 scored unassisted to give the Engineers a 2-0 lead, but Coast Guard (1-6, 0-1 NEWMAC) took advantage of a man-up opportunity minute and a half later when junior Trent Moon found the back of the net to make it a one-goal game.
Two more goals by the Engineers in a two-minute span, one from Paul Orrson ’16 and one from Mitch Turley ’18 put MIT on top 4-1 at the 6:05 mark of the first. The two teams then traded goals in the final two minutes of the quarter, leaving MIT on top 5-2.
All of the action in the second quarter was confined to the final four minutes. Coast Guard notched the first goal, getting a score from sophomore Quinn Hathcock to make it a two-goal contest, but MIT came back with goals just 22 seconds apart and when into the half with a 7-3 edge.
MIT completed what turned out to be a decisive five-goal surge in the third quarter. The Engineers picked up scores from Graham Davis ’18 and a man-up marker from Orrson in the first five minutes. Turley completed the surge, taking a nice pass from Stoltenberg and putting it away for a 10-3 MIT lead with 4:55 left in the quarter.
Six goals were scored in the fourth quarter, but Coast Guard could not come up with consecutive scores to cut into the MIT advantage. The Bears picked up an unassisted goal from junior Robert McKenna at 11:32 that made it 11-5, but it was as close as they would come the rest of the way. MIT put the game away inside the final five minutes with consecutive scores within a minute from each other from Chris Cook ’15 and Michael Traub ’17.
Traub led MIT with three goals and an assist, while Stolzenberg had one goal and four assists for the Engineers, who outshot Coast Guard 38-31. Cook, Davis, Orrson and Turley all scored twice for the Engineers. Hathcock and McKenna each had two goals to lead Coast Guard. In goal, freshman Kurt Caminske made 14 stops for the Bears, while Eric Bartell ’16 kept eight shots from going in for MIT.