NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The Norwich University men's lacrosse team dropped an 11-4 decision to Coast Guard Academy on Saturday afternoon in non-conference play. The Cadets fall to 0-5 on the season, while Coast Guard improves to 3-2 on the year.

Senior Ryan McCarthy (Medford, Mass.) and sophomore Ian Kennedy (Gloucester, Mass.) paced the Cadets with two goals with sophomore Josh Jenkins (Centennial, Colo.) and senior Matt Flaherty (Portland, Maine) crediting an assist each.

Coast Guard was led by senior Louis DePalis (Westchester, N.Y.) with a hat-trick, while senior Justin Huemme (Sherborn, Mass.) and freshman Anthony Wyler (Fulton, Md.) notched a pair of goals. Freshman Benner Geurtsen (Rodman, N.Y.), senior Robert McKenna (Madison, Conn.) and junior Blaise Curtis (Riverside, Md.) each scored a goal in the win.

Both teams battled hard in the first 15 minutes of the opening faceoff with Coast Guard getting on the board first at the 6:49 mark on a Huemme goal. Kennedy would score the equalizer for Norwich with Jenkins picking up the assist on the play, before the Bears got ahead less than three minutes later after DePaolis drilled the ball into the back of the net. The Cadets would make it a 2-2 game after McCarthy scored unassisted with just 48 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Both teams traded goals in the first two minutes of the second quarter before the Bears pulled off 16 shots in the frame and scored four straight to lead 7-3 at the break.

The Cadets looked to get back on track in the second half as Kennedy notched his second goal to open the third quarter but the 13 turnovers and a strong defensive effort by the Bears kept Norwich off the board for the remainder of the stanza. Coast Guard scored four more over the next 16 minutes on 16 shots, to close out the game with the 11-4 victory.

Freshman goalie Ian Kriger (Burlington, Mass.) came up with 11 saves on 22 shots faced for Norwich in between the pipes, while Coast Guard's freshman Trey Johnson recorded six saves on 10 shots for his second win of the season.

Coast Guard out hustled the Cadets in every aspect of the game. The Bears scooped up 36 ground balls to the Cadets' 17, forced nine caused turnovers on defense and successfully cleared the ball 21 out of the 22 attempts.

Norwich will return to action next Friday, March 25, on the road at Maine Maritime for the 4:00 p.m. contest, while Coast Guard will look to clinch its third straight win on Wednesday, March 23 at SUNY Maritime.