Coast Guard Knocks off No 9 Kennesaw State

This article is originally from LaxPower.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Coast Guard Academy Men's Lacrosse Team was able to get a tough win against No. 9 Kennesaw State University on Sunday afternoon at the 2011 Sailfish Shootout.

Coast Guard (1-0) jumped out to an early three goal lead on the backs of the "Old Bay" crew with goals by 2/c Nick Zablotny (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck), a nice behind the back effort from 1/c Matthew Chase (Baltimore, Md./Loch Raven) and a great individual effort from 1/c Kyle Ennis (Mayo, Md./ DeMatha High School). The Owls (7-1) pulled one back toward the end of the first quarter to bring it to 3-1.

Kennesaw opened the second quarter scoring, but the Bears answered immediately off the subsequent faceoff on a nice goal by 4/c Stuart Carley (Houston, Texas/James E. Taylor) to make it 4-2. 1/c Kyle Ennis ripped another goal from up top on an extra man situation to give the Bears a 5-2 lead.

The Bears lost the next faceoff and were immediately called for a penalty. Coast Guard's man-down squad turned up the pressure and caused a turnover that led to a short-handed goal by 3/c Steven Danseglio (Islip Terrace, N.Y./East Islip). The Bears got sloppy on the defensive end again and were whistled for another penalty.

The man-down squad did another exceptional job of penalty killing but surrendered a goal just after the penalty expired for a 6-3 score. The Bears won the subsequent face-off and 1/c Matt Chase put away a "highlight reel" diving goal off a nice feed from 3/c Austin English (Stevensville, MD/Kent Island) for a 7-3 Bears lead. Kennesaw closed out the first half scoring to make it 7-4 at the break.

Kennesaw opened the third quarter scoring as well, but Coast Guard went on a three goal run and didn't allow Kennesaw to score for the rest of the third quarter. The Class of 2014 started the run as 4/c Eric (EJ) Schmid (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) scored on a nice assist from classmate 4/c Stuart Carley. Then Carley scored on a nice individual effort of his own. Finally, 3/c Steven Danseglio dodged through his defender and beat the slide before depositing the ball in the back of the net for a 10-5 lead.

1/c Kyle Ennis opened the fourth quarter scoring – his hat trick gave the Bears an 11-5 lead. Kennesaw closed out the scoring with two more goals to make it an 11-7 final.

"It was a good game, this is what we expected," said Coast Guard Academy Head Coach Brian Krautler. "They're a good team and have been putting people away consistently. Our guys played great team ball – many folks contributed at the offensive and defensive ends, but 2/c Cory Pray (Medfield, Mass./Medfield) was amazing in between the pipes – he made some incredible point blank saves."

"We were concerned about our lack of full field practice time due to the snow up north and the fact that all these teams had so many games under their belts already. I think Kennesaw is a really great team," said Coach Krautler. "They have some great players and they're very well coached. I'm just really proud of our great team effort today – especially our long pole defense and our hard working man-down squad."

Coast Guard will take on Palm Beach Atlantic University on Monday at 4:00 PM in the final contest of the 2011 Sailfish Shootout.