NEW LONDON, Conn. –  Only 11 Eastern Connecticut State University shots reached goal and the Warriors went long stretches in the first half without scoring in a 15-7 season-opening men's lacrosse non-conference loss to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Tuesday evening at Cadet Memorial Field.

Two Coast Guard (1-0) goalies needed to stop only four shots, while Eastern sophomore goalie Taylor Huta (Waterford) – in his first career start – managed to stop 12 shots as the Bears unloaded 47 and held a +18 advantage in shots.

The game was tied only once, when junior attack Samuel Watson (Trumbull) evened the count at 1-all two minutes into play on a man-up goal from the first career assist from senior attack Connor Wyllie (Somers).

Coast Guard answered with the final four goals of the quarter – scoring two minutes apart to make it 3-1 -- then gained the momentum for good with a pair of strikes 20 seconds apart in the final minute of the quarter.

All-Little East Conference senior attack Matthew Rougeot (Cheshire) broke Eastern's long scoring draught to open the second-quarter scoring two minutes into action, but the Warriors again went quiet. Logan Morin's goal eight seconds after Rougeot returned the momentum to the Bears, and the hosts finished off the first half with three goals in four minutes to ease into a comfortable 9-2 lead by the half.

With the graduation loss of All-LEC faceoff specialist Jesse Schulze – the all-time leader in faceoffs attempted  --  the Warriors were buoyed by the success of sophomore transfer Matt Robidoux (Cheshire), who won 11 of 15 at the faceoff "X". Coast Guard's Colin Cashin, who dominated at year ago by collecting 20 of 23 faceoffs in the Bears' 18-5 triumph, was limited to 7-of-16 by Robidoux and freshmen Connor Hillemeir (Farmington) and Tayler Stein (Milford).

With Coast Guard substituting freely – the Bears utilized 33 players in the match – the Warriors scored the final three goals of the match to tighten somewhat what was an 11-goal deficit.

Watson (3) was the only Eastern player with multiple goals and All-LEC senior midfielder Harrison Urda (Milford, NH) the only Eastern player with multiple assists, with two to go along with a goal.

After Urda and Watson (Urda assist) found the back of the net in the final minutes, sophomore midfielder Anthony Choronzy (Clinton) contributed his first career goal off a pass from Rougeot inside the final 30 seconds.

Eastern visits Gordon College Saturday at 4 p.m. in a non-conference match. The Warriors opened last year with a 9-3 victory against the Fighting Scots in Wenham, MA.