New London, Conn. - May 4, 2022 - The Springfield College men's lacrosse team scored twice in the final 2:06 to rally past Coast Guard, 10-9, in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Semifinals on Wednesday evening. 

The victory pushes the Pride's record to 8-8 on the season as it advanced to Saturday's NEWMAC Championship. The loss ended Coast Guard's season with a 9-8 record. 

Zac Schuette (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) led all players with six points off four goals and two helpers and Riley Burgmyer (Somers, Conn.) tallied a goal and two assists. Patrick Watson (Franklin, Mass.) scored twice, including the game-winning strike, and Dean Pesce (Monroe, N.Y.) contributed seven saves in goal. 

The Bears accounted for the only goal of the first quarter as Taylor Gustafson struck just 1:58 in the contest to give the hosts an early 1-0 edge. Schuette would answer with Springfield's first goal only 37 seconds into the second quarter and followed up with his 50th goal of the season at 10:09 off an awesome look from Jarrett Nagengast (Bay Shore, N.Y.).  Springfield continued its scoring burst as Schuette connected with Joe Maimone (Allendale, N.J.) for a man-up marker 16 seconds later and Burgmyer netted the Pride's fourth unanswered goal on Schuette's second helper of the game at 8:36.  Coast Guard finally got back on the board at 4:33, only to have Watson convert at 2:51 to give the visitors a 5-2 lead at the half. 

The Bears started off the second half on the man advantage had possession for nearly the first five minutes of the frame to seize momentum and pourein five-consecutive goals to open up an 8-5 cushion with 6:36 left in the frame.  However, Schuette would deliver back-to-back unassisted goals in the final 5:05 to make it an 8-7 contest entering the fourth. 

At 13:03, Nagengast got his hands free and blistered in a shot just under the cross bar to knot the contest up, but the Bears would take the lead late when Gaige Kruger slipped free along the crease with 3:24 remaining in regulation.  Alek Turi (Glastonbury, Conn.) was able to finish with 2:06 on the clock in front of the cage off a feed from Burgmyer and Kyle McEniry (Franklin, Mass.) came up with a huge ground ball on the ensuing face-off.  With the game on the line, Watson raced past his man and strung a shot just inside the post to lift the Pride to a thrilling victory. 

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