NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College men's lacrosse team wrapped up the 2024 season with a 10-7 victory over Coast Guard Academy on Tuesday evening at Silfen Field.

Liam Horkan (Malden, Mass.) led all scorers with four goals on the night to pace the Camels, who finished the year with an overall record of 5-9. Aidan McAvoy (Charlotte, N.C.) aided the offensive effort with a goal and three assists, and Will Rice (New Rochelle, N.Y.) made seven saves in his final collegiate game in goal.

Noah Heller and Eric Key led the Bears (2-11 overall) with two goals apiece. Dustin Miller made 20 saves in the cage. 

Bobby Chang (South Salem, N.Y.) put the Camels on the scoreboard just over two minutes into the contest off a feed from JJ Ford (Clinton, Conn.). Coast Guard answered back a minute later when Key deposited his first goal of the day. Patrick Smith then scored off an assist by Ryan Hunter to give the Bears their only lead at 2-1 with 9:40 remaining in the opening quarter.

Conn scored twice before the end of the period to regain the lead. McAvoy found Horkan for his first marker at the 3:58 mark, and Colter Lingelbach-Pierce (Etna, N.H.) later snuck in a goal with five seconds left in the frame to give the Camels a 3-2 lead after one.

McAvoy and Horkan hooked up again less than three minutes into the second quarter to bump the margin to two. However, back-to-back tallies by Heller and Mason Laforte knotted the game at 4-4 with 4:27 left in the half. 

Ford scored twice in the final 3:18 of the stanza to give the Camels a 6-4 lead at intermission. The first goal came on a man-up opportunity and was set up by McAvoy, and the second on a left-handed rip through the CGA defense with 2:23 to go.

Conn extended the lead to 8-4 early in the third quarter behind goals by Horkan and McAvoy. Horkan's goal came off a rebound after Patrick Atkins (Topsfield, Mass.) drilled a shot off the post, and McAvoy notched a man-up goal from Josh Kozub (Wilbraham, Mass.) following some behind-the-cage trickery.

Trailing by four, Coast Guard fought back to trim the deficit to a single goal with 11:39 to play in the fourth quarter. Conn responded with its third extra-man goal of the day, this time from Horkan off a crafty assist from Ryan Breheny (Bridgewater, Mass.). Atkins later tacked on another insurance goal with 5:47 left in the game, dodging past his defender before crashing to the front of the cage for the score.

Rice, who made a pair of saves in the fourth quarter to protect the one-goal lead, played all but the final 1:06 and earned his 18th career victory. He finished his four-year career with 568 saves, good enough for sixth all-time in program history.

Aidan Gaudet (Cheshire, Conn.) controlled the face-off spot all game, going 16-for-20 while tying a season-high with 12 ground balls. Ford, Henry Cabot (Ipswich, Mass.) and Hayden Carpenter (Baltimore, Md.) each caused a pair of turnovers.