NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Coast Guard Academy Men’s Lacrosse Head Coach, LCDR Brian Krautler, announced today that three players have been selected to serve as team captains for the Bears’ upcoming 2012 season.
Cadet 1/c Andrew Breen (Falls Church, VA/George Mason), Cadet 1/c Nicholas Zablotny (Annapolis, MD/Broadneck) and Cadet 2/c Tim Wyderko (West Bloomfield, MI/Orchard Lake St. Mary's) were selected by the coaching staff and a vote by their teammates to serve as team captains for the 2012 season. This will be the first time each player has served as team captain.
“Andrew, Nick and Tim are great leaders – on and off the field,” said Head Coach Brian Krautler. “They embody what it means to be Coast Guard Academy cadets and I’m more than confident in their ability to lead this year’s team. 2012 is a big year for us, we sent a great deal of talent from the Class of 2011 out to the fleet, but we have a talented and experienced group of 1/c cadets that are hungry to compete and win a championship. We also have a number of younger players who will have to fill holes and play prominent roles for us in 2012,” Krautler noted. “The leadership our three captains provide will be essential to the growth and success of our team this year and our staff could not be more pleased with the selection of these young men as our team captains. These cadets know being a captain is an important responsibility and this group is looking forward to leading this year’s team and representing our program, the Coast Guard Academy and the Coast Guard.”
"One of the most unique aspects of the Coast Guard Academy, and the reason I love coaching at such a place, is that the school develops leaders of character. All seven of our seniors are a product of this leadership training, and indeed, are all outstanding leaders. Clearly, our team not only looks to our captains for guidance, but looks to the entire senior class for guidance. It makes for a team atmosphere that I am honored to be a part of."
Cadet 1/c Andrew Breen has been an integral part of the Bears’ defense for the last three years roaming the pitch as a long stick midfielder (LSM). His defensive prowess last year earned him 2011 PCLL 2nd Team All-Conference LSM. He spent his summer training period aboard USCGC STINGRAY, an 87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat out of Mobile, AL before reporting to Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM to finish out his training. Aboard STINGRAY, he worked on Damage Control and Officer of the Deck qualifications. While underway, he participated in law enforcement boardings and search and rescue cases in the Gulf of Mexico. At Sandia, Breen worked in the Robotics Laboratory and got great hands-on experience in engineering design. A leader on and off the field, Breen organized a team fundraising effort in 2011 that raised more than $1,100 for the LT John M. Senyard Endowment. A Mechanical Engineering major, Breen has also excelled in the classroom where he was named a 2011 MCLA Scholar-Athlete. He continued that success this past fall, registering a 3.88 GPA and a ranking in the top 4 percent of his class. He is currently serving as the Regimental Morale Department Head. Breen became the 3rd member of the Mike Fredie “Hard Hat” Union with 10 ground balls vs. Stonehill College on April 09, 2011.
Cadet 1/c Nicholas Zablotny, a proud member of the “Old Bay Crew” (the sobriquet for our Maryland player contingent), has been a mainstay of the Bears offense the last two years. The midfielder notched a career-high 16 points last season, as well as scooping 22 ground balls. Zablotny spent a portion of his summer as an intern at the National Security Agency (NSA) before reporting aboard USCGC SYCAMORE, a 225-foot Seagoing Buoy Tender out of Cordova, AK to finish out his training program. Like Breen, Zablotny has also found success off the field and achieved a 3.88 GPA for the fall semester. An Electrical Engineering major, he is ranked in the top 7 percent of his class in overall order of merit which factors in both academics and military performance. He is currently serving on the Bravo Company staff. Interestingly, Zablotny’s Electrical Engineering Senior Design Project involves designing and building a dynamic positioning system - a platform that will maintain its position in the water, mimicking the systems on certain vessels and oil drilling platforms.
Cadet 2/c Tim Wyderko is the anchor of the Bears defense and earned the rare honor of selection as a team captain as a junior. "Tim is an excellent one on one defender with great intuition," said Coach Krautler. In 2011, Wyderko’s on-field exploits netted him PCLL 2nd Team All-Conference Defensemen honors. He started his summer with the Cadet Aviation Training Program and was exposed to Coast Guard aircraft and missions at the Aviation Training Center in Mobile, AL. He also had the opportunity to sail around New England with classmates and Head Lacrosse Coach, LCDR Brian Krautler, as part of the Coastal Sail Training Program. He finished up his summer training period serving as Cadre and running the newly arrived Class of 2015 through “Swab Summer” – the initial boot-camp style indoctrination period. He is a Government major and served as the Information Systems Officer last semester. Wyderko became the 2nd member of the Mike Fredie “Hard Hat” Union with 10 ground balls vs. University of New Haven on March 27, 2011.
The Bear’s pre-season preparations got underway upon returning from Holiday Break in early January. The team’s first contest of 2012 will take place on Saturday, February 25th at 1:00 PM versus Southern Connecticut State University at Veteran's Memorial Park in West Haven, CT. Next up, the Bears will travel to Palm Beach, FL from 2-6 March, where they will host a Diversity Open House for the local BRIDGE (Building Relationships to Initiate Diversity, Growth and Enrichment) affiliate and face Palm Beach Atlantic, Grand Valley State, Elon and Emory, in the 2012 Sailfish Shootout.
For more information, check out our website at: www.coastguardlax.vicid.net.
As the smallest of the five U.S. service academies, the Coast Guard Academy offers the elite higher education, rigorous professional development, and honor and tradition of a military academy but with a more personalized approach.
The Coast Guard Academy offers an integrated life experience which emphasizes academics, physical fitness, character and leadership, in order to graduate officers of the highest caliber. Graduates go directly to positions of leadership in "The Shield of Freedom," one of the most admired organizations in the world. The Academy also features an impressive teacher-student ratio and picturesque waterfront campus that instills a traditional small college feel.
Cadets devote themselves to an honor concept and graduate to work at sea, on land, in the air, and even in space, in meaningful careers of selfless service to others.