April 26, 2007
•Army-Navy Game Notes-Patriot League Tournament
Navy Stats | Army Stats
2007 Navy Men's Lacrosse
Gm 13: #10 Navy (9-3, 6-0) vs. Army (6-6, 3-3) - Patriot League Tournament Semifinals
Friday, April 27 • 4:00 pm • Annapolis, Md. • Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000)
Media Information
Television: None
Radio/Internet: 1430 WNAV, (Pete Medhurst), wnav.com, NavySports.com, Navy All-Access
Live Stats: Gametracker on NavySports.com
Game Preview
• Tenth-ranked Navy (9-3 overall, 6-0 Patriot League) will begin its quest for a fourth-straight Patriot League Tournament title when it plays host to fourth-seeded Army (6-6, 3-3) on Friday at 4:00 pm.
• The top-seeded Mids are coming off their third one-goal loss in the last month, as seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins edged Navy, 10-9, last Saturday at Homewood Field.
• Army has lost five in a row, including a 12-9 loss at the hands of the Midshipmen two weeks ago ... the Black Knights are winless in the month of April, last earning a win on March 24 against Air Force.
• In the second semifinal matchup at 7:00 pm, No. 2 Colgate (9-4, 5-1) and No. 3 Bucknell (11-3, 4-2) will meet for the second-straight week ... Colgate held off the Bison, 9-7, last Saturday in Hamilton, N.Y.
• The Voice of Navy Lacrosse Pete Medhurst will call Friday's Army-Navy game on 1430 WNAV, as well as over the internet at www.wnav.com and via Navy's All-Access at www.NavySports.com.
• The winners of the two semifinal contests will meet up on Sunday at 12:00 pm to decide the 2007 Patriot League Tournament winner ... the title game will be televised live on CSTV with Boston Cannons General Manager Jason Chandler (play by play) and former Syracuse All-American Paul Carcaterra (analyst) calling the action.
Countdown to Face-Off
10 • Navy is one of just six teams in the country that has nine players who have scored 10 or more points this spring.
9 • The Mids have scored nine or more goals in 10 of their 12 games (def. Bucknell, 6-3, lost to Maryland, 8-7).
8 • Navy has scored eight or more goals against Army in 17-consecutive games (dating back to 1993).
7 • Senior attack Ian Dingman has produced a team-best seven hat tricks this season.
6 • The Midshipmen own a 6-0 record in the Patriot League Tournament.
5 • Freshman Tim Paul has scored five of his eight goals over the last three games.
4 • Navy has won at least a share of the regular-season title in each of its four seasons as a member of the Patriot League.
3 • With three assists against No. 7 Johns Hopkins, junior attack Nick Mirabito became the 26th player in program history to reach 100-career points.
2 • Navy's man-down defense has given up just two goals in the last 16 opportunities (5 games).
1 • Navy is one win shy of reaching 10 wins for the fourth-consecutive year ... it would be the first time the Mids have strung together four-straight 10-plus wins seasons since 1975-76-77-78.
Army Vs. Navy - The Series
• Army and Navy have battled it out on the lacrosse field for 75-consecutive years ... it's the longest continuous lacrosse series between Navy and another team.
• After its 12-9 win over the Black Knights two weeks ago, Navy now leads the series, 55-26-3, winning 12-straight games, including 10 Star Games.
• The last time Army defeated Navy was April 25, 1997, when the Black Knights edged the Mids, 14-12, in Annapolis.
• Navy owns a 2-0 record against Army in the Patriot League Tournament ... in those two games, the Mids have outscored the Black Knights, 23-13.
• Navy has scored eight or more goals in 17-straight games against Army ... in 14 of those contests, the Mids have reached double digits ... during the Mids' current 12-game run, Navy has been held to single digits just twice.
• The MIdshipmen own a 27-13-1 over Army advantage in games played in Annapolis, including wins in each of the last six meetings.
• Three players on Navy's roster have scored eight or more goals against Army during their careers - Ian Dingman (11), Billy Looney (11), Nick Mirabito (11).
• Army and Navy have played each other twice in each of the last three years (including this season) ... there have been only five times in the 83-game history (dating back to 1924) that the two programs have battled twice in one season (1978 and 1981 in the NCAA Tournament, 2005, 2006 and 2007 in the Patriot League Tournament.
• Prior to become Navy's head coach in 1995, Richie Meade spent four seasons as an assistant coach under the legendary Jack Emmer at Army from 1991-94 ... during those four seasons, Army and Navy split with two wins apiece ... as Navy's head coach, Meade owns a 13-2 record against the Black Knights.
• Navy All-American Ian Dingman's oldest brother, Lee, is a Class of 2000 graduate of Army and was a three-year lacrosse letterwinner for the Black Knights.
Recapping This Year's Star Game
• Seniors Tommy Wallin, Ian Dingman and Billy Looney scored goals in the final nine minutes to lead No. 8 Navy to a 12-9 victory over arch rival Army in front of 11,370 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium two weeks ago.
• Seven different Midshipmen scored goals, while another two chipped in assists as Navy concluded the Patriot League portion of its schedule undefeated at 6-0.
• It looked as thought it would be a blowout early on as the Mids opened up a 3-0 lead seven minutes into the game.
• Army briefly stopped Navy's momentum at the 6:20 mark when sophomore attackman Brooks Korvin fired off a shot from seven yards out.
• Navy took a 6-2 lead when Wallin found midfielder William Wallace cutting to the middle with just 32 seconds remaining in the half.
• On the ensuing face-off, the Mids failed to get a specialist out in a reasonable amount of time and Army was awarded possession ... the Black Knights set up quickly, as rookie Brandon Butler found Jason Peyer who tucked in his first-collegiate goal against Navy with just five ticks left.
• Navy scored back-to-back goals just 29 seconds apart in the first three minutes of the second half to open up a five-goal lead, its largest of the game.
• Army, though, went on a five-goal run to knot the score at the end of the third quarter.
• Navy regained the lead, when Mikelis Visgauss won the draw to start the fourth quarter and fed senior Victor Barger who raced to the left side of the field untouched and found a gap.
• Army tied the game at 9-9 (10:43) when Bokmeyer threaded a pass from the left side of the field that went right through a pack of players and LoRusso dunked it in as he sat on the crease.
• Wallin gave the Mids the lead for good with 8:31 to go as he fought off a triple-team that sent him to the ground as he release a shot from five yards out.
Just the Facts
• Navy came into the Patriot League Tournament a year ago with the exact same record as this year, 9-3 ... the Mids went on to win two games in the league tournament to claim the crown for the third-straight season before dropping its NCAA match-up to Georgetown.
• A Navy player has produced a hat trick in 10 of the 11 contests this season - Ian Dingman 7x, Nick Mirabito 3x, Billy Looney 2x, Basil Daratsos 1x, Bruce Nechanicky 1x, William Wallace 1x ... the streak of nine in a row was broken in the Mids' overtime loss to Maryland (4/6) ... rookie Basil Daratsos and Tim Paul paced the Mids with two goals each against the Terps.
• Navy's defense is ranked fifth in the country, giving up 6.42 goals per game ... the Mids have given up double-figure goals four times (Army in '06, Colgate and Georgetown in '07) in its last 27 games and six times in the last 42.
• The Mids have held six of their 12 opponents to five or fewer goals this season, including a three-goal output by nationally-ranked Bucknell ... dating back to 2003, Navy has won 27-straight games when holding its foes to five or fewer goals.
• Navy has held the lead at halftime in every game this season ... the Mids have lost 12 in a row when trailing at the break and 59 straight when trailing after three quarters of play.
• Navy has scored a goal in 998-consecutive games dating back to 1910.
• Navy's streak of nine-straight wins when scoring an extra-man goal came to an end last week against Johns Hopkins ... the Mids were 1 for 2 on EMOs, but dropped the 10-9 decision.
• Over the last five games, Navy's opponents have scored just two goals on 16 extra-man opportunities (.125).
• Navy is one of just four teams in the country to have both its extra-man and man-down units ranked among the top 15 ... the Mids are 11th on extra-man and 13th on man-down ... joining Navy is Cornell (7th & 14th), Brown (13th & 15th) and Siena (15th & 10th).
Patriot League Success
• Since joining the Patriot League in 2004, Navy is 29-2 (.935) against opponents from the league, including a 6-0 mark in the Patriot League Tournament ... the Mids lost to Bucknell in 2005 and Colgate in 2006.
• The Mids have produced undefeated marks in conference action in two of the last four years ... 7-0 in '04 and 6-0 in '07.
• Navy has won at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title in each of its four years as a member of the league ... additionally, the Mids have claimed the league's tournament crown three years, earning the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament in 2004, '05 and '06.
• 24 different Midshipmen have garnered All-Patriot League recognition since 2004, while 13 of the 24 have earned honors multiple times.
• A Navy player has earned three of the four major awards, including senior Billy Looney, who was named the 2004 Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
• Richie Meade was named the 2004 Patriot League Coach of the Year after leading the Mids to a flawless 7-0 mark in league competition ... on Thursday, he received recognition a second time from his peers after guiding the Mids to a 6-0 record this spring.
Home Cookin'
• Navy owns a 23-6 record (.793) in games played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium since the start of the 2004 campaign, outscoring its foes, 325-195 (11.2 to 6.7 gpg).
• Navy has not lost a Patriot League game at home in its four years.
• The Mids have allowed just four teams (Colgate in '07; Georgetown in '05; Ohio State and Johns Hopkins in '04) to reach double digits in games played on their home field over the last four seasons ... Navy has held 11 of its 29 opponents to five or fewer goals since 2004.
• Navy owns a 5-1 record at home this season, dropping an 8-7 double overtime decision to Maryland two weeks ago.
• Navy owns a 63-28 (.692) record at home under the direction of head coach Richie Meade ... the Mids have reached four wins at home every season Meade has been the head coach ... Navy has recorded five or more wins at home in six of Meade's 13 seasons, including seven wins in 2004 & '05.
A Dominant Stretch
• Navy is in the midst of one of its most dominant four-year runs in school history ... since the start of the 2004 season, Navy owns a 47-14 record (.770).
• During that same stretch, Navy is 21-12 (.636) against ranked opponents and 26-2 mark (.929) against unranked foes.
• Since the start of the 2004 season, Navy owns a 7-5 (.583) record against teams ranked higher than the Mids in the USILA Coaches Poll ... against lower ranked or unranked teams, Navy is 40-9 (.816).
• The Mids have posted a 23-6 record at home, outscoring their foes, 325-195 (11.2 to 6.7 gpg) during that span ... just four teams have reached double digits on Navy's home field during that stretch.
• The Mids may be even better on the road since the 2004 campaign, owning a 16-6 record and defeating 11 ranked teams in the process ... ironically, two of Navy's five road losses have come to unranked Patriot League opponents.
• In the last three-plus seasons, the Midshipmen have produced the top-three win totals in school history ... in 2004, Navy won 15 games en route to its NCAA Championship game appearance and in 2005, the Mids produced 12 wins in earning their second-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth ... last spring, Navy claimed wins in 11 contests.
• The Class of 2007 became the winningest class in school history on March 21 when it claimed its 45th win in 56 contests ... this year's class has won 47 of its 61 contests (.770) ... last year's graduating class turned in a 44-18 record (.710).
Balanced Scoring
• 17 players have scored goals for the Midshipmen this spring, while another six have posted assists, bringing the total to 23 different players having a role in Navy's scoring.
• Of the 17 players who have scored for Navy, 13 of them have found the back of the goal at least twice this spring.
• After a three-goal performance by rookie Tim Paul last Saturday at Hopkins, nine Navy players have reached double-digit points this spring ... only Denver (11) has more players with double-digit point production ... Albany, Cornell, Manhattan and North Carolina join Navy with nine players who have recorded 10-plus points this year.
• Last year, only seven Navy players reached double figures in the points column ... while Navy currently has nine players with double digits, junior attack Matt Guido is on the cusp with seven points.
• Seven different players have accounted for the Mids' nine game-winners ... seniors Ian Dingman and Tommy Wallin have each produced a pair of game-winning goals.
Compare and Contrast
• When comparing the stats from Navy's nine wins vs. the three losses, perhaps the most devastating difference is extra-man production ... Navy has scored 15 of their 16 extra-man goals in games in which they have won.
• The Mids are 1 for 9 (.111) on extra-man opportunities in the three games they have lost.
• There is also a noticeable difference in Navy's clearing game ... Navy owns an 81 percent success rate in games it has won, but has cleared just 63 percent in losses.
• Navy's defense has limited its foes to 5.4 goals per game in wins and is giving up an additional four goals in losses.
Third Quarter Woes
• In recent weeks, Navy has struggled to keep its opponents under control in the third quarter.
• The Mids have given up 30 goals in the third quarter this spring (2.50 per gm).
• Navy's last four opponents - Georgetown, Maryland, Army and Johns Hopkins - have accounted for 17 of the 30 goals, 56.7 percent ... in the last four games, Navy has given up nearly double (4.25) the # of goals it has allowed in the third quarter this season.
• Georgetown scored 5 of its 10 goals to open the second half, while Maryland scored 4 of its 7, Army picked up 5 of its 9 and the Blue Jays scored three of its 10 markers in the third stanza.
National Noise
• Navy is ranked among the top 10 in four statistical categories and the top 5 in two.
• The Mids are fifth in the country with their smothering defense, giving up 6.42 goals per game.
• Navy is ranked fifth with its +4.42 margin of victory, while Cornell is atop the list with a +8.00 margin.
• Navy also owns the nation's ninth-best face-off win percentage (.594) and seventh-best win percentage (.750).
• Senior goalkeeper Colin Finnegan is ranked No. 3 in goals-against average (6.21) and ninth in save percentage (.606).
• Senior midfielder William Wallace is No. 2 in the country in face-off win percentage, claiming wins in 65.9 percent of his draws.
