The Navy men’s lacrosse team (5-6, 2-2 Patriot League) held defending Patriot League champion Boston University (7-2, 4-1 Patriot League) to their lowest goal output of the season and snapped the Terriers’ seven-game winning streak with a 10-8 victory on Friday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Navy’s stifling defense and outstanding performance in all facets of the game led the team to victory. The Mids’ Anthony Ghobriel won 66.7 percent of the faceoffs against one of the nation’s elite faceoff specialists, Conor Calderone. Navy’s defense held BU to their lowest goal output of the season, and the Mids dominated the fourth quarter by winning 7 of the 8 draws, putting the ball in the offensive players’ sticks.
Navy, who has been fighting injuries throughout the last month and struggled to piece together a complete 60-minute performance, made a statement in their win over BU. The team was solid in all facets of the game and flipped the script from a year ago when BU dominated Navy in nearly every statistical category en route to a 17-9 victory over the Mids in Boston.
“Great game … really, really fun lacrosse game,” said fourth-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. “BU is an excellent lacrosse team. I thought perhaps they were the best team we have seen play on film all year truthfully. We had to play great to win tonight. We knew that. We had to tilt the faceoff x our way which we did, Anthony and the wings did a great job; Pat had to play his best game in the goal, I thought he did; defensively it had to be our best effort, I thought it was; and offensively we had to play like a team, I thought we did. We looked like the team that I’ve seen glimpses of in some of the losses that I thought we had.”
Max Hewitt, Tommy Hovivian, and Henry Tolker all pitched hat tricks to lead Navy to victory. Hewitt led the way for the Mids with 4 points on 3 goals and an assist, while Hovivian and Tolker finished with 3 goals. Defensively, Navy’s goalie, Pat Ryan, made 11 saves, while co-captain Kyle Fairbanks recorded 3 of Navy’s 7 caused turnovers.
BU, who entered the game eighth in the nation in goals per game, was held to their fewest goals since dropping a 12-5 decision to Princeton last year in the NCAA Tournament. Vince D’Alto, who was defended by Navy All-American defenseman Jackson Bonitz, was held without a goal for just the third time in his career and first this season. BU’s leading scorer in each of his four seasons, D’Alto came into the game ranked #6 in points per game, #12 in goals per game, and #17 in assists per game and finished with just an assists on 12 shots.
Despite the loss, BU head coach Ryan Polley had nothing but praise for Navy, “Credit to Navy, they played an outstanding game. Their defense was tough and their goalie made some great saves.”
Navy will be back on CBS Sports Network next Friday night when they make the short trip to Baltimore to battle #14 Loyola. Faceoff is slated for 7:00 pm at Ridley Athletic Complex. Additionally, WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will carry the game live with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call.