Three goals are all that separates the Navy men?s lacrosse team from an undefeated season.
Instead, the 10th-ranked Midshipmen enter this weekend?s Patriot League tournament having lost three of their last four games, with each of those losses ? Georgetown, Maryland and Johns Hopkins ? coming by one goal each. Still, Navy (9-3) is a far different team against conference foes, having won the regular-season title with a 6-0 league mark.
“We?re at the end of a 12-game season where we?re 9-3 and lost three one-goal games to three of the top six teams in the country,” Navy coach Richie Meade said after last Saturday?s 10-9 loss at Hopkins. “I feel we need to regroup and straighten out some of those little things going down the stretch. I feel we can be a pretty good lacrosse team.”
Navy, which has won four straight regular-season Patriot League titles, begins its quest for its fourth consecutive tournament title when it hosts Army (6-6, 3-3) at 4 today at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Mids own 12 straight victories over the Black Knights, including a 12-9 win two weeks ago in Annapolis.
“You can look at it any way you want to look at it, but after a game like this [against Hopkins] with this type of disappointment, [Army] is just what the doctor ordered,” said Meade, who this week was named Patriot League coach of the year, after last weekend?s loss.
Overall, Navy is first in the Patriot League in scoring (10.83), groundballs (36) and shots (37.5) per game. The Mids, who are 29-2 in their four years in the conference, are also second in five other categories, including extra-man offense and man-down defense.
Navy midfielder Billy Looney said getting to play Army for the second time in three weeks is the perfect opponent for the Mids as they try to get back to the national final for the first time since 2004.
“At Navy, you don?t have to get refocused to play Army, especially after the game we just had,” Looney said. “It?s a game that everyone is going to get up for no matter what.”
The winner of that game will face the winner of Colgate (9-4, 5-1) and Bucknell (11-3, 4-2), which is a rematch from last Saturday. In last weekend?s game, Colgate picked up its fifth straight win after beating the Bison, 9-7. The Patriot League final is set for noon Sunday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
NAVY NOTES
» Navy placed a league-high 11 players on the 2007 All-Patriot League team, including first-team members Ian Dingman and Nick Mirabito at attack, Billy Looney and Tommy Wallin at midfield, face-off specialist William Wallace and defensemen Victor Barger and Jordan DiNola.
