Navy men?s lacrosse coach Richie Meade wasn?t happy after his team beat Army, 12-9, Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Instead, he was just relieved.
Meade was relieved that the No. 8 Midshipmen (9-2, 6-0 Patriot League) defeated the Black Knights (6-5, 3-3) for a 12th straight time and just as relieved that his team snapped its two-game losing streak. Navy now looks to use the momentum from its win over Army to win this Saturday at Johns Hopkins, a team which owns 32 straight wins over the Midshipmen.
However, Navy nearly went into this week?s game at Johns Hopkins on a three-game losing skid as Army used a 5-0 run in the third quarter to tie the game at eight after trailing 8-3 early in the second half. But, Navy responded by outscoring Army, 4-1, in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
“I thought our kids did a good job of maintaining their composure,” Meade said. “I thought we did a good job on the sideline of maintaining our composure, keeping our poise and fighting back. Some of our senior players made senior plays.”
Senior attack Ian Dingman had three goals while senior midfielders Billy Looney and Tommy Wallin had two goals and two assists and a goal and three assists, respectively, to lead Navy. Sophomore attackmen Brooks Korvin (Arundel) and Jason Peyer, and junior midfielder Paul Wigdzinski each scored twice for Army, which has not beaten Navy since April 25, 1997.
“We knew coming in that we would have to play a 60-minute game to beat Army,” Meade said. “I felt when it was 8-4 that if we would have been able to stretch it a little more the game might have turned out differently. We got a little impatient offensively. We had some younger guys press a little bit too much.”
Wallin said getting a win over Army now was even more important as Navy gets set to host the Patriot League tournament in two weeks and prepares for the NCAA tournament after that.
“After coming off two losses you know you need a win, especially against Army,” Wallin said. “Coach told us all week we need to win this game, it?s one of the pinnacles of the season. Losing this game is something we can?t have. It was a good win, especially going into Hopkins.”
