Navy senior faceoff specialist Mikelis Visgauss knows he can’t play the way he did the last time the Midshipmen faced Johns Hopkins for his career to extend beyond this afternoon.
Visgauss was dominated by the Blue Jays and senior midfielder Stephen Peyser, who won 8-of-12 faceoffs during a 12-5 victory in Annapolis on April 19.
“We didn’t have our best game that first time, but now we have a second chance to beat them,” Visgauss said. “There is so much more riding on this game and we know it. It’s also never easy to face the same team twice in a season.”
Fifth-seeded Johns Hopkins (9-5) will test Visgauss’ philosophy this afternoon at 3 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium when the teams meet in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
But Navy (10-5) will try to do more than punch its ticket to next weekend’s Final Four in Foxborough, Mass., for the first time since 2004: it will look to defeat the Blue Jays for the first time since 1974 — a span of 35 games.
Navy coach Richie Meade said the outcome of today’s game will stem from which team has the edge in possession, as each squad runs a methodical attack. Johns Hopkins prevailed earlier this season largely because it won 13-of-21 faceoffs, enabling it to control the game’s flow.
“Johns Hopkins was just able to do a lot in transition off the faceoffs the last time around,” Meade said. “We can’t let that happen again and expect to win. Mikelis has worked hard to get to this point and has done a good job to get to where he is today.”
Navy, however, has been a better faceoff team than Johns Hopkins this season. The Midshipmen have won 54.9 percent of their faceoffs, with the Blue Jays winning 52.2 percent.
Visgauss has won 116-of-203 faceoffs, which ranks ninth nationally in winning percentage (.571). The 5-foot-10, 178-pounder became Navy’s faceoff specialist last season, when he won 50.5 percent of his attempts, as he split duty with William Wallace, who graduated last spring.
With final exams completed and graduation approaching, Visgauss said he is enjoying the rare opportunity of just being able to concentrate on lacrosse compared to the strict, highly regimented schedule all Midshipmen endure during the school year.
Soon, Visgauss — an economics major — will prepare for an aviation career. But before he flies planes, he wants to complete his current mission: lead the Midshipmen to their first national title. Navy lost to Syracuse in the championship game in 2004.
“It means a lot that we get the chance to play one more game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium,” Visgauss said. “I feel refreshed being able to just focus this week on lacrosse and getting treatments and preparing for the game.”
