March 27, 2009

• Navy Lacrosse Game Notes

Game Preview
• Navy (6-3, 3-2 Patriot League) will look to get back to its winning ways when it heads to the nation’s capitol on Saturday to face Georgetown (3-4) ... Saturday’s contest is slated for 1:00 pm at Multi-Sport Field.
• Saturday’s game marks the sixth game in the last eighth that Navy has played away from home ... the Mids are 3-2 in games played away from Annapolis.
• The Midshipmen are coming off their third one-goal loss of the season, this time against Patriot League foe Colgate who managed to outlast Navy in Annapolis last Saturday ... the Raiders overcame a two goal deficit by scoring four straight goals over the third and fourth quarters to secure their second consecutive win over the Mids.
• Georgetown sophomore Ricky Mirabito scored three of the Hoyas final four goals, including a marker with 1:19 remaining in overtime to lead Georgetown to a 9-8 win over Harvard on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. ... the Hoyas owned an 8-7 advantage with 55 seconds remaining in regulation, however a goal by Harvards’ Jeff Cohen with 22 seconds left sent the game into extra minutes
• Saturday’s game will be televised by Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) with Navy football radio announcer Bob Socci handling play-by-play duties and former Virginia All-American and 2007 MLL All-Star Game MVP Matt Poskay providing the analysis.
• Additionally, the contest will be broadcast over the radio waves by (WNAV 1430 AM, WFED 1050 AM | 820 AM | 1050 AM) with Pete Medhurst handling the call, beginning with the Navy lacrosse pregame show at 12:45 pm ... in addition, the game will be streamed online (audio AND video) with live stats available at NavySports.com.

Scott Boyle, An Ambassador of Lacrosse
• The winner of Saturday’s game will be presented with a trophy in memory of longtime official Scott Boyle who tragically suffered a heart attack and passed away while officiating the Navy-Georgetown game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on April 2, 2005.
• Boyle was a tremendous ambassador of the sport of lacrosse who was involved at every level of the game, whether it was little league, the collegiate level, the pros or even the World Games ... he was well thought of throughout the lacrosse community.
• Scott’s widow, Becky, and children, Kelly and Scott, will be our guests and present the winner of Saturday’s game a trophy in Scott’s memory.

Previewing Georgetown
• Don’t let Georgetown’s 3-4 record fool you, nor its lack of a national ranking ... 20th-year Georgetown head coach Dave Urick put together a challenging schedule for his Hoyas that kept them on the road in five of their first six games.
• After claiming a 13-10 win over then third-ranked Maryland, Georgetown was stunned by St. John’s (10-9) and then dropped an 8-5 loss to Syracuse ... the Hoyas got back on their feet with a 12-6 win at Delaware, but lost back-to-back games to Hobart (15-8) and Duke (9-5).
• Georgetown earned perhaps its most important win of the season on Wednesday, a 9-8 overtime win over Harvard, in which the Hoyas hope gives them momentum heading into the final month of regular-season action.
• The Hoyas fell out of the national rankings this week, marking the first time since the preseason poll in 1992 that Georgetown has not been ranked.
• Georgetown, though, is stacked on offense, featuring sophomore Ricky Mirabito, the younger brother of former Navy All-American Nick Mirabito ... Ricky is pacing the Hoyas with 20 points on 15 goals and five assists.
• Mirabito is flanked by a midfield that is potent ... Andrew Brancaccio has punched in 11 goals, while Scott Kocis has added 10 ... meanwhile fellow starting attackman Craig Dowd has scored six times while setting up a team-best 11 goals for 17 points.
• Dan Vinson and Michael Shotwell are tag-teaming on faceoffs ... Vinson has won 54.2 percent (39-of-72), while Shotwell has claimed 50.7 percent (37-of-73) of the draws he has taken.
• Jack Davis has inherited the keeping duties from Miles Kass who graduated last spring ... Davis has stopped 50.8 percent of the shots sent his way, while surrendering 9.42 goals per game.

Navy vs. Georgetown — The Series
• Saturday’s contest between Navy and Georgetown marks the 20th game in a series that began in 1991 ... the Hoyas own a 13-6 series advantage ... Georgetown has won seven of the last eight, including each of the last five meetings.
• Georgetown owns a 7-2 advantage in games played in Washington, D.C., including each of the last two ... Navy’s last win at Georgetown was in 2004 when the Mids turned in a 7-5 victory en route to making an appearance in the NCAA Championship contest.
• This year’s game marks just the second time in series history that Georgetown has not been ranked when facing the Mids and for the first time in 11 seasons, the Hoyas aren’t ranked in the top seven nationally entering its game against Navy.
• Since Richie Meade became the head coach at Navy in 1995, nine of the 15 games have been decided by two goals or less, including each of the last four contests ... three of the 19 games went into extra minutes, all of which were played in Annapolis.
• Just three players on Navy’s current roster have scored goals against Georgetown ... Patrick Moran turned in a hat trick in his first appearance against the Hoyas, Basil Daratsos has punched in three, including two in last year’s contest, while Matt Bitter scored his lone goal in last spring’s game.

The Last Time
• Tenth-ranked Navy outscored No. 4 Georgetown, 7-4, in the second half, but it was Hoyas rookie Ricky Mirabito who would play the spoiler as his crease-line goal led Georgetown to an 11-10 overtime win against the Mids at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. 
• Navy midfielder Basil Daratsos evened the score with 38.9 seconds left in regulation.
• The Hoyas opened up the game by scoring on an errant clearing pass by keeper Tommy Phelan.  After coming up with a spot-on save against senior attack Andrew Baird, Phelan threw the ball right back into Baird’s stick and easily beat Phelan.
• In what seemed like a blink of an eye, Georgetown owned a 5-1 lead and Navy was forced to work itself out of a tough deficit.  Midway through the third quarter, Georgetown owned an 8-3 lead after scoring the first two goals of the second half.
• Patrick Moran, however, sparked a four-goal run by Navy with back-to-back goals less than a minute apart (6:18, 5:25).  Also in the mix were Nick Mirabito from Terence Higgins and an incredible behind the back goal by Gregory Clement with 1:01 left in the third.
• Navy was unable to keep the Hoyas under wraps and with 19.2 seconds left in the quarter, Jake Samperton put Georgetown back up by two.
• A minute and a half into the fourth, Daratsos picked up a loose ball just outside of the crease and poked it in.  All-American attack Brendan Cannon came alive and scored to give the Hoyas a two-goal advantage.
• Forty seconds later, Navy countered with Clement’s goal to get the Mids within one.  Daratsos scored the game-tying goal by drilling a shot from nearly 10 yards out.
• Senior captain Jordan DiNola picked off a pass on the defensive end of the field and found shorty Geoff Leone who scampered to the box where he found starting attack Tim Paul who whaled a shot in the direction of Kass.  Kass made the save and threw the ball the length of the field where waiting on the other end was Baird who caught the ball and shot.  Phelan, who was out of the goal, made an amazing kick save to stymie what would have been the game-tying shot with 00.3 left.
• After winning the overtime faceoff and seeing shots by Moran and Joe Lennon go wide, the Mids turned the ball over.  Georgetown’s Cannon found Ricky Mirabito sitting on the crease in transition and the younger Mirabito brother punched in the game-winner 2:18 into the extra period to dash Navy’s upset hopes.

National Exposure
• Since the start of 2004, Navy has been on television 32 times (seven appearances in ‘04, 6 in ‘05 and ‘06, five in ‘07, eight in ‘08).
• Navy will make at least four appearances on national television this spring with the opportunity to make six should they qualify for the Patriot League Tournament.
• Saturday’s contest at Georgetown will be aired by MASN and kicks off four straight regular-season contests that will be televised involving Navy.
• Meanwhile, CBS College Sports will broadcast next Friday night’s tilt between Navy and Maryland at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. 
• ESPNU will televise the Day of Rivals event held at M&T Bank Stadium on April 11.  Army and Navy will kick the festivities off at 11:30 am followed by the annual Johns Hopkins - Maryland battle.
• ESPNU is also slated to carry the following weekend’s contest featuring Navy vs. Johns Hopkins at the Blue Jays’ Homewood Field in Baltimore.
• CBS College Sports will cover all three Patriot League Tournament games beginning with semifinal action on April 24, followed by the championship game on April 26.
• The Mids own a 15-17 (.469) record when their games are televised ... Navy is 9-7 on CBS College Sports all-time and 6-7 on the ESPN family of networks ... the Mids are also 0-1 on Time-Warner Sports and 0-2 on MASN.
• The Midshipmen own a 46-7 record in games that have not been televised since the start of 2004.

Behind the Wins and Losses
• The Mids are scoring a shade over two goals more in games they have won (10.17 vs. 8.00, +2.7) ... in games Navy is losing, the opponent is outscoring it by 1.00, but is also averaging 3.17 goals more in wins vs. losses to the Mids.
• There is also a noticeable difference in Navy’s game between the pipes where it owns a 56.3 save percentage in wins, while making saves on just 37.2 percent of the shots in losses.
• Navy is also more accurate in its extra-man sets in wins, scoring eight goals on 15 attempts (.533), while punching in just a pair of goals in five attempts (.400) when on the losing side.

On the Road Again
• After opening the season with back-to-back home games, Navy has played five of its last seven contests away from home ... four of the five games were played out of state with a trip two North Carolina, two trips to Pennsylvania and a trip to Massachusetts.
• Since the beginning of the 2004 campaign, the Mids have lost 10 of their 33 road games (does not include neutral site contests).
• The Mids are 3-2 on the road this season, losing both games by one goal (North Carolina, 9-8, Bucknell, 8-7).
• Navy is outscoring its opponent just 41-32 in road games and has surrendered eight or more goals in three of the five road trips.
• By the end of the regular season, Navy will have played seven of its 13 games on the road, eight if you counted its April 11 date with Army slate to be played at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore ... it’s the most true road games Navy has played since 2002 when that team turned in a 4-3 road game ledger.
• It’s only the seventh time in the 102-year history of the program that Navy has played seven road games ... 1975, 1979, 1983, 1992, 2000 and 2002 were the other years.

Won By One
• Navy has played 56 one-goal games during Richie Meade’s tenure (204 games, 15 years) and have won 23 (.411).
• Among the 56 games, 18 of them have gone into extra minutes with Navy winning seven (.389).
• Over the last two seasons, nine of the Mids’ 25 contests have been decided one goal and Navy has produced wins in four of the nine.
• Three Navy games have been one-goal decisions this season and all three have turned into losses.