2/26/2004 - Men's Lacrosse
Lacrosse Opens Home Campaign Against Ohio State
Files associated with this release:
2004 vs. Ohio State Notes
Navy vs. Ohio State
Saturday, Feb. 28 * Noon
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
Annapolis, Md.
Radio: None.
TV: None.
Series History: Navy Leads,1-0 (last meeting Feb. 22, 2003)
Navy Notations: The Mids opened the 2004 season with a dominating 14-1 win over Lafayette last Saturday ? 23-of-36 letterwinners return for the 2004 season, including six of the 10 starters ... sophomore Ian Dingman led Navy with five goals and one assist ... senior Joe Bossi added three goals, as eight different Midshipmen tallied a goal in the opener ... sophomore Jon Birsner added four assists to lead the squad ... junior Seth DiNola stared in goal and collected three saves in the first half ... sophomore Matt Russell took over for the final 30 minutes, recording three saves and one goal allowed ... the Mids lead the series record against Ohio State, 1-0 ... on Feb. 22, 2003 the two teams faced off for the first time and Navy posted a 13-10 victory.
Buckeye Book: Ohio State, ranked No. 17 in the preseason, opened its 2004 campaign last week with a 5-4 loss to Penn State in Columbus ... team captain Tom Randisi notched two goals for the Buckeyes in the loss, while Anthony Geraldi and Ben Wolff each added one score ... Penn State scored the go-ahead goal with 5:53 left in the contest ... in the net, Tony Russo picked up seven saves ... two Buckeyes earned preseason honors, as senior defenseman Greg Bice was selected to Face-Off Yearbook's Preseason All-America Second Team and Russo earned honorable mention accolades.
Looking Back at Lafayette: The Mids 14-1 victory at Lafayette marked the 84th time in school history that Navy has won its season opener ... the 14 goals were the most scored by the Mids since a 16-2 victory over St. Joseph's in the 2002 season opener (Feb. 16) .... the Leopards' one goal was the fewest allowed since the Mids season opener in 2003 when Navy took a 12-1 win over Marist (the game was called after three quarters because of inclement weather).
Optimizing Opportunities: In the first game of the season, the Mids took advantage of their six extra-man opportunities, scoring on five attempts ... in 13 games last year, Navy converted on only 5 of its 35 extra-man chances ... Ian Dingman scored two of the five goals, while Joe Bossi, Dwayne Osgood and Billy Looney each tabbed a man-up goal.
Premier Performances: A slew of Navy players scored their first career goal in the 14-1 victory over Lafayette on Feb. 21 ... Dwayne Osgood, a junior, was sidelined with knee injuries his first two seasons but played in his first game last Saturday and scored his first collegiate goal on an extra-man opportunity in the fourth quarter ... Billy Looney and Trevor Hoselton also notched their first career goals in the season opener.
Multiple Madness: Sophomore Ian Dingman produced seven multiple-goal games in his rookie campaign and picked up right where he left off ... in the first game of the 2004 season, Dingman tallied a career-high five goals at Lafayette ... senior Joe Bossi netted three goals against Lafayette, the seventh multi-goal game of his career (two as a sophomore, four as a junior) ... sophomore Jon Birsner recorded the third multi-assist game of his career with a four-assist effort against the Leopards ... Birsner tabbed nine assists in his freshman campaign ... junior Graham Gill added a two-assist effort in the season opener, the fourth multi-assist game in his three years.
Picking Up the Patriot League: The Midshipmen join the Patriot League for the 2004 season ... Navy had been part of the ECAC Lacrosse League since 2000 ... joining the league will add even more significance to the Army-Navy rivalry, as the Black Knights are also a member of the Patriot League in lacrosse ... the Mids own a 49-26-3 (.647) series advantage over Army and defeated the Patriot League Champions in the season finale last year, 12-11 ... Navy will have a chance to advance to the NCAA Tournament with the league's tournament champion earning an automatic bid ... the eight teams in the Patriot League are slated to play a round-robin schedule in 2004, with the top-four teams advancing to a championship tournament scheduled for April 30 (semifinals) and May 2 (finals).
Preseason Potpourri: Navy begins the 2004 campaign with a No. 14 preseason ranking by Lacrosse Magazine ... three Mids were selected to Face-Off Magazine's Preseason All-America Honorable Mention squad: sophomore attack Ian Dingman, junior midfielder Graham Gill and team captain Thomas Morris (long stick) ... Dingman came off the bench in 11-of-13 games to lead the Mids in scoring with 40 points on 23 goals and 17 assists ... Gill started every game last season and produced 22 points on 13 goals and nine assists ... Morris was named Navy's defensive MVP last year, despite missing two games because of a nearly severed finger.
Brothers in Arms: Last season, Navy had three pairs of brothers, but this season the Mids have a trio of Looneys ... Brendan Looney is a senior defensive midfielder, Steve Looney is a sophomore midfielder and Billy Looney is a freshman midfielder ... all three graduated locally from DeMatha Catholic in Silver Spring, Md. ... Dan Harris and Taylor Harris share the same last name, but are not related ... Dan hails from Manlius, N.Y., while Taylor is out of Clifton, Va.
Television Time: Two Navy contests will be broadcast by College Sports TV (CSTV) this season ... the Star Game at West Point (Mar. 27) and Navy's home contest against Johns Hopkins (Apr. 24) will both air on the network ... CSTV is available on Adelphia and Insight cable systems, and is also available on DirecTV (channel 610) ... for additional information, log on to www.cstv.com.
Radio Review: Six of Navy's 12 regular-season games will be broadcast live on WNAV-1430 AM ... Pete Medhurst will be back to call the action for the games: vs. Bucknell (Mar. 13), at Army (Mar. 27), at Georgetown (Apr. 3), at Maryland (Apr. 10), vs. Holy Cross (Apr. 18) and vs. Johns Hopkins (Apr. 24).
World Wide Web: For a complete report on Navy Athletics,
checkout www.NavySports.com ... the latest information from the Patriot League is available at www.PatriotLeague.com.
Service Selection Saga: : The members of the Class of 2004 recently learned where they're headed after graduation!
Ben Bailey: Naval Flight Officer
Mike Begley: Naval Flight Officer
Jared Bosanko: Surface Warfare Officer
Joe Bossi: Navy Pilot
Dan Eddy: Navy Pilot
Brendan Looney: Intelligence
Matt Midura: Navy Pilot
Thomas Morris: Navy Pilot
Adam Reel: Navy Pilot
