3/11/2004 - Men's Lacrosse
Navy Lacrosse Faces Bucknell and Hobart in Annapolis

Files associated with this release:
2004 vs. Bucknell & Hobart notes

Game #4 * Navy vs. Bucknell
Saturday, March 13 * 12-Noon
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
Annapolis, Md.
Radio: Live on WNAV (1430 AM)
Series History: Tied, 1-1 (last meeting: W, 17-7 on April 2, 1997)

Game #5 * Navy vs. Hobart
Tuesday, March 16 * 12-Noon
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
Annapolis, Md.
Series History: Navy leads, 2-0 (last meeting: W, 17-4 on Apr. 19, 1941)

Navy Notations: The Mids, 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the Patriot League, recorded their biggest victory of the young season last week in Chapel Hill with a 9-8 overtime win over fourth-ranked North Carolina ... after the Ohio State loss dropped Navy out of the polls, the Mids jumped back in with their second-straight win over the Tar Heels ... the Mids opened the 2004 campaign with a 14-1 victory over Patriot League foe Lafayette to sit them atop the league standings ... the Mids will face two conference rivals this week with Bucknell on Saturday and Hobart on Tuesday ... sophomore Ian Dingman leads Navy with eight goals and four assists ... junior Graham Gill netted three goals at UNC to rank second on the team in scoring with four goals and two assists ... senior Joe Bossi owns four goals and one assist, while sophomore Jon Birsner has contributed one goal and four assists ... 15 different Midshipmen have scored at least one goal this season and 12 Mids have tacked on at least one assist ... sophomore Matt Russell earned the start in goal at UNC after taking over for the final 30 minutes against Lafayette ... Russell has 15 saves and has allowed nine goals in his 91:29 of play ... he ranks second in the Patriot League with a 5.90 goals against average.

Bucknell Bullets: The Bison dropped to 2-1 last Tuesday, after Villanova handed them a 16-11 loss ... Bucknell scored three times in the first five minutes of the contest and led 5-3 late in the first period before the Wildcats put on a decisive 6-1 scoring run ... the Bison opened the season with home wins over Mount St. Mary's (11-8) and Harvard (15-4) before dropping their first road game to the Wildcats ... Bucknell has picked up goals early in games this season, taking an average lead of 7-4 into halftime ... Chris Cara, who scored 6 goals and 3 assists vs. Harvard, leads the Bison with 13 goals and nine assists, while Patrick Christensen has netted 10 goals ... Matt Baran has played all but 2:26 in goal for the Bison and has collected 42 saves while allowing 27 goals.

Navy-Bucknell Info: The Mids and the Bison have met twice ... they first matched up in 1996 with Bucknell posting a 6-5 win ... the two teams met for the second time in 1997, and the Mids scored a 17-7 win ... both games were played in Annapolis.

Hobart Hoopla: The Statesmen are in their final season as a member of the Patriot League ... they will join the ECAC Lacrosse League next sesaon ... Hobart opened the season with a 7-6 loss at Butler, but rebounded with a 14-6 conference win at Holy Cross to match Navy's league record at 1-0 ... Mark Williamson leads the Statesmen with five goals, while Nate Hill has netted three goals and chalked up two assists ... Dan Valente has started both games in the net, but Mike DeSantis played the second half against the Crusaders ... Valente has picked up 15 saves in his 90 minutes, and DeSantis recorded six saves in his 30 minutes.

Navy-Hobart Info: Hobart and Navy have faced off twice ... the first meeting was in 1920, when the Mids posted a 2-0 victory to cap a perfect 8-0 season ... the Midshipmen and the Statesmen met again in 1941, and Navy posted a 17-4 win ... this season marks the first for Navy and the last for Hobart in the Patriot League ... Hobart will join the ECAC Lacrosse League next season, the conference the Midshipmen left in 2003.

Game-Winning Goals: Two different Mids have scored a game-winning goal this season ... Ian Dingman was credited with the game winner against Lafayette as he scored five of the Mids' 14 goals ... defensive midfielder Clipper Lennon scored with 2:31 to go in overtime last Friday in Chapel Hill ... Lennon netted the second goal of his career to lead the unranked Midshipmen to a 9-8 victory over fourth-ranked North Carolina.

Tar Heel Tidbits: Navy closed the gap on the Tar Heels' all-time series lead with a 9-8 overtime win in Chapel Hill last Friday ... North Carolina now leads, 10-8 ... it was Navy's first win in Chapel Hill since May 13, 1978 when the Mids took a 16-11 victory ... Navy has won the last two meetings by a score of 9-8 ... the Mids now own a two-game win streak over UNC, the most consecutive wins since 1978 when Navy possessed a four-game win streak over the Tar Heels ... in Annapolis last year, it took the Mids four overtime periods to secure the victory, but Clipper Lennon scored the game-winner this year just 1:29 into the first overtime ... the two teams have battled to six one-goal games during head coach Richie Meade's tenure.

Face-Off Facts: The Mids essentially split face-offs at North Carolina, winning 10 of 21 ... they came up with 16 of the 23 face-offs against Ohio State ... Navy won 13 of 18 at Lafayette ... Chris Pieczonka has won 27 of his 41 face-offs, already giving him the 18th-best single season total in school history after only three games ... his 27 wins and only 14 losses rank him atop the Patriot League standings with a .659 winning percentage ... Pieczonka is No. 9 in the Navy record book with 71-career face-off wins ... William Wallace has won 6 of 8 ... Tommy Wallin has taken 5 of his 11 face-offs and Steve Looney has picked up 1 of 2.

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 ... at Lafayette, Ian Dingman scored two of the five goals, while Joe Bossi, Dwayne Osgood and Billy Looney each tabbed a man-up goal ... the Mids are 5 for 10 on EMOs this season, after not scoring on their four attempts since the season opener ... Navy's opponents have only had four man-up opportunities of their own and have not converted on any of their attempts.

Premier Performances: A slew of Navy players have scored their first career goal this season ... Chris Pieczonka picked up his first goal at North Carolina on March 5, just six seconds into the fourth quarter, giving the Mids a 7-4 lead ... the face-off specialist added Navy's only other fourth-quarter goal to put the Mids ahead 8-7 with 8:12 to go in regulation ... Taylor Harris, who made only one appearance as a freshman, has seen action in both games this year and scored his first goal against Ohio State on Feb. 28, giving the Mids a 3-1 lead in the first quarter ... three Mids found the back of the net 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 against the Leopards 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.

One-Goal Games: Navy has battled to 33 one-goal games since head coach Richie Meade came to Annapolis in 1995 ... each of the last-five contests between Navy and North Carolina have come down to a one-goal margin ... four of the last-five match-ups with Maryland have been decided by one goal, with the Terps taking a 9-7 win in 2003 ... the Mids have won their last-two one-goal games (at UNC in 2004 and at Army in 2003) ... last season, the Mids were 2-3 in games decided by one goal - W, 9-8 (4OT) vs. North Carolina ... L, 10-9 at UMass ... L, 4-3 (OT) vs. Georgetown ... L, 5-4 at Penn State ... W, 12-11 vs. Army.

Multiple Madness: Sophomore Ian Dingman might wear the number one on his jersey, but when it comes to scoring, he prefers larger numbers ... Dingman tallied a career-high five goals at Lafayette, chalked up three assists the home opener against Ohio State and netted a pair of goals at North Carolina ... he now has nine multiple-goal games in his career (out of 16 games played) and seven multiple-assist contests ... junior Graham Gill added a two-assist effort in the season opener, the fourth multi-assist game in his three years ... Gill tacked on three goals against UNC, his fifth multi-goal game ... 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 Chris Pieczonka had never scored a goal coming into last Friday's match-up with the Tar Heels, but netted two in the Mids' 9-8 victory.

Overtime Overview: The Mids have had 10 games decided in extra minutes since head coach Richie Meade came to Annapolis ... Navy played its most recent extra-minutes contest last week in Chapel Hill as the unranked Midshipmen upset then-No. 4 North Carolina 9-8 in overtime ... Navy is 5-5 in overtime contests since the 1999 season ... three of the last-five contests that have gone past regulation have been multiple-overtime affairs.

Picking Up the Patriot League: The Midshipmen join the Patriot League for the 2004 season ... Navy currently sits atop the standings with a 1-0 mark in league play ... 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 began 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 ... three games into his sophomore season, Dingman has scored eight goals and four assists ... Gill started every game last season and produced 22 points on 13 goals and nine assists ... last week in Chapel Hill, Gill netted three goals to help the Mids upend then-No. 4 North Carolina ... 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) ... Medhurst is a veteran of Navy broadcasts, as he co-hosts the Navy pre-game football show ... Medhurst has also picked up the call for Navy men's and women's basketball.

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
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