3/18/2004 - Men's Lacrosse
Navy Lacrosse Challenges Colgate in Florida

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2004 vs. Colgate Notes

Game #6 * Navy vs. Colgate
Saturday, March 20 * 1 p.m.
Orlando, Fla. (Univ. of Central Florida - host)
Series History: Navy leads, 2-0 (last meeting: W, 15-2 on April 9, 1958)

Navy Notations: The Mids now own a 4-1 record with a 3-0 mark in the Patriot League ... the Mids have earned a top-10 ranking in the USILA/STX poll this week ... the No. 9 ranking is their highest this season ... the Mids recorded their biggest victory of the season in Chapel Hill with a 9-8 overtime win over then-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 have now won three-straight games with victories over UNC, Bucknell and Hobart ... the Mids will face Colgate on Saturday before traveling to Army next week ... Navy will then match up against non-conference foes Georgetown and Maryland ... sophomore Ian Dingman leads Navy with 12 goals and eight assists ... senior Joe Bossi is right behind him with 11 goals and two assists ... junior Graham Gill has netted six goals and tabbed four assists ... junior Ben Horn has scored six goals and added one assist, while sophomore Jon Birsner has contributed one goal and six assists ... 16 different Midshipmen have scored at least one goal this season and 16 Mids have tacked on at least one assist ... sophomore Matt Russell has started the last three games, picking up a 3-0 record in goal ... Russell has 32 saves and has allowed 22 goals in his 211:29 of play.

olgate Chatter: Colgate is on a two-game trip to Florida for spring break ... the Raiders faced Fairfield on Wednesday in Vero Beach and wrap up their trip on Saturday against Navy in Orlando ... Colgate is 2-3 on the year and open Patriot League play with the contest against the Mids ... Jeff Vander Meulen leads the Raiders with nine goals this season, while Robert Trasolini has netted seven goals ... Colgate has scored five or more goals just twice this season (a 12-6 win over St. Joseph's and a 9-8 loss to Fairfield).

Navy-Colgate Series Info: Navy and Colgate have faced off twice, with Navy winning both contests ... the last meeting between the Raiders and the Mids was in 1958, when the Mids won a 15-2 decision ... the teams first met in 1928, as Navy scored a 14-1 victory.

Haven't Seen You in a While: Navy has already matched up against three opponents this season in which it had not faced in the past few seasons ... Navy and Colgate have not played since 1958, when the Mids won a 15-2 decision ... earlier this year, the Mids beat Lafayette in the first meeting between the two schools since 1931 ... Navy handed Bucknell a loss last Saturday after not having met the Bison since the 1997 campaign ... the Midshipmen had not challenged Hobart since 1941, but took a 13-8 decision last Tuesday.

Hobart Highlights: Navy owns a 3-0 record over the Statesmen ... in a downpour, the Mids ran up a seven-goal third quarter to earn the 13-8 victory and remain atop the Patriot League standings ... the Statesmen held a 5-4 halftime lead, but Joe Bossi scored 10 seconds into the second half to tie up the game ... Navy outscored Hobart 8-2 in the second half ... Hobart is in its final season as a member of the Patriot League ... the Statesmen will join the ECAC Lacrosse League next season.

Tewaaraton Watch: Sophomore Ian Dingman, a preseason All-American, is on the list of 30 candidates in line to receive the fourth annual Tewaaraton Trophy ... the Tewaaraton Trophy is recognized as the pre-eminent lacrosse award honoring the top female and male varsity collegiate lacrosse player in the United States.

Patriot League Praise: Attacker Ian Dingman and defender Mitch Hendler were named the Patriot League Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively ... Tuesday's awards marked the season's first weekly lacrosse honors handed out by the league office ... Dingman helped the Mids to an 11-5 victory over Bucknell with four goals and two assists, while Hendler held the Bison's top-scorer, Chris Cara, to only one goal.

Penalty Points: The Mids had only been called for six penalties in the first four games of the season, but against Hobart, Navy collected five ... the Mids did not allow their opponents a man-up goal in the first three games, but Bucknell finally converted an advantage and finished the day 2 for 2 on EMOs ... Navy held the Statesmen to only 2 of 4 last Tuesday ... the Mids' opponents are 4 for 10.

Fourth-Quarter Shutouts: In their three games against Patriot League opponents, the Mids have posted a shutout in the fourth quarter of each contest ... Navy is outscoring league foes 6-0 in the final 15 minutes ... Matt Russell has tended the cage during the second half of all three league games ... he has allowed a combined five goals in the conference second halves ... Navy has outscored its league opponents 20-5 in the second half this season.

Face-Off Facts: The Mids take an early advantage over their opponents, having won 63 of the 107 face-offs this season ... Chris Pieczonka has won 44 of his 74 face-offs, already giving him the 16th-best single season total in school history ... Pieczonka is now eighth in the Navy record book with 97-career face-off wins ... William Wallace has won seven of 10 ... Tommy Wallin has taken 10 of his 20 face-offs and Steve Looney has picked up two of three.

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 UNC 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. UNC ... L, 10-9 at UMass ... L, 4-3 (OT) vs. Georgetown ... L, 5-4 at Penn State ... W, 12-11 vs. Army.

Game-Winning Goals: Three different Mids have scored a game-winning goal this season ... Ian Dingman has a pair of game winners ... the sophomore was credited with the game winner against Lafayette as he scored five of the Mids' 14 goals ... Dingman also notched the decisive goal against Bucknell when he tallied four of Navy's 11 goals ... defensive midfielder Clipper Lennon scored with 2:31 to go in overtime against UNC in Chapel Hill on March 5 ... Lennon netted the second goal of his career to lead the unranked Midshipmen to a 9-8 victory over fourth-ranked North Carolina ... Joe Bossi netted the game winner against Hobart with his fourth goal of the contest and his third in the third period.

Optimizing Opportunities: In the first game of the season, the Mids took advantage of their six extra-man opportunities, scoring on five attempts ... at Lafayette, Ian Dingman scored two of the five goals, while Joe Bossi, Dwayne Osgood and Billy Looney each tabbed a man-up goal ... but the Mids faced a drought in their next two contests, failing to convert in four attempts ... against Bucknell, Graham Gill netted his first extra-man goal of the season ... but the Mids struggled against Hobart and did not take advantage of their six opportunities ... in 13 games last year, Navy converted on only 5 of its 35 extra-man chances ... the Mids are 6 for 17 on EMOs this season ... Navy's opponents have scored on four of their 10 attempts this season, after the Mids man-down defense had not allowed a goal in four chances during the first three games.

Premier Performances: A slew of Navy players have scored their first career goal this season ... Steve Looney picked up his first-career goal against Bucknell - and then recorded his first multi-goal game with a three-goal showing against Hobart ... 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 ... senior Matt Midura netted his first-career goal against UNC ... his score gave the Mids a 4-2 lead in the second quarter ... 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 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.

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 in Chapel Hill on March 5 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.

Multiple Madness: 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 has 10 multiple-goal games in his career (out of 18 games played) and nine multiple-assist contests ... Graham Gill added a two-assist effort against Bucknell, the fifth multi-assist game in his three years ... Gill tacked on three goals against UNC, his fifth multi-goal game ... Joe Bossi netted four goals against Hobart last Tuesday, after recording three goals against Lafayette and Bucknell ... he has nine multi-goal games in his career (two as a sophomore, four as a junior) ... Jon Birsner recorded the third multi-assist game of his career with a four-assist effort at Lafayette ... he added his fourth multi-assist game last Tuesday with a pair of assists against Hobart ... Chris Pieczonka had never scored a goal coming into the match-up with the Tar Heels, but netted two in the Mids' 9-8 overtime victory ... Ben Horn and Steve Looney each picked up a hat trick in Navy's 13-8 win over Hobart last Tuesday.

Picking Up the Patriot League: The Midshipmen join the Patriot League for the 2004 season ... Navy is atop the standings with a 3-0 mark in league play ... the only other undefeated team in the conference is arch-rival Army ... the Black Knights have a 1-0 mark in the Patriot League ... 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 ... five games into his sophomore season, Dingman has scored 12 goals and eight assists ... Gill started every game last season and produced 22 points on 13 goals and nine assists ... in Chapel Hill on March 5, 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.

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: Five of Navy's seven remaining regular-season games will be broadcast on WNAV-1430 AM ... Pete Medhurst will be back to call the action for the games: 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.

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.

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