3/4/2004 - Men's Lacrosse
Navy Lacrosse Takes On North Carolina
Files associated with this release:
2004 vs. North Carolina Notes
Midshipmen Game Notes
Week 3: Friday, at North Carolina
Navy at North Carolina
Friday, March 5 * 7 p.m.
Fetzer Field * Chapel Hill, N.C.
Series History: UNC Leads,10-7 (last meeting Feb. 28, 2003)
Navy Notations: The Mids, 1-1 on the season, opened the 2004 campaign with a 14-1 victory over Patriot League foe Lafayette before dropping a 12-9 decision to Ohio State in the home opener last week ... sophomore Ian Dingman leads Navy with six goals and four assists ... senior Joe Bossi owns four goals and one assist, while sophomore Jon Birsner has contributed one goal and four assists ... 12 different Midshipmen have scored at least one goal this season and nine Mids have tacked on at least one assist ... junior Seth DiNola has made two starts in goal, collecting six saves in 90 minutes ... sophomore Matt Russell took over for the final 30 minutes against Lafayette, recording three saves and one goal allowed.
Tar Heel Trivia: North Carolina opened the 2004 season last week with a 12-7 victory over UMass ... the game was played at Calvert Hall College High School in Baltimore, Md. ... goalkeeper Paul Spellman made 18 saves and allowed seven goals, three of which were scored in the fourth quarter ... the Tar Heels' attack trio of Jed Prossner, Mike McCall and Scott Falatach each recorded a hat trick in the win.
Series Story: The Tar Heels lead the all-time series over Navy, 10-7 ... the two teams faced off in Annapolis last February with Navy taking a 9-8 win in the four-overtime battle ... the two teams have battled to five one-goal games during head coach Richie Meade's tenure ... two season's ago, the contest ended at 11-10 in UNC's favor - after an NCAA-record setting six overtime periods in Chapel Hill ... Navy won the first-four meetings between the two schools between 1975-78 ... UNC had won three-straight contests before the Mids snapped the streak last season ... the Tar Heels owned a six-game win streak from 1980-96.
Overtime Overview: The Mids have had nine games decided in extra minutes since head coach Richie Meade came to Annapolis ... Navy is 4-5 in overtime contests since the 1999 season .... three of the last-four contests that have gone past regulation have been multiple-overtime affairs.
Buckeye Book: The Mids dropped their first contest of the 2004 season with a 12-9 loss to Ohio State in the home opener ... Navy scored three goals in the last quarter and held the Buckeyes to only one ... the Mids attempted 19 of their 35 shots in the last 15 minutes ... OSU keeper Tony Russo made 10 saves in the game ... the Mids dominated in face-offs, owning 16 of 23 .... nine different Midshipmen scored in the match ... Ian Dingman contributed three of Navy's four assists ... Buckeye midfielder Shaun Lyons netted four goals and added one assist to lead both teams with five points.
Face-Off Facts: The Mids came up with 16 of the 23 face-offs against Ohio State ... Navy won 13 of 18 at Lafayette ... Chris Pieczonka has won 18 of his 25 face-offs, while William Wallace has won 5 of 6 ... Tommy Wallin has taken 5 of his 8 face-offs and Steve Looney has picked up 1 of 2 ... Pieczonka is No. 9 in the Navy record book with 71 career face-offs won and is about to break onto the single season list after only two games.
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 ... the Mids are 5-for-9 on EMOs this season, after not scoring on the trio of attempts against Ohio State.
Premier Performances: A slew of Navy players have scored their first career goal in the first pair of games this season ... 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 ... 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.
Multiple Madness: Sophomore Ian Dingman produced seven multiple-goal and six multiple-assist games in his rookie campaign and is picking up right where he left off ... in the first game of the 2004 season, Dingman tallied a career-high five goals at Lafayette ... in the home opener, Dingman chalked up three assists ... 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 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 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
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
