Feb. 16, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy rifle team looks to end its regular season on a high note as it travels to West Point for the annual Star Match. The Mids own an 8-3 overall record and have shown steady improvement throughout the season. Army enters the match with a 9-2 overall mark. Both teams are coming off strong performances at the NCAA Qualifier last weekend. The Midshipmen fired a 4635 against John Jay, while Army posted a 4656 competing at the University of Sciences' range in Philadelphia.
"Army is obviously a very good team, and we have our work cut out for us," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "But we feel that we have a pretty good team as well and hope we can go up there and put up a good score. We have had great practices and have been scoring well in them. It's just a matter of putting it together at the right time. We have improved a lot this year and we hope we can continue that trend this weekend."
Army leads the series, 35-29, but is has been Navy that has had the upper hand in the duals lately. Navy has won 12 of the last 13, and 15 of the last 17, duals between the two teams. However, Army snapped a 12-match Navy win streak last year with a 41-point victory (5844-5803). Army leads the series in West Point, 20-11, but Navy has won the last nine matches at Army, with the Black Knights' last win at home coming in 1985.
Army has a slight edge when comparing scores, but that may be deceiving. The Black Knights' top scores came on electronic targets, which can aid a team's score significantly. Both schools fired their top scores against No. 1 Alaska Fairbanks this year, but Army's team-best 4681 is 33 points higher than Navy's 4648. Individually, expect a tight race in air rifle from a pair of All-Americans in Army's Chris Abalo and Navy's Lisa Kunzelman. Both have recorded 594's this year, among the top marks in the NCAA this year.
The match will be a tune-up for next weekend's MAC Championships on Saturday. The Mids will also find out on Tuesday if they are one of seven teams chosen for the NCAA Championships during the weekend of March 10-11.
# GO NAVY #
