Feb. 17, 2007

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Navy rifle team dug itself too deep of a hole after the smallbore discipline and dropped a 5811-5744 decision to Army on Saturday morning. The loss drops Navy's record to 8-4 overall and gives Army its first two-match winning streak over Navy since 1985-86.

"We had problems in smallbore today," said Navy head coach Bill Kelley. "We shot way below our average, which is very disappointing. We essentially let it get away from us after smallbore and dug ourselves way too deep of a hole after about the first 30 shots. It hurt us from the very start."

Using five scores, Navy shot just a 2831, 59 points behind Army's 2890. Navy rallied in air rifle, posting a score of 2913 to Army's 2921.

"Any encouraging sign could be the fact that we didn't fold after smallbore," said Kelley. "We battled hard to the end and tried to redeem ourself. It was just way too big of a hole for us."

The Mids were led in smallbore by Josh Albright's 576. Monica Amagna shot a 568, Chris Schneider tallied a 564, Lisa Kunzelman fired a 562 and Sarah Bergman recorded a 561. In air rifle, Kunzelman took home match medalist honors with a 590. Albright added a 583, Alex Karacsonyi and Bergman recorded 582s and Ryan Miller scored a 576.

Navy will be back in action next weekend in the MAC Championships. The Mids will find out on Tuesday whether they will advance to the NCAA Championships.

# GO NAVY #