April 29, 2007

Box Score |

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Patriot League Tournament MVP Nick Mirabito (Binghamton, N.Y.) scored four goals and added a pair of assists to lead the 10th-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team to a 15-9 victory over No. 19 Colgate in the championship game of the Patriot League Tournament played on Sunday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Mids, who have now won four-consecutive Patriot League Tournament titles, receive the Patriot League's automatic bid to play in the 2007 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament set to begin May 12-13.

"I'm obviously excited to win, but I'm really excited for this group of seniors who have now won 49 games during their four years here," said Richie Meade, the 2007 Patriot League Coach of the Year.

"Its a big honor to go 4-0 in the Patriot League Tournament," said Navy team captain and starting defenseman Andrew Dow (Hauppauge, N.Y.). "We owe it to every player on the team who gave everything they had."

Mirabito garnered tournament MVP honors after producing six goals and three assists in Navy's two tournament wins, including a career-high four-goal performance in the championship contest. Navy got a phenomenal effort from third-year midfielder Rob Lenseth (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.), who scored a career-high three goals, off the Mids' second midfield line. Lenseth came into the contest having scored just one-collegiate goal.

"Rob is a guy who has worked extremely hard over the last few years," added Meade. "He's probably been disappointed that he hasn't gotten the time he feels he may have deserved, but he didn't let that get in the way. Coming into the game, we felt like his maturity and experience would help that second midfield."

Senior Ian Dingman (Deferiet, N.Y.) and rookies Tim Paul (Parkton, Md.) and Basil Daratsos (Niskayuna, N.Y.) each pitched in a pair of goals, while Tommy Wallin (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) and Terence Higgins (Chappaqua, N.Y.) rounded out the scoring column for the Midshipmen.

Colgate took the early edge in the game as Matt Lalli and E.J. Atamian scored back-to-back goals to give the Raiders a 2-0 advantage.

Navy finally got on the scoreboard when Paul fed Higgins at the 5:06 mark, but Colgate's Ian Murphy answered with a goal just over a minute later to stretch the lead out to two once again.

Mirabito scored the first of his four goals with 2:51 to play in the opening quarter, but once again, the Raiders responded with Brendan Hurley punching in his 28th goal of the season 50 seconds after Mirabito's goal.

With just five seconds left, Wallin came up with a loose ball on the right side of the goal. He spotted Mirabito who sat on the door step and narrowed Colgate's lead to just one (4-3) heading into the second quarter.

Dingman knotted the game at four apiece less than two minutes into the quarter when he threaded a shot between the keeper's shoulder and the right post. Three minutes later, Navy took its first lead of the game when Daratsos fired off a shot from 10 yards out.

Colgate briefly interrupted Navy's run when at the 8:48 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Brandon Corp found Joshua Back who fired in a goal off a tough angle from the right side.

Navy, though, scored the final three goals of the first half, including Lenseth's first goal at 3:43 that sparked the run, to take an 8-5 lead at the intermission.

Despite having a three-goal lead heading into the third quarter, Navy once again struggled to contain its opponent to open the second half. After surviving successive man-down possessions, Navy gave up back-to-back even strength goals at 12:39 (Lalli) and 10:31 (Kevin Colleluori) to led the Raiders back into the game at 8-7.

Lenseth helped Navy stretch its lead to two when he took a Paul pass and fired off a shot from 15 yards out with just over 1:30 left in the quarter. However, Colgate got the final say of the period as Lalli made a head-up play firing off a shot from 25 yards out to score the goal with just one second remaining. Lalli got an assist from Colleluori who mixed it up with Navy keeper Colin Finnegan (Arnold, Md.) who skated the crease and was shielded.

Navy took control of the game early in the fourth quarter when Dingman and Daratsos scored goals less than two minutes apart and Paul punched in his first of two goals with 7:50 remaining in the contest to give the Mids a 12-9 lead and put it out of reach for the Raiders.

Colgate scored one last time (7:09), but Navy produced the final three goals to earn the 15-9 victory.

Navy scored on nearly half of its shots, finding the goal on 15 of its 33 shots. Colgate, meanwhile, found the back of the net on nine of its 34 opportunities. The Mids' man-down defense was phenomenal, stopping the Raiders on all three of their extra-man opportunities. Colgate came into the game as the nation's top-ranked extra-man team scoring on 60 percent of its opportunities.

Finnegan made 10 stops in goal for the Midshipmen, including five in the opening quarter, while Colgate's Tim Harrington produced seven saves.

In addition to Mirabito, Finnegan, Dingman, Wallin and defenseman Jordan DiNola (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) were named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team.

Navy will turn its focus to final exams this week and await the announcement of its first-round NCAA Tournament opponent. The pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced next Sunday evening on ESPNU.