Sept. 21, 2007
Box Score
NAPLES, Fla. -- Senior forward Doug DeVuono (Racine, Wis.) tallied three goals and Evan Barnes (Dublin, Ohio) led a Navy defense to its third shutout of the season as Navy breezed past Florida Gulf Coast University, 4-0, on Friday night. The win moves Navy's record to 3-1-1 overall, while FGCU drops to 3-3-0 overall. The game was moved from FGCU's campus to Naples because of heavy rains all day on Friday that persisted into the night.
The rain, however, did not slow down DeVuono. The senior entered the game with no career points, but changed that in a hurry as he gave Navy a 1-0 lead in the third minute with his first career goal, which remained the score at halftime. The goal was assisted by Chris Schneider (Arlington, Texas). It was Schneider's third assist of the season, matching the total of last year's assist leader, McKenzie Plank.
Junior Adam Pennington (Tampa, Fla.) gave Navy a 2-0 in the 53rd minute with an assist credited to Justin Waskey (Georgetown, Ky.).
DeVuono then closed out the scoring with a pair of goals in the 72nd and 80th minutes for the hat trick, with assists dealt out by Eric Gorden (Longwood, Fla.) and Cash Elston (Sammamish, Wash.), respectively. The hat trick is the first for a Navy player since Craig Ruhs tallied three goals against Fordham on Sept. 21, 2001. It was just Navy's third hat trick since joining the Patriot League in 1992, as Michael Paisant had the other, coming against Army in 1999.
The four goals were the most since the second game of the 2005 season, a 4-0 win over Georgia Southern on Sept. 4, 2005.
The Navy defense was once again a key force, limiting the Eagles to seven shots and just one on goal. Barnes was the receipient of the solid defense, registering one save to earn his third shutout of the season and fifth of his career. Navy also drew six corners to just one for FGCU and were whistled for 13 fouls to one for the Eagles.
The Mids will play Florida International on Sunday at noon in Miami, before returning home to host Bucknell in their Patriot League opener next Saturday night.
# GO NAVY #
