CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - Senior attackman Patrick Keena (Vienna, Va.) and junior long pole Matt Rees (Sykesville, Md.) have been named the Corvias Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, after helping the Mids overcome a 5-2 halftime deficit to defeat service academy rival Air Force in Saturday's season opener. In addition to Keena and Rees, Bucknell's Christian Klipstein (goalkeeper), Lehigh's Tristan Rai (rookie) and Boston U.'s Sam Talkow (faceoff specialist) were among those players recognized by the league office as players of the week at their respective positions.

Keena received his first career Patriot League weekly citation after pacing the Midshipmen with six points on three goals and three assists. With the Mids trailing by three at the half, Keena went on to score five of his six points (3G, 2A) in the second half as Navy outscored Air Force 8-1 over the final 30 minutes. Known throughout his career as the Mids' primary distributor, the three-goal performance marked Keena's first collegiate hat trick.

After Navy gave up five goals in the opening half, Rees helped spearhead a defensive effort that surrendered just one goal over the final 30-plus minutes of play and held Air Force to just five shots in the second half. The Mids' defense held the Falcons scoreless for nearly 22 minutes between the end of the first half and the fourth quarter. Rees, a 2015 Second-Team All-Patriot League selection, turned in a career-best seven ground balls and tied his personal mark with six caused turnovers (vs. Boston U., 2-28-15). Meanwhile, he jumped from eighth to fourth on Navy's career caused turnovers list with 35 over two-plus seasons.

The Mids will be back in action on Tuesday when they play host to fifth-ranked Johns Hopkins at 7:00 pm. The contest will be streamed live via PatriotLeague.TV, while Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will also call the action on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV.


### Go Navy ###