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Men's Lacrosse

Navy and Lafayette Battle Tuesday Under the Lights

March 21, 2016
Sophomore midfielder Ray Wardell scored his first collegiate goal in last year's game at Lafayette.
Sophomore midfielder Ray Wardell scored his first collegiate goal in last year's game at Lafayette.

GAME 7: #16 NAVY (4-2, 2-1 PL) vs. Lafayette (1-5, 0-3 PL) | 2016 Media Center
WhenTuesday, March 22, 2016 | 7:00 PM (ET)
LocationAnnapolis, Md. | Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium | Directions
TicketsBuy Online | 1-800-US4NAVY | Available at the Stadium
TelevisionNone
Live Video StreamPatriot League Network (Joe Miller)
ListenNavy Lacrosse Radio Network (Joe Miller)
Live StatsGametracker
Game NotesNavy Get Acrobat Reader | Lafayette Get Acrobat Reader | Patriot League Get Acrobat Reader
Season StatisticsNavy | Lafayette | Patriot League
More on the MidsMedia Guide | Game Promotions
Social Media@NavyAthletics | Facebook | Instragram

Game Day Storylines

• Scene Setter: After dropping its Patriot League opener to Boston U. just over three weeks ago, #16 Navy will look to win its third straight conference game when it plays host to Lafayette on Tuesday. Action is slated for a 7:00 PM faceoff at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Mids, who enter the game 4-2 and 2-1 in Patriot League action, are led by fifth-year head coach Rick Sowell, while the 1-5 Leopards are under the direction of fourth-year head coach Jim Rogalski. Tuesday's contest marks the 18th meeting in a series Navy leads, 16-1.
• Follow the Action: The Navy-Lafayette game will be carried live by 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with Joe Miller handling the call. Coverage begins with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show at 6:45 PM. The game will also be streamed online for FREE via PatriotLeague.TV, while live stats will be available at NavySports.com.
• Records Are Made to Be Broken: In his 34th game wearing a Navy uniform, junior Brady Dove became the school record holder for career faceoff wins with 367. Dove won 13 of the 22 draws against Loyola last Saturday and on his 12th attempt of the day, he moved past previous record holder Chris Pieczonka (2002-05) who posted 363 wins over 46 contests.
• 3-4-5 ... 6?: Sophomore midfielder Casey Rees has put together back-to-back-to-back career highs in goals. He matched his original career high with 3 goals at Boston U. (2.27) before following up with a 4-goal effort at Bucknell (3.5). On Saturday, he unleashed for a career-best 5 goals against Loyola.
• Ground Attack: Navy has scored double digits in 14 of the 17 games in its series against Lafayette, while the Mids have held the Leoaprds to single digits 15 times.
• Droughts: The Mids are 4-0 in games in which their opponents have experienced scoring droughts of 20 minutes or more, including Saturday's win over Loyola in which the Greyhounds did not score form 0:29 in the second quarter to 13:43 in the fourth.
• Who's Scoring?: Navy's starting attack and midfield has combined to score 52 of the 58 goals this season with the attack scoring 27 times and the midfield 25 times. The remaining 6 goals have been scored by long pole Matt Rees (4), short-stick defensive middie John Trainor (1) and second-line midfielder Colin Flounlacker (1).

Scouting the Leopards
• Under fourth-year head coach Jim Rogalsk, Lafayette enters Tuesday night's contest with a 1-5 record, including a 0-3 mark in Patriot League action.
• The Leopards have struggled in the scoring column, reaching double digits just once this season in a 12-7 victory over Wagner. They are averaging 7.50 goals per game which stands 60th among 68 teams this season.
• Ironically, while the overall offense has struggle, Lafayette's extra-man offense is ranked eighth nationally, scoring on half of its opportunities (9-18). Rookie middie Connar Dehnert has 3 man-up goals, while attackman Jason Sands has a pair.
• The offense is led by junior middie Eric Joseph who has amassed his 21 points on a team-high 17 goals and four assists. Meanwhile, Sands has 17 points on three goals and a team-best 14 assists.
• The Leopards' defense has given up double-figure goals in each of their five losses. Ranked 53rd, Lafayette's defense is allowing 11.33 goals per game.
• Senior Ben Falcone manages the defense from between the pipes where he owns an 11.57 goals-against average and a 48.9 save percentage.
• Lafayette leads the country in caused turnovers per game (10.00). Junior defenseman Erik Cannon leads the squad with 10 takeaways, while freshman defenseman Zack Merle owns 8.
• Lafayette is winning just 47.3 percent (62-131) of its faceoffs this season, with rookie Michael Sullivan taking the bulk (52-104, 50.0).

Navy vs. Lafayette - The Series
• Today's contest marks the 18th meeting between the two programs, and the 14th since the Midshipmen joined the Patriot League in 2004. Navy leads the series, 16-1.
• The two teams first met in 1926 with Navy earning a 23-0 win. Navy and Lafayette battled one another three times between 1929-31. The 1931 contest was the last time the two programs had met before the Mids joined the Patriot League.
• The Mids won 10 straight against the Leopards before dropping the program's only loss to Lafayette on March 12, 2010 in Easton.
• Navy has scored double digits in 14 of the 17 games, while the Mids have held Lafayette to single digits 15 times.
• In the 17-game history, the Mids have outscored the Leopards, 221-82. Since joining the league in `04, Navy has outscored Lafayette, 157-81.

Fennell Added to Tewaaraton Award Watch List
• All-American defenseman Chris Fennell was one of 15 players added to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List last Thursday, pushing the list to 65 members. The field will be narrowed to 25 nominees on April 28 and the five finalists will be announced on May 12 and invited to the Tewaaraton Award Ceremony set for June 2 at the Smithsonian Insitution's National Museum of the American Indian.
• Fennell has been an integral part of Navy's success on defense, anchoring a unit that is giving up 7.33 goals per game this season and is ranked seventh nationally.
• Dating back to last season, Navy's defense has held 14 of its 20 opponents to single digit goals, including four of the six this spring
• Fennell has also helped direct Navy to a #6 national ranking in caused turnovers per game (9.17), as he stands 26th with a 1.50 average.

One-Goal Decisions
• Navy has played 86 one-goal games (of 283) since the start of the 1996 season, winning 36 (41.9) of those contests.
• Among those 86 games, 31 of them have gone into extra minutes with Navy winning 12 (38.7).
• Over the last nine seasons (2008-present), 40 of the Mids' 119 contests have been decided by one goal and Navy has produced wins in just 18 of those contests. Over the last seven seasons (2010-present), the Mids are 11-19 in one-goal affairs.
• In 2007, Navy played a program-record seven one-goal games, including five that were decided in overtime.
• Navy was 1-1 in 2012 in one-goal decisions, marking the first time since 1996 that it had not played at least three one-goal games.
• Navy finished 2015 with a 5-1 mark in one-goal contests. It's the first team in school history to win five one-goal games.
• Navy had lost two in a row by one goal this season, ironically both double-overtime games - 12-11 vs. #5 Johns Hopkins and 10-9 vs. Boston U., before scoring a 10-9 victory over Loyola on Saturday

Department of Defense
• Since 2000, Navy's defense has been ranked among the top four nine times including No. 1 four times.
• Navy finished its 2015 campaign ranked #13 in scoring defense, giving up 8.57 goals per game. It's the Mids' best mark since they held their opponents to a 7.69 GAA in 2009.
• The Mids held 10 of their 14 opponents to single digits last spring. It's the fewest double-figure goal games Navy has allowed since 2009 when that squad surrendered 3 double-digit contests and went on to finish 11-5, won the league's tournament title and faced Duke in the NCAA Tournament.
• Navy enters Tuesday night ranked #7 in scoring defense, holding its foes to 7.33 goals per game.
• Dating back to last season, the Mids have held 14 of their 20 opponents to single digit goals. Four of Navy's six foes this season have been held under 10.
• Dating back to last year, Navy has held 11 of its last 18 opponents to scoring droughts of 20 minutes or more.
• Since 2004, Navy owns an 89-27 mark (76.7) when holding foes to nine or fewer goals - the Mids lost twice in 2005, four times in `06, once in `07, once in `08, twice in `09, twice in `10, three times in `11, three times in `12, three times in `13, four times in `14 and twice in `15.
• Navy's defense has given up double-figure goals 50 times in its last 149 games (2006-present), 52 times in the last 165 (2005-present) and 56 times (Ohio State, Army WP, Johns Hopkins and Syracuse in `04; Georgetown and Virginia in `05; Army WP `06; Colgate, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and North Carolina in `07; Georgetown, Johns Hopkins 2x and Colgate in `08; Colgate, Johns Hopkins and Duke in `09; North Carolina, Lafayette, Towson, Georgetown, Maryland and Army WP-PL Tourney in `10; North Carolina, Lehigh, Bucknell, Towson, Maryland, Army WP and Johns Hopkins in `11; Jacksonville in `12; Fairfield, Bucknell, Lafayette, Colgate, Lehigh, Army WP and Johns Hopkins in `13; Holy Cross, Towson, Lehigh 2x, Colgate, Army WP and Maryland in 2014; Johns Hopkins, Lehigh, Loyola and Army WP -PL Tournament in 2015; Johns Hopkins and Boston U. in `16) in the last 183 games (2004-present).
• Dating back to 2003, Navy HAD won 45-straight games when holding its foes to five or fewer goals. That streak, however, was snapped on March 26, 2011, by Colgate in a 5-4 win over the Mids. Navy has won 50 of its last 51 when achieving the feat., including a 5-1 victory over Delaware this season.
• Since `04, Navy has held 58 of its 183 opponents to 25 or fewer shots and is 48-10 (Ohio State `04, Colgate `06, Maryland `07, Army West Point `08, Johns Hopkins `08-twice, Colgate `09, Army West Point `11, Jacksonville `12, Lafayette `14, Bucknell `15).

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Players Mentioned

Casey Rees

#21 Casey Rees

M
6' 2"
Freshman
Ray Wardell

#51 Ray Wardell

M
6' 5"
Freshman
Chris Fennell

#10 Chris Fennell

LSM/D
6' 3"
Freshman
Matt Rees

#20 Matt Rees

D
6' 4"
Freshman
Colin Flounlacker

#22 Colin Flounlacker

M
6' 0"
Freshman
John Trainor

#31 John Trainor

M
5' 9"
Freshman
Brady Dove

#55 Brady Dove

FO
5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Casey Rees

#21 Casey Rees

6' 2"
Freshman
M
Ray Wardell

#51 Ray Wardell

6' 5"
Freshman
M
Chris Fennell

#10 Chris Fennell

6' 3"
Freshman
LSM/D
Matt Rees

#20 Matt Rees

6' 4"
Freshman
D
Colin Flounlacker

#22 Colin Flounlacker

6' 0"
Freshman
M
John Trainor

#31 John Trainor

5' 9"
Freshman
M
Brady Dove

#55 Brady Dove

5' 10"
Freshman
FO