March 22, 2016

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, MD. - Navy attackmen T.J. Hanzsche (Sr./Berwyn, Pa.) and Jack Ray (So./Wyckoff, N.J.) scored a combined six goals to lead the 16th-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team (5-2, 3-1 Patriot League) to an 11-4 victory over Lafayette (1-6, 0-4 PL) Tuesday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game was played 10 days later than originally scheduled after the Easton, Pa.-based college was shut down due to a campus-wide outbreak of the norovirus.

Navy's defense put together another smothering performance that left the Leopards scoreless over the first 19-plus minutes of the contest and the final 20, while the Mids' offense reached double digits for the fifth time this season.

"We got what we came looking for and that was a W," said Navy head coach Rick Sowell. "We were able to play a number of guys we don't normally do, so that was good. Some of it was by play because we play so many games in a short amount of time and some of it was because we had the opportunity. I think we are playing good lacrosse right now, but as a coach I think you naturally strive to play better."

The Mids jumped out to a 7-1 advantage in the game, including a 4-0 lead after the opening quarter of play. Six different players accounted for Navy's seven first-half goals, including midfielder Ray Wardell (So./Babylon, N.Y.) who scored his first collegiate goal a year ago against the Leopards and scored his first goal of the 2016 season this evening.

Down six goals with better than two minutes to go in the opening half, Lafayette trimmed the deficit to four when junior attackman Eric Joseph, the team's leading goal-scorer, and second-year midfielder Will McCarthy punched in goals.

Freshman Greyson Torain (Glen Burnie, Md.) drained his bounce shot with five seconds remaining in a timer-on situation, while Ray took a Hanzsche pass and fired in his five-yard shot to push Navy's lead back to six with just under eight minutes remaining in the third quarter.

The Leopards answered when sophomore middie James Roberts sent his pass over to Joseph who powered in his second goal of the evening.

With just two second left in the third quarter, Navy took advantage of a Lafayette turnover. Long pole Matt Rees (Jr./Sykesville, Md.) came up with the loose ball at midfield and found Hanzsche who won a foot race against his defender and could have easily taken the shot himself. Instead, he made the unselfish pass to Ray who found the back of the net and registered his sixth career hat trick and third of the season.

Navy scored the game's final goal when Hanzsche took a Patrick Keena (Sr./Vienna, Va.) pass and went low to low on Lafayette keeper Ben Falcone with 10:43 left in the contest.

Hanzsche led all scorers in the game with a career-high tying six-point performance behind his eighth career hat trick to go along with his career-best three assists. The four-year starter now has 83 career points, just 17 shy of becoming the program's 32nd player to reach 100.

Ray chipped in three goals, while Torain added two goals and an assist and Keena pitched in a goal and two assists. Keena, meanwhile, became only the 18th player in school history to reach the 50-assist milestone. He stands 18th on the Mids' all-time assists leader board with 51, just one behind 17th-place Andy Warner (2008-11), two behind former teammate Tucker Hull (2011-14) and three behind Syd Abernethy (1978-81) in 15th.

Junior defenseman Chris Fennell (Milford, N.J.) turned in a career-high five caused turnovers, moving past teammate Matt Rees (Jr./Sykesville, Md.) into third on Navy's career turnovers list. Fennell now trails second-place Austin Miller by just one with 44. Rees, meanwhile, chipped in one takeaway, but came up with a career-best eight ground balls.

As a defensive unit, the Mids held Lafayette to its lowest goal output of the year and for the third straight meeting held the Leopards to under five goals. Navy owns a remarkable 65-3 record when holding its opponents to six or fewer goals since 2004 and a 23-2 mark over the last eight seasons. The Mids have held five of their seven opponents to single digits this season, including four to six or fewer goals (1 by Delaware, 4 by Lafayette, 6 by Air Force, 6 by Bucknell).

Junior Brady Dove (Stevensville, Md) controlled the faceoff "x" where he won 11 of the 17 draws he took and grabbed five ground balls. Navy's all-time faceoff wins leader with 378, Dove moved into 20th on Navy's single-season faceoff wins leader board with his 68 this spring. He is the only player in program history to have his name appear three times on the faceoff wins list (#2 with 163 in 2014, #5 with 147 in 2015, #20 in 2016 with 68).

Lafayette was led by Joseph's two goals, while junior attackman Jason Sands contributed three assists.

The Mids will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to face a Lehigh squad who also boasts a 3-1 Patriot League mark. The game, set for a 3:00 pm start, will be streamed live via PatriotLeague.TV and will be carried on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with Pete Medhurst on the call.

### Go Navy ###