May 15, 2016

Final Stats

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The nation's top-ranked defense held fourth-seeded Yale (13-3) to just three goals in the second half, while sophomores Casey Rees (M / Sykesville, Md.) and Jack Ray (A / Wyckoff, N.J.) pitched hat tricks to lead the 15th-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team (11-4) to a 13-10 victory over the Bulldogs in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament played at Reese Stadium in New Haven, Conn. on Sunday evening.

While it was Navy's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009, it was the Mids' first NCAA Tournament victory since dealing fourth-seeded North Carolina an 8-7 loss in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

"It was a complete team win, team effort," said fifth-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell. "We were finally able to get our offense back on track and our faceoff game, too. We have one of the best defenses in the country and John is one of the best goalkepeers in the country.

"We beat one heck of a team tonight. I have a lot of respect for Coach Shay and his team."

Yale jumped out early on the Mids, taking a 4-1 lead just over eight minutes into the game with Tewaaraton finalist Ben Reeves playing a role in three of the four goals.

Rees, however, cut the Yale lead to two by the end of the first quarter and his goal with 2:02 in the first stanza helped spark a 4-0 run by the Mids that included a 12-yard power shot by Ray from straight up the middle that gave Navy its first lead of the game (6:59).

The two teams exchanged 2-0 runs, but Yale would have the final say of the opening half when Reeves used a pick to create space and get his hands free and knot the game up at seven apiece with 11.2 seconds left.

Navy opened the second half by scoring back-to-back goals to take a lead it would not relinquish. Senior co-captain Patrick Keena (A / Vienna, Va.) set up behind the cage and fed classmate T.J. Hanzsche (A / Berwyn, Pa.) who used a little of his own misdirection to target the goal at 10:55. Just 91 seconds later, with the timer on, Keena threaded his pass through traffic to a cutting Colin Flounlacker (Jr. / M / Stevensville, Md.) who found the back of the net for just the third time this season.

After nearly a 14-minute scoring drought, Yale clipped the Mids' lead to one when Jack Tigh capped his hat trick with a goal at the 1:18 mark in the third.

Keena pushed the Mids' lead back to two when he opened the fourth quarter with an extra-man goal off an assist from Ray. Yale, however, would answer just 34 seconds later with an extra-man goal of its own, trailing Navy, 10-9 with 13:33 left in the contest.

Senior Kevin Wendel (M / East Islip, N.Y.) became the seventh different Navy player to score when he sent his 10-yard shot top shelf against Yale keeper Hoyt Crance with 8:31 remaining.

With just under seven to go, Reeves again put the Bulldogs on his shoulders and sweeping from the right side, he punched in his third goal of the game to trim the Mids' lead to one (11-10).

Navy's defense would hold Yale scoreless for the final 6:54, while Ray and Rees tacked on goals to lead the Mids to their 11th victory of the season.

Keena paced the offense with a season-high tying six points on two goals and four assists. Keena, who owns 54 points on 23 goals and 31 assists this season, became Navy's first 50-point scorer since Jon Birsner finished the 2006 season with 54 points. The 54 points are tied for the 15th most in a Navy single season. He moved into a tie for 24th on Navy's career scoring list (42-65=107). His 65 career assists are the 11th most in program history, while his 31 assists are tied as the 13th most.

Rees paced the Mids with four goals, his seventh hat trick of the season and eighth of his career. He came into the game having scored 26 of his 28 points this season against Patriot League opponents. Now with 29 goals this season, he owns the fourth-most goals scored by a midfielder in program history behind Brian Keith (41, 1989), Bob DeSimone (37, 1975) and Adam Borcz (32, 2001).

Ray, meanwhile, turned in four points on three goals and one assist, posting his fourth hat trick of 2016.

The offense was helped by the faceoff and ground ball play of the faceoff combo of Brady Dove (Jr. / Stevensville, Md.) and Joe Varello (So. / Kings Park, N.Y.). Dove won 11 of the 19 draws he took and led the squad with six ground balls, while Varello picked up two ground balls and was successful on five of his seven faceoffs.

Defensively, Navy could not have asked for a better performance out of 2016 Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year John Connors (Sr. / Bellmore, N.Y.) who made 12 saves, including six in the third quarter.

Sophomore short stick defensive middie DJ Plumer (Stevensville, Md.) led the team with three caused turnovers to go along with his five ground balls and goal, while Matt Rees forced two Yale turnovers and grabbed a pair of ground balls.

Reeves accounted for six of Yale's 14 points, turning in three goals and three assists, while Tigh also posted a hat trick with three goals. Crance, meanwhile, made six saves between the pipes.

"I won't deny it means a lot," said Sowell, regarding Navy's victory. "I'm so happy that I could do it with these two guys sitting next to me (Patrick Keena and John Connors) and this senior class."

The Midshipmen will move on to play fifth-seeded Brown (15-2) next Saturday in Providence, R.I. at either noon or 2:30 pm.


### Go Navy ###