Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy defense held Holy Cross to just one goal over the final 45 minutes, while seniors Chris Hill (Novato, Calif.) and Casey Rees (Baltimore, Md.) provided a pair of goals in the fourth quarter to rally the Mids (6-4, 5-1 Patriot League) in what was a hard-fought 5-4 victory over the Crusaders (2-8, 0-5 Patriot League) Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. With the win, Navy maintains a share of the league lead.

"It probably wasn't the prettiest of games, but I was proud of the way we grinded through it," said seventh-year head coach Rick Sowell. "Wins are hard to come by in our sport and honestly, it feels good to get to number 5 in our conference.

"A ton of credit goes out to Holy Cross. I knew they were a lot better than their record indicated and they were coming off a big win over Quinnipiac last week. I'm not sure what it is, but we struggle playing against their offense ... we just haven't figure it out. But we kept chipping away and in the fourth quarter I felt like we were able to crack it enough to get the win."

Holy Cross took advantage of several turnovers and missed opportunities by the Mids to jump out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals by second-year attackman Kevin Kodzis.

Navy answered at the 6:27 mark in the opening period when a quick start by the Mids following an offside call on the Crusaders led to a Christian Daniel (Fr / Owings, Md.) goal. The fast break was a beauty with rookie long-stick midfielder Jeff Durden (Cumming, Ga.) tossing the hockey assist to co-captain DJ Plumer (Sr / Stevensville, Md.) who then found Daniel at the crease for the Mids' first goal.

The Crusaders, however, would get the final say of the quarter when senior Logan LeBlond sent his pass over the cage and Kodzis was able to stick a 15-yard shot straight up the middle with just 9.2 seconds left on the clock.

That goal, however, would be the Crusaders last for nearly 28 minutes, as Navy's defense, as it has so many times this season, buckled down and kept Holy Cross off the scoreboard until last in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Rees targeted his first of two goals at the 10:13 mark, while All-American middie Greyson Torain (Jr / Glen Burnie, Md.) leveled the game going into halftime with a lefty that caught just inside the far post.

The Crusaders pushed ahead of the Mids once again when sophomore attackman Justin Lynskey took a LeBlond pass and buried it from five yards out with 2:18 to go in the third quarter.

Desperate to solve Holy Cross' defense, Navy put pressure on Crusaders keeper Jonathan Tesoro by unleashing 17 shots in the fourth quarter. Rees got his eight-yard crankshot past Tesoro and knotted the game at 4-4 with 7:41 left in the contest. Hill, meanwhile, went on to punch in the game-winner with 3:27 remaining when midfielder Ryan Wade (Jr / Coronado, Calif.) pulled the attention of the defense to the middle of the field and he found a wide open Hill just a handful of steps outside of the crease. Hill's goal marked the Mids' first lead in the game, while the defense held the Crusaders scoreless over the final 17:18.

Following a career-high 18-save performance at Lehigh last Saturday which was stellar enough to put him on the 10-man USILA National Team of the Week, Ryan Kern (Middletown, Del.) once again put together a strong performance between the pipes to lead the defense. Kern recorded a pair of saves down the stretch, including a spectacular stop against Drew Babiak with under two minutes to play which got the crowd on its feet. He closed out the day with 10 saves, while the starting defensive line of Hiram Carter (Sr / Apopka, Fla.), Michael Strack (Sr / North Babylon, N.Y.) and Andrew McKenna (Fr / Stony Brook, N.Y.) combined for six caused turnovers including a career-best four by McKenna.

"Throughout the course of a year, there are a number of ways you will win games," said Sowell. "This game was about our defense and goaltending. You aren't going to win many games scoring just five goals, but our defense and goalkeeper get the credit for this win."

Faceoff specialist Joe Varello (Sr / Kings Park, N.Y.) won just four of the eight draws in the first half, but was a perfect 5-for-5 in the second to help put the ball in the sticks of Navy's offensive players. Varello needs just three wins next week against Colgate to become only the sixth player in school history with 200 or more career wins, while his 9-for-13 performance against Holy Cross pushed him over the 100-win mark for the season and into 12th on the Mids' single-season wins list (108).

Four different players scored goals for the Mids, including Rees with a pair, while three different players recorded two points for the game, including Wade who extended his point-scoring streak to 20 straight games and 17 in a row with an assist.

The Midshipmen return to action next Saturday when they play host to Colgate (6-4, 2-3 Patriot League) in their final regular-season home game of 2018. The second game of a men's and women's (Loyola, 1:00 pm) doubleheader, the men are scheduled to face off at 5:30 pm. CBS Sports Network will televise the men's game, while Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will have the call on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV.

### Go Navy ###