BALTIMORE, Md. —  Despite a phenomenal performance by Navy freshman Nick Barry (Islip, N.Y.) who won a career-best 17 of 23 faceoffs, Loyola All-American attackman Pat Spencer countered with an eight-point day to lead the ninth-ranked Greyhounds (5-2, 2-0 Patriot League) to an 18-5 victory over the Navy men's lacrosse team (4-3, 2-1 PL) Saturday afternoon at the Ridley Athletic Complex. Navy, who had won six straight Patriot League regular-season games, had also won six consecutive true road games coming into today's contest.

"I'm stunned. I thought we had one of the best weeks of preparation in my coaching career. I thought we were prepared to play at a higher level today," said eighth-year Navy head coach Rick Sowell. "The first half was the tale of the game. We couldn't score against them and everything they threw at the net went it. I certainly have to give Loyola credit, but there were a lot of things we didn't do right today."

The Greyhounds raced out to a 9-0 lead and forced a goalkeeper change in the second quarter before Navy would tally its first goal of the game. The Mids were without a goal for the first 22-plus minutes of the game (22:52) before starting midfielder Michael Foster (So / Manassas, Va.) raced past his defender and threaded his shot past All-Patriot League goaltender Jacob Stover at 7:08 in the second. Navy would cut the lead to eight (10-2) on a fantastic feed from Ryan Wade (Sr / Coronado, Calif.) for a Jack Sweeney (Fr / Glenelg, Md.) goal with 3:13 to go in the half, but the Mids would never get closer.

Remarkably, the final stats were relatively even as Loyola outshot Navy by four (41-37) and Navy recorded seven more ground balls (41-34) than Loyola. The Mids, however, struggled to take care of the ball and finished with 21 turnovers, while defensively Navy made just six saves in the game.

The bright spot for Navy was at faceoff. Navy has put together strong performances in back-to-back games and by two different specialists. Last Saturday at Lafayette, Joe Miller (Wading River, N.Y.) won 15 of the 22 draws he took, while today Barry won 17 of 23 draws, Miller was 1 of 2 and senior Mike Loscalzo (Wading River, N.Y.) won 1 of 2. Barry already ranks among the Mids' all-time leaders with 58 wins this season.

Five players accounted for Navy's five goals - Foster, Sweeney, Greyson Torain (Sr / Glen Burnie, Md.), Wade and Patrick Walsh (Sr / Langhorne, Pa.) - while Foster, Wade and Drew Smiley (Sr / Shrewsbury, Mass.) dealt out assists. Wade extended his consecutive games with a point streak to 31, including assists in each of the last 28. Meanwhile, starting attackman Christian Daniel (So / Owings, Md.) was held without a point for the first time in his career and saw his 17-game streak with a goal come to an end. It was the nation's ninth-longest streak.

Ryan Kern (Jr / Middletown, Del.), who has been sensational in goal this season, made two saves in just over 20 minutes of action, while sophomore Spencer Rees (Baltimore, Md.) made four stops in the remaining 39-plus minutes.

Spencer paced the Greyhounds with eight points on four goals and four assists and broke a 38-year-old Loyola record for career points (Gary Hanley, 1978-81). He finished the day with 314 points, two away from moving into the NCAA D-I top 10 all-time points leader board. Loyola's Kevin Lindley pitched in five goals, while John Duffy had a career day with three goals and an assist. Stover closed out the game with 14 saves in just under 57 minutes of play.

The Midshipmen return to action next Saturday when they play host to 20th-ranked Lehigh. Faceoff is set for 12:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. A free live video stream will be available on PatriotLeague.TV, while Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will have the call on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV. Navy will also host its annual Meet the Mids autograph session following the conclusion of the contest.

### Go Navy ###