Game Day Storylines
• Inside the Game: After rolling to a 9-4 victory over Manhattan last Friday in its season opener, Navy (1-0, 0-0 Patriot League) will play host to Furman (1-1, 0-0 SoCon) on Saturday afternoon. Faceoff is slated for 12:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
• Follow the Action: The Navy-Furman contest will be carried live on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with Pete Medhurst and
Joe Miller handling the call. Coverage begins with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show at 11:45 am. The game will also be streamed online (FREE) via Navy's website and the Patriot League Network, while live stats will be available at NavyStats.com.
• Amplo Era Begins: Joe Amplo, one of eight new DI head coaches at their respective schools this season, earned his first victory representing the Blue & Gold when he led the Mids to a 9-4 victory over Manhattan last Friday in their opener. Amplo was introduced as the program's ninth head men's lacrosse coach on June 5, 2019. This spring marks Amplo's eighth season as a DI head coach after previously building the Marquette program from the ground up and posting a 52-53 record.
• Meade Returns to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium: Seventh-year Furman head coach Richie Meade will make his first trip back to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium since stepping away from his post at Navy following the 2011 season. Meade served as Navy's head coach for 17 years (1995-2011) and posted a 142-97 (58.9) record. Over that period, he led the Mids to five Patriot League regular-season and tournament titles and seven NCAA Tournaments, including an appearance in the 2004 NCAA National Championship Game.
• It's A First: Junior defenseman
Nick Franchuk (1G), sophomore midfielder
Ryan Magnuson (1A) and freshmen midfielders
Henry Rentz (2G) and
Patrick Skalniak (1G, 1A) produced their first career points in the win over Manhattan. For Magnuson, Rentz and Skalniak, it was also their first collegiate appearances.
• Pleased To Meet You: Of the 74 possible DI opponents, Navy entered the season having played 45 different teams. Navy will add three names to that list this year, however, as each of its first three games are against first-time opponents - Manhattan, Furman and Richmond. The teams Navy has yet to play are Albany, Bellarmine, Binghamton, Bryant, Cleveland State, Denver, Furman (Feb. 15), Hampton, Hartford, High Point, LIU, Marquette, UMass Lowell, Mercer, Merrimack, Michigan, Monmouth, NJIT, Notre Dame, Quinnipiac, Richmond (Feb. 18), Robert Morris, St. Bonaventure, St. John's, Siena, Utah, Villanova and Wagner.
• Kern Joins Top 10 Saves Leader Board: Fourth-year starting goalkeeper
Ryan Kern used a career-high tying 18-save performance against Army last April to move past Kelly Award winner Matt Russell (2003-06) into 10th on Navy's all-time saves list. One of only 10 netminders in school history to reach the 400-save milestone, Kern has amassed 430 saves and stands ninth on the all-time list. His 167 saves a year ago stand 15th on the Mids' all-time single-season saves leader board and he joins RJ Wickham (188 in 2010) as the only two players in the last 20 years who rank among the Mids' top 15 on the single-season list.
• Countdown to 100: Junior attackman
Christian Daniel is 22 points shy of Navy's 100-point club. 2019 teammates
Greyson Torain and
Ryan Wade became the 34th and 35th players, respectively, to join the list and just the fifth set of classmates to achieve the feat. Daniel, who has been held without a point in just two of the 27 games over his career, has amassed 78 points on 54 goals and 24 assists.
• Mids Picked Fifth: Navy, who missed the Patriot League Tournament a year ago due to a tie-breaker, has been picked to finish fifth in the 2020 Patriot League Preseason Poll. Loyola is the preseason favorite, followed by Army, Lehigh, Boston U., Navy, (T) Bucknell, (T) Holy Cross, Colgate and Lafayette. Meanwhile, Navy senior goalkeeper
Ryan Kern was selected to the 2020 Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
• Defense Stifles Manhattan: The Mids' defense held Manhattan to 27 shots and just 4 goals in their 9-4 season-opener last Friday. Navy has won 59 of its last 60 when achieving the feat. Since the start of the 2012 season, Navy has held 14 foes to 5 or fewer goals. The last time Navy held an opponent to 5 goals and lost was on 3.26.11 when Colgate defeated Navy, 5-4, in Annapolis.
Scouting Furman
• Seventh-year head coach Richie Meade's Furman squad has split its first two games of the season, dropping a 16-9 decision to Bucknell (played at Duke) and defeating Hampton a week ago, 19-4, at home in a snowstorm.
• Furman returns four of its top-five scorers from a year ago, including leading scorer Jarrett Birch. The junior attackman, who has 4 points (3G, 1A) in the two games this season, paced the Paladins a year ago with 37 points on a team-best 31 goals and 6 assists. Meanwhile, also returning are senior middie Chad Kreuzer (16-13=29), sophomore attackman Anders Erickson (11-17=28) and junior attackman Carson Sorrells (20-5=25). Sorrells and Erickson have 6 points apiece this season, Sorrells with a team-best 5 goals and Erickson with a team-high 5 assists.
• Returning to the defensive lineup are juniors Corey Hall and Cole Horan, who led the Paladins with 42 and 38 ground balls, respectively. Hall also paced the program with 39 caused turnovers (1.57 per gm).
• Junior Michael Abizaid took 208 of the 388 faceoffs a year ago for the Paladins. He won 90 of 208 (43.3). He took draws against Bucknell (4 of 9), but did not play against Hampton. Sophomore Kris Casey, who was 13 of 42 (31.0) a year ago, is 10 of 24 (41.7) this season and senior Jack Schleicher is 6 of 16 (37.5).
• Alec Van de Bovenkamp returns for his senior campaign manning the cage. Van de Bovenkamp posted a 12.96 goals-against average a year ago and a 51.0 save percentage. He has played nearly 100 of the 120 minutes in the two games this season and owns a 10.23 GAA and a 58.5 save percentage.
Navy vs. Furman - The Series
• Saturday's contest marks the first meeting between the two programs.
