ANNAPOLIS, Md. // The Navy lacrosse team (1-0, 0-0 Patriot League) used a balanced offense which offered eight different names in the scoring column and a stifling defense to earn a 9-4 victory over Manhattan (0-1) on a blustery Friday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The evening also marked the debut of first-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo who directed the Mids to their 14th consecutive win when opening the season at home.

"It's great, I'm happy for the guys. It's about them! I'm proud of their effort and performance in what was a cold, chippy, tough Maryland season lacrosse game," said Amplo when asked about how it felt to get his first win at Navy.

"The program is in a very good place," he added. "The coaches who came before me set a standard that I have a lot to live up to. I'm blessed to have a great group of young men to coach. This is a unique challenge for me. It's been a lot of fun going through the challenges of trying to build towards the season and hopefully taking them through a successful season. Every day is a different challenge and experience because it is still so new and so fresh. I think you saw that out there on the field today in how we played. We're going to look really good at times. We're going to look really bad at times. That's not a knock on the players we have, it's just everything is so new from simply how we walk onto the field. The things we are saying, our vocabulary, and then all of the strategies and culture aspect. Everything is brand new. It's going to take time to look like a polished product."

The Mids shared the ball to near perfection in the opening quarter, building a 5-1 advantage on goals scored by four different players. Second-year starting attackman Nick Cole (Ashburn, Va.) scored the season's first goal when his defender hedged towards fellow attackman Christian Daniel (Jr / Owings, Md.) and Daniel found Cole cutting across the crease for the strike.

Navy went on to lead by as many as five twice in the game, including 6-1 early in the second quarter. Starting defenseman Nick Franchuk (Jr / Southport, Conn.) intercepted a Liam Walshe pass and went coast-to-coast before drilling his shot past Krebs for his first collegiate goal and the 6-1 Navy lead. The Mids closed out the game with the five-goal victory following a well-executed extra-man play that saw Tyler Perreten (Jr / Crofton, Md.) keanly spotting Daniel alone on the crease for the goal.

The defense held Manhattan to just 27 shots in the game, including three in the final frame, while allowing just one goal in each of the four quarters. The four goals were the fewest scored against the Mids since defeating Holy Cross, 5-4, on March 31, 2018. Four-year starting goalkeeper Ryan Kern (Sr / Middletown, Del.), who was named Navy's 2019 MVP, once again served as the cornerstone for the Mids' defensive effort, turning aside 14 Manhattan shots. With his 14-save effort, Kern moved past ninth-place John Connors (427 sv // 2013-16) on Navy's career saves leader board with 430 over 42 games. It's the most saves by a Navy netminder since RJ Wickham (2009-12) closed out his career with 479 saves.

Meanwhile, Navy's man-down unit stood tall, withstanding three extra-man opportunities by the Jaspers for better than two minutes.

Daniel paced the team with four points on two goals and two assists, as he pushed his career scoring total to 78 points. Cole and midfielder Henry Rentz (Fr / Edgewater, Md.) scored two goals apiece, while middies Patrick Skalniak (Fr / Dallas, Texas) and Joe deLyra (Jr / Brightwaters, N.Y.) also punched in goals. Rentz, Skalniak and deLyra did a fine job of answering the question of how will Navy replace 100-point scorers Greyson Torain and Ryan Wade out of the midfield.

Nick Barry (So / Islip, N.Y.) took the lion's share of the draws (13 of 17) for Navy, winning 9 of 13 (69.2), while grabbing a team-best five ground balls. Barry, who a year ago produced the second-most faceoff wins by a freshman in program history with 134, is now just 13 wins outside of the Mids' all-time top 10 list. Barry stands 12th with 143 wins.

Liam Walshe led Manhattan with a two-point performance, as four different players accounted for the Jaspers' four goals.

Navy will be back in action next Saturday when it plays host to Furman. Faceoff is slated for 12-noon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

### Go Navy ###