Game Day Storylines
• Inside the Game: After spending the last few weeks on the road, Navy kicks off a three-game homestand on Saturday when it plays host to Patriot League foe Colgate. Faceoff is set for 12:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial stadium. The Mids, who enter the contest 2-2 overall and 0-1 in Patriot League action, are led by first-year head coach
Joe Amplo, while the 0-5 Raiders are under the direction of second-year head coach Matt Karweck. Saturday's game marks the 23rd meeting in a series that dates back to 1928 and Navy leads, 15-7.
• Follow the Action: The Navy-Colgate contest will be carried live on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with Pete Medhurst 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.
• At the Top of Their Game: Navy heads into the weekend ranked among the nation's top 10 in four statistical categories // #6 in opponent clear percentage (75.9), #7 in extra-man offense (58.3), #8 in scoring defense (8.25) and #9 in man-down defense (83.3). Individually, senior
Ryan Kern is #10 in goals-against average (30GA, 210 min // 8.57 GAA) and #28 in save percentage (34 Svs, 30 GA // 53.1).
• 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 in their opener on Feb. 7. 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.
• Balanced Scoring: In its first four games, Navy has had 21 different players record points including 13 players produce their first career point. In its game against Furman, 18 players recorded a point while 14 different players scored goals, including five first-time scorers - short-stick defensive middie
Colin Meehan, midfielders
Brock Martin and
James Flannery and attackmen
Matty Mayer and
Brian Calabrese.
• Countdown to 100: Junior attackman
Christian Daniel is 13 points shy of joining Navy's 100-point club. 2019 teammates
Greyson Torain and
Ryan Wade became the 34th and 35th players, respectively, to add their names to 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 30 games over his career, has amassed 87 points on 58 goals and 29 assists.
• Developing Middies: With the graduation of
Greyson Torain and
Ryan Wade and an injury holding junior
Michael Foster out of the lineup, Navy has been faced with replacing its entire starting midfield this spring. Junior
Joe deLyra, along with freshmen
Henry Rentz and
Patrick Skalniak have answered the call. Navy is one of just four schools who have a pair of freshmen on its starting offensive midfield line, joining UMass, Michigan and NJIT.
• Save The Date: Navy will hold its annual Meet the Mids event following its game against Holy Cross on March 21 at 12:00 pm. Members of the Navy lacrosse team will be available for autographs under the Superintendent's Tent on the Blue Concourse, with the first 300 kids in line for the postgame autograph session receiving a Navy lacrosse "Meet the Mids" t-shirt, compliments of Annapolis area Papa John's and Chick-fil-A.
• The Key to Annapolis: New England Patriots head coach and Annapolis native Bill Belichick will be presented the key to the city from Annapolis mayor, the Honorable Gavin Buckley, at halftime of the Navy-Johns Hopkins lacrosse game next Saturday. Belichick, who has won a record eight Super Bowls (six as the head coach of the New England Patriots and two as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants) and is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the NFL, was raised in Annapolis where his father, Steve, was a coach, scout and physical education instructor at the Naval Academy for more than 30 years.
Scouting Colgate
• Don't be fooled by Colgate's record (0-5, 0-1 PL). Second-year head coach Matt Karweck has put together an extremely difficult schedule for his Raiders, playing four of their five games on the road to date, including game against nationally-ranked foes North Carolina, Syracuse and Princeton, while Hobart is receiving votes. Colgate will play 10 of its 14 regular-season games on the road.
• Senior attackman Griffin Brown is atop Colgate's scoring leader board with 22 points on a team-best 17 goals and 5 assists. Sophomore middie Brian Minicus has 15 points with 5 goals and a team-high 10 assists.
• Colgate has one of the top extra-man units in the country, ranked 11th, the Raiders have scored on 54.2 percent of their opportunities (13-24). Senior Cooper Belanger has 4 of Colgate's 13 man-up goals and is fourth nationally. Griffin Brown, meanwhile, has 3.
• Colgate's defensive unit that is allowing 18.80 goals per game and is ranked 73rd out of 74 teams. None of its five opponents have been held to single digits and four of the five have scored 19 or more goals.
• Sophomore goalkeeper Sean Collins is in his first season as Colgate's starter (did start 2 games in 2019) and has played all 300 minutes for the Raiders this season. He owns a 43.4 save percentage, however, he is seventh in the country and first in the league in saves per game, averaging 14.40.
• Senior Malcolm Feeney has taken all but 18 of the 166 draws and owns a 50.7 winning percentage (75-148).
Navy vs. Colgate - The Series
• Navy leads the all-time series with Colgate, 15-7, including a 7-3 advantage in games played in Annapolis.
• The Mids have won two straight in the series (12-10 in 2018 and 16-11 in 2019), while they have won two in a row at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (16-9 in 2016, 12-10 in 2018).
• The two teams have met 20 times since the Midshipmen joined the Patriot League in 2004. During that span, Navy has produced a 13-7 record and has outscored Colgate, 206-167.
• Navy and Colgate have twice faced one another in the Patriot League Tournament and have been met with split results. In 2007, the Mids claimed a 15-9 win over the Raiders in the championship game, before dropping the program's first Patriot League Tournament contest at the 2008 semifinals against eventual champion Colgate.
• Half of the last 12 contests between the two programs have been decided by one goal with Navy winning 4 of the 6 (L in 2009, W in 2009, W in 2010, L in 2011, W in 2012, W in 2015).
