ANNAPOLIS, Md. // The 19th-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team (2-0, 0-0 Patriot League) used a 9-0 run to overcome a 4-1 opening-quarter deficit en route to capturing a 13-6 victory over visiting Jacksonville (2-2) Sunday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Mids held the Dolphins off the scoreboard for nearly 25 minutes (24:19, 6:49 2Q - 12:30 3Q), while eight different players accounted for Navy's nine-goal run in the second and third quarters.

Freshman attackman Ethan LaMond used a Matt Stagnitta outlet pass in transition to give Jacksonville the early 1-0 advantage. Navy, however, would answer five minutes later when senior Tyler Perreten (A / Crofton, Md.) found junior Ryan Magnuson ( M / Northport, N.Y.) for the extra-man goal to tie the score.

Jacksonville went on to score the next three goals, including a Brendan McKenna goal with just 33.1 seconds remaining, to take a 4-1 lead into the second quarter.

Navy and Jacksonville would trade goals over the first eight minutes of the second stanza before a spectacular play that began and ended with long-stick defensive midfielder Jeff Durden (Sr / Cumming, Ga.). Durden knocked the ball out of junior midfielder Jack Dolan's stick in front of the crease and the ground ball was picked up by Navy goalkeeper Spencer Rees (Sr / Baltimore, Md.). Rees quickly got the ball to freshman Jackson Bonitz (D / Shrewsbury, Pa.) who executed the transition game to near perfection. Bonitz threw an exceptional outlet pass from the defensive box and caught Durden in stride on the offensive end of the field who then buried his seventh collegiate goal and first this season.

Forty-three seconds later middie Nick Cole (Jr / Ashburn, Va.) curled around the right side of the cage and buried a tough shot that Jacksonville keeper Adam Baker never saw. With just 27.7 seconds left in the half, rookie Jon Jarosz (A / Gambrills, Md.), who made his first-collegiate appearance and start for the Mids, punched in his second goal of the quarter to send the two teams into the locker room tied at five apiece.

Navy's hot hand continued into the second half where it would outscore Jacksonville 6-0 in the third frame and never looked back as the Mids held an 8-1 advantage in the scoring column over the final 30 minutes of action.

Credit faceoff specialist Jacob Jarosz (Jr / Gambrills, Md.), who did not play in last week's opener, with helping put the ball in the sticks of Navy's offensive players. Jarosz took all 23 draws for the Mids in Sunday's contest, winning 17. After the two teams split the six draws in the opening quarter, Jarosz won 14 of the remaining 17, including 10 of 11 in the second half (7-7 3Q, 3-4 4Q).

Meanwhile, after giving up five goals over the first 23:11, Navy's defense held Jacksonville to a single goal over the final 36:49. The Dolphins fired off 12 shots in the opening quarter, but were held to just 17 over the final three quarters.

Jon Jarosz paced the Mids with his first-collegiate hat trick (3), as he was one of nine different players to score goals for the Midshipmen. Starting midfielder James Flannery (So / Garrett Park, Md.) chipped in two, as did second-line middie Bryson Rhee (Fr / Ephrata, Pa.). While Bonitz turned in a pair of caused turnovers, so, too, did Durden, who moved into a tie for 20th on the Mids' all-time caused turnovers leader board with 17 over his career.

Rees put together another solid performance between the pipes, making eight saves in just under 57 minutes of play. Backup Pat Ryan (So / Groton, Mass.) made just the second appearance of this career and made his first collegiate save over the final three minutes.

Six different players scored goals for Jacksonville, including graduate midfielder Matt Stagnitta who added a pair of assists for the Dolphins. Defensively, Baker made eight saves opposite the 13 goals against and Tucker Denault and Colin Hinton produced three caused turnovers apiece.

The Midshipmen return to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium next Saturday when they open Patriot League play against Bucknell. Scheduled for a 12:00 pm faceoff, the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call, while 1430 FM / 99.9 AM WNAV will also carry the game.

### Go Navy ###