ANNAPOLIS, Md. // Second-year midfielder Patrick Skalniak (Dallas, Texas) sparked a 6-1 third-quarter run by the 18th-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team (3-0, 1-0 Patriot League) to help orchestrate a 13-10 victory over Bucknell (1-3, 0-3 PL) in the Mids' Patriot League opener Sunday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

The undefeated Mids were anxious to return to the playing field after being sidelined for a month. The Naval Academy endured a 21-day Restriction of Movement (ROM) due to COVID-19 that dated back to just hours after the Mids earned a 13-6 win over Jacksonville on Feb. 28. During that timeframe, the Mids, who had already lost a game against Penn due to the Ivy League's restriction on game opponents, also had their original Bucknell game scheduled for March 6 postponed, as well as their March 20 game against Lafayette (rescheduled for May 1). Navy's first practice was last Monday, March 22.

"We were rusty catching and throwing the ball, but it was a gutty performance by our team," said second-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "Bucknell is as challenging a team to prepare for as I've had. They make the game chaotic and they are really good at it. They never gave up and pushed us to the brink, but guys like Pat Skalniak stepped up for us."

Bucknell junior attackman Brenden Lundy scored the game's first goal as he backed his defender down and tossed his off-balance shot over the right shoulder of Navy keeper Spencer Rees (Sr / Baltimore, Md.) at the 12:09 mark.

Navy answered with back-to-back goals, including the first of three scores by Jack Sweeney (Jr / Glenelg, Md.) to give Navy a 2-1 advantage after the first quarter.

The Mids' defense held the Bison off the scoreboard for better than 17 minutes before yielding back-to-back goals, including an extra-man strike by sophomore middie Harry Wellford. It was one of just two man-up goals Bucknell scored on seven chances in the game.

Navy went on to score three of the final four goals of the half, including a 12-yarder by Bryson Rhee (Fr / Ephrata, Pa.) with 55.6 seconds remaining to give Navy a 5-4 advantage at the break.

Bucknell opened the second half a man up after Navy was flagged for a slash at the end of the second quarter. The Bison capitalized on that opportunity just 32 seconds into the period when senior attackman Tommy Sopko sent a bouncer past Rees to pull Bucknell even (5-5).

The Mids once again answered by putting together a 6-1 run that gave them the lead for good.

Skalniak dipped his shoulder and eluded his defender to fire in his first goal of the day and give the Mids a 6-5 advantage.  However, rookie attackman Dutch Furlong knotted the game at six apiece when he wrapped around the left side of the goal and tucked his shot past Rees.

Navy scored the next five goals with Skalniak kicking it off at the 9:31 mark and featured goals by four different players. Sweeney punched in back-to-back goals during the run including a spectacular behind the back goal off an assist from Jon Jarosz (A / Gambrills, Md.) that got the fans on their feet.

Bucknell attempted to stage a comeback, scoring back-to-back goals midway through the fourth quarter by Lundy and Sumner Brumbaugh to get to within two (12-10). Navy, though, sealed the victory when Skalniak found Tyler Perreten (Sr / Crofton, Md.) for the insurance goal with 3:18 left in the contest.

Skalniak, who has produced a point in all eight games since arriving in Annapolis a year ago, finished the game with a career-high six points on two goals and four assists.

"Great players make little plays," said Amplo about the play of Skalniak.

Meanwhile, co-captain Christian Daniel (Sr / Owings, Md.) will enter next week's game against Loyola just one point shy of 100 for his career after turning in a two-goal, two-assist performance against the Bison. Remarkably, in three appearances against Bucknell, Daniel has produced nine goals and seven assists for 16 points.

Navy's defense was anchored from between the pipes with the play of Rees, who was spectacular with a career-high 17 saves, the most by a Navy keeper since Ryan Kern made 18 stops against Boston University on April 26, 2019. Rees played a key role in solving Bucknell's 10-man ride and his 50-yard pass to an open Christian Daniel capped the Mids 5-0 run in the third frame. He is the first Navy goalkeeper to be credited with a save since Kern's helper in the Feb. 15, 2019 win over UMBC.

"Our defense was less sharp than we needed to be and Spencer bailed us out," said Amplo. "He made some dramatic saves that helped to steady us."

Co-captain Nick Franchuk (Sr / Southport, Conn.) held Bucknell's Tommy Sopko, who entered the game ranked #4 nationally in goals per game (4.33), scoreless on even strength, allowing his only point, a goal, on extra man.

Six different players accounted for Bucknell's 10 goals, including Lundy who pitched a hat trick with a trio of goals. Ben Clark made 10 stops in goal for the Bison, while Nick Crovatto (9-13) and Conor McCusker (6-11) combined to win 15 of the 24 draws.

The Midshipmen return to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium next Saturday when they play host to preseason Patriot League favorite Loyola. Scheduled for a 2:00 pm faceoff, the game will be nationally televised by CBS Sports Network.  Locally, 1430 FM / 99.9 AM WNAV will also carry the game with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call.

### Go Navy ###