BALTIMORE, Md. // A goal by long-stick midfielder Jeff Durden (Sr / Cumming, Ga.) broke a 12-12 tie, while co-captain Christian Daniel (Sr / Owings, Md.) punched in the insurance goal to help Navy (4-2, 2-2 Patriot League) fend off a furious second-half comeback bid by 15th-ranked Loyola (5-5, 3-3 PL) and capture a 14-12 victory over the Greyhounds Saturday afternoon at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore. The victory marked the program's first win over Loyola on its home field and just its second (2016) over the Greyhounds since they joined the Patriot League in 2014.

"I think it was a great college lacrosse game," said second-year Navy men's lacrosse coach Joe Amplo. "Credit to Loyola for coming back. It was very similar to the first time we played them, just flip-flopped. Our energy early was the difference. We were telling the guys all along that the punch is coming. They are a great team, very well coached and we knew we were going to have to manage a one-goal game moment. I was really proud of our guys, specifically our seniors for stepping up.

"Loyola has been the premiere team in this conference, certainly nationally they are a very big name consistently. I think they have been the class of the league for a long time. It's a big win for us. This is one of the moments where we can build on and point to hopefully as a springboard for future success"

Navy stunned Loyola by scoring the first six goals of the game en route to a 7-1 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Among the seven goals were three Christian Daniel-to-Jack Sweeney (Jr / Glenelg, Md.) extra-man strikes within just over two minutes of one another. The Mids, meanwhile, held Loyola without a goal for the first 11 minutes of the contest.

In just his second game back since suffering a foot injury in the opener against Mount St. Mary's, Dane Swanson (Fr / St. Mary's City, Md.) caught fire when he scored the final goal of the first quarter and two of the three for the Mids in the second frame. Loyola, however, answered Swanson's back-to-back goals with an Aidan Olmstead target with just 18 seconds remaining to trim Navy's lead to five (10-5) at the break.

The Mids pushed their lead back to six (12-6) with goals by Jon Jarosz (Fr / Gambrills, Md.) and Michael Foster (Sr / Manassas, Va.) in the first five minutes of the third quarter.

A two-minute unnecessary roughness call against the Mids gave Loyola an extra-man opportunity in which it capitalized in more ways than one. Kevin Lindley used an Adam Poitras pass to punch in the man-up goal at 4:19 in the third which triggered a six-goal run by the Greyhounds over a 14 minute-and-a-half span. Sophomore Evan James scored three of the six goals, including an extra-man strike off an assist from Peter Swindell that leveled the score at 12-12 with 4:59 to go.

Scoreless for nearly 20 minutes (19:53), Navy answered on the ensuing faceoff when Durden scooped up the loose ball and fired in his second goal of the game to put the Mids back up, 13-12.

With under four minutes to go, Loyola saw its lone scoring opportunity turned aside when Navy goalkeeper Spencer Rees (Sr / Baltimore, Md.) dropped to his knees to make a spectacular save on a Swindell shot from 7 yards out.

Navy, meanwhile, sealed the victory when Daniel split the double team and bounced his shot past a sliding defender and into the open goal.

Daniel paced the Mids with six points on a goal and a career-high five assists, while Swanson recorded his first-collegiate hat trick to close out the day with four points (3G, 1A). Navy's offensive arsenal also included four extra-man goals (3 by Sweeney, 1 by Swanson), as well as three goals by poles (2 by Durden, 1 by Jackson Bonitz / Fr, Shrewsbury, Pa.).

Rees anchored a defensive effort with 15 saves, while Bonitz had a career-high four caused turnovers and co-captain Nick Franchuk (Sr / Southport, Conn.) posted two takeaways.

FOGO Jacob Jarosz (Jr / Gambrills, Md.) played a pivotal role for the Mids, specifically in the closing minutes. After winning just five of the 12 draws (41.7) he took in the first half, Jarosz came back to win 10 of the 13 (76.9) over the final 30 minutes, including the final three of the game. Loyola's Bailey Savio, who won 19 of the 28 draws and grabbed 16 ground balls against the Mids just two weeks ago, won 12 of the 27 on Saturday and was limited to just four ground balls.

"I thought Jeff Durden's goal was very big and I can't say more about (Jacob) Jarosz at the faceoff x. If there was one difference maker in the game, he was certainly was it. I think it just gave us a steady confidence that we could stymie any run that they were going to go on and give us the ball back."

James and Lindley accounted for seven of Loyola's 12 goals, as leading point producer Aidan Olmstead (1G, 1A) was once again held in check by Franchuk. Junior Freeman Whitaker got the starting nod in goal where he made seven saves and gave up 10 goals in the opening half before Sam Shafer, the starter in each of the previous nine games, replaced him. Shafer provided a huge boost for the Greyhounds in the second half, making six saves, including a point-blank stop on a Nick Cole (Jr / Ashburn, Va.) shot with just over two minutes left in the game.

Navy returns home next week to play host to one of the greatest rivalries in college sports, the Army-Navy Game. CBS Sports Network will broadcast Saturday's game with faceoff set for 12:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game will also be carried live by 1430 FM / 99.9 AM WNAV with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call.

### Go Navy ###