Setting the Stage
• One of the most storied rivalries in college athletics will be center stage this Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (12:00 pm) when Army (6-2, 4-1 Patriot League) and Navy (4-2, 2-2 PL) battle one another in the series' 101st meeting. It's the first time both teams are ranked at the time of the game since 2016 when the Mids were ranked #9 and the Black Knights were #20.
• Saturday's contest will be televised live by CBS Sports Network with Jason Knapp and Evan Washburn calling the action.
• Additionally, Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller will provide the call on  1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with coverage beginning at 11:45 am with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show.
• Following the guidelines set by state and local government officials, spectators are allowed at home Navy lacrosse games. Fans will be required to wear a mask throughout the contest and asked to maintain social distancing.

Game Day Storylines
• Senior Salute: Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk and Head Coach Joe Amplo will honor Navy's 15 senior lacrosse players - Joe Byrne, Christian Daniel, Joe deLyra, Jeff Durden, Michael Foster, Nick Franchuk, Tim Griffin, Jacob Mandish, Andrew McKenna, Colin Meehan, Donovan Murphy, Tyler Perreten, Spencer Rees, John Salcedo and Logan Spilker - and 2 senior managers - Chris Kalafut and Caitlyn Thompson - prior to the start of Saturday's contest.
• 8-1-1: Both Army and Navy enter Saturday's game with 811 victories in their program's histories which ties for the fourth most in college lacrosse. Navy has put together a 811-368-14 in 114 years of lacrosse with its inaugural season being 1908. Army has recorded an 811-398-7 mark in what is its 104th season (1907 1st yr).
• Durden and Daniel Garner National and Conference Accolades: Jeff Durden (Sr / LSM) was one of 10 players named to this week's USILA Div. I National Team of the Week. He scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, while also grabbing a career-high 6 ground balls in the Mids' win at #15 Loyola last Saturday. Durden's goal snapped a Loyola run of 6-consecutive goals with his game-winner coming just 9 seconds after the Greyhounds tied it up. Co-captain Christian Daniel (Sr / A) contributed a career-high 5 assists, including 3 in the opening quarter as Navy built a 7-1 lead. All 3 of those assists were fed to Jack Sweeney (Jr / A) on set extra-man plays. Daniel also dealt out a pair of assists to Jon Jarosz (Fr / A) in the second and third quarters. Daniel's poise and leadership were on display in the closing minutes of the game where with under two minutes to go, he split the double team coming out of a timeout and bounced his shot past a third defender into the open goal to give the Mids the eventual two-goal victory.
• Swanson Returns: After missing 3 games following a foot injury in the opener against Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 20, Dane Swanson (Fr / M) returned to the lineup on April 10 against Lehigh. He contributed the 3-three points of his career, including his first-collegiate goal at the 14:12 mark in the second quarter. Swanson, who was ranked by Inside Lacrosse as the 25th-best overall player and fifth-best midfielder among the incoming freshman class, followed up with a 4-point effort at Loyola last Saturday where he pitched his first-career hat trick.
• Reaching 100: With his first (14:07, 3Qtr) of 3 goals against Loyola on April 3, Christian Daniel (Sr / A) became the 36th player in program history to reach 100 career points and the 12th-fastest to achieve the feat. Daniel, who has been held without a point in just 2 of the 37 games he has played in over his career, has amassed 113 points on 72 goals and 41 assists and is ranked 25th on the Mids' all-time scoring list. He is just 8 points outside of the top 20 (121 by Brendan Schneck, 1977-78).

Army Vs. Navy - The Series
• Saturday's Army-Navy game is a welcomed return to a series that had seen the two programs meet for 87-consecutive years, the longest continuous lacrosse series between Navy and another team. Last March, the world as we knew it would be put on pause and for the first time since 1932, there would not be an Army-Navy lacrosse game.
• Navy owns a 61-36-3 series advantage and has won 18 of the last 28 contests in the series.
• The Mids also own a 56-33-3 advantage in Star Games, winning 15 of the last 22 including 4 of the last 5.
• The Mids lead the series in Annapolis, 30-18-1, including wins in 2 of the last 3 Star Games played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (2015, '17). Army, however, won Patriot League Tournament semifinal games against the Mids in Annapolis in 2015 and '16 and captured a 9-8 overtime win against Navy the last time the two programs met (4.13.19).  
• Army and Navy have met twice in a season on seven previous occasions. In 1978 and '81, the two also met in the NCAA Tournament. The two have met in the Patriot League Tournament in 2005, '06, '07, '10, '15 and '16.
• Navy has scored eight or more goals in 26 of the last 33 contests against Army. However, the Mids have scored double figures just 4 times in the last 15 games. Navy has held Army to single digits in 14 of the 22 games since joining the league in 2004.  

The Sport's Most Historic Rivalries
• With one of the most storied programs in the sport of lacrosse, Navy traditionally plays three rivalry games each year that stand among the nation's longest.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are only two of the sports longest rivalry games that are slated to be played this spring - Johns Hopkins vs. Maryland and Army vs. Navy.
• Army and Navy have met 100 times, marking the sixth-longest rivalry in college lacrosse. The two will play for the 101st time on April 24 in Annapolis after last year's contest was canceled due to the pandemic.
• Also appearing on the list of longest rivalries are the Navy vs. Maryland and Navy vs. Johns Hopkins series. The Mids have played Maryland 94 times, which is the ninth-longest rivalry. The two programs were due to meet last February, however, the Navy lacrosse team was struck with the Norovirus and the game was unable to be played.
• The Navy-Johns Hopkins series runs 90 games, which is tied for 13th on the list. After a two-year hiatus from the series due to scheduling, the two programs were to have met last March at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Just a day before the game was to be played, collegiate sports as a whole shut down.
• Neither the Maryland nor Johns Hopkins games will be played this year due to the pandemic. Both members of the Big Ten Conference, their only regular-season games this spring will be against conference foes.
• Cornell vs. Hobart is the longest-running series in college lacrosse with the two teams meeting 138 times.

Scouting the Black Knights
• Sixteenth-year Army head coach Joe Alberici has directed the 10th-ranked Black Knights to a 6-2 record, including a 4-1 mark in Patriot League play. Army's two losses this season were to Virginia (14-9) in the opener and a one-goal decision to Lehigh (13-12) on the road.
• What has become a staple of Alberici-coached teams, Army's defense is among the nation's best, allowing just 8.88 goals per game which stands fourth in the country and tops in the Patriot League. Half of Army's opponents have scored double digits against the Black Knights (Virginia 14, Syracuse 11, Boston U. 10 and Lehigh 13), while Army has held three of its last four to single digits (Holy Cross 3, Loyola 7, Boston U 8).
• Army's man-down unit has also been solid this season. It has stopped 21 of the 29 (72.4) extra-man chances it has faced and is ranked 17th nationally. On the flip side, Army has scored 9 goals on 28 opportunities (32.1) and is ranked 36th nationally and sixth in the league.
• Wyatt Schupler (Jr) orchestrates the defense from between the pipes where he stands eighth in goals-against average (8.90), ninth in save percentage (58.4) and 26th in saves per game (12.12). Inside Lacrosse All-American Marcus Hudgins (Jr / D), meanwhile, stands 10th nationally in caused turnovers per game, forcing 2.00.
• Two Army players have topped 20 points this season with two more on the verge. All-American Brendan Nichtern (Jr / A) leads the team with 43 points on 20 goals and 23 assists. He is eighth nationally in points per game (5.38), seventh in assists per game (2.88) and 41st in goals per game (2.50).
• Nickolas Edinger (Sr / M) has 21 points (16G, 5A), Bobby Abshire (Jr / M) has 19 points (15G, 4A) and Aidan Byrnes (Jr / A) has 18 points (14G, 4A).
• While four players have taken faceoffs for the Black Knights this spring, Stevie Grabher has led the charge, winning 72 of the 138 draws (52.2) he has taken. Grabher is ranked 36th nationally, while Army as a team (44.0) is 46th.

Breaking Down the Rivalry
All-Time Army-Navy Record: Navy Leads, 1109-842-44 (56.7)
2020-21 Overall Record vs. Army: 12-8 (60.0)
2020-21 Star Game Record vs. Army: 11-6 (64.7)
• Saturday's Army-Navy men's lacrosse game is one of three remaining Star competitions for the 2020-21 season. The men's soccer teams will square off in Chester, Pa. on Sunday for the Star, while Navy will travel to West Point for the baseball series on Mary 8 and 9.
• Barring any late adds to the schedule, Navy has secured the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA to win the Star Series for the 23rd time in the last 25 years.

Army, Navy Among Sport's WinningestPrograms
 • One of seven Div. I lacrosse programs that has produced 700+ wins, Navy became just the fourth to reach 800 when it defeated UMBC on Feb. 15, 2019.  
• With 810 wins, Navy is tied with archrival Army as the fourth-winningest team in D-I men's lacrosse history behind Johns Hopkins (995), Syracuse (922) and Maryland (848).
• Due to COVID, Navy's only opponent who is a member of the 700 Club this spring is Army.

Belichik to Be Presented Key to the City
• Eight-time Super Bowl Champion and Annapolis, Md., native Bill Belichik will be presented the key to the city by the major of Annapolis, the Honorable Gavin Buckley, at halftime of Saturday's contest.
• Belichick is being honored for his lifetime achievement in his profession and his continued interest and support of both the city of Annapolis and the Naval Academy.
• Belichick was raised in the city of Annapolis, where his father, Steve, was a coach, scout and Physical Education instructor at the Naval Academy for more than 30 years.
• Belichick first gained his love for football at the Naval Academy, breaking down film with his father and learning the game from legends such as 1960 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino and 1963 Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach.  
• Belichick graduated from Annapolis High School in 1970, where he played both football and lacrosse.
• After graduating from Wesleyan University, Belichick got his first coaching job as an assistant with the Baltimore Colts in 1975 and the rest is history.