ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  Following a stifling defensive performance against 10th-ranked Army over the weekend, Navy co-captain Nick Franchuk (Sr / Southport, Conn.) and Spencer Rees (Sr / Baltimore, Md.) have been named the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Defensive Player of the Week and Goalkeeper of the Week, respectively. In addition to the Navy standouts, the conference also recognized Lehigh's Christian Mule' (offense) and Mike Sisselberger (faceoff), as well as Lafayette's Peter Lehman (rookie) as players of the week at their respective positions.

This is the second time this season Franchuk and Rees have received the weekly citation from the league office. Franchuk garnered recognition on Feb. 22, the first of his career, after anchoring a defensive effort that held Mount St. Mary's scoreless until the 7:34 mark in the third quarter and allowed Navy to jump out to a 7-0 lead and eventual 8-5 victory. Rees, meanwhile, earned goalkeeper of the week honors on March 29, also his first-career league award, after turning in a then career-best 17 saves against Bucknell, while also contributing an assist in the 13-10 win.

Franchuk held Army's Brendan Nichtern, the nation's eighth-leading scorer (5.38 points per game), scoreless in Saturday's victory, marking only the third time in Nichtern's career (35 gms) that he has been held without a point (Penn 2019, Loyola 2021). The Tewaaraton Award nominee was held to just three shots, while being forced into a trio of turnovers.

Making his first-collegiate appearance against the Black Knights, Rees turned in a career-high 19 saves, the most by a Navy player since Ryan Kern turned aside 19 shots against Princeton on March 5, 2019. His previous high was 17 against Bucknell on March 28. Fourteen of his 19 saves were made over the final 30 minutes, making five stops on 11 shots in the third quarter and nine saves on 20 shots in the fourth.

Navy's defensive unit held Army to a single goal in the opening half and just one goal over the final 17-plus minutes of the contest. The Mids held Army to just four goals, its lowest goal output since losing to Loyola 13-4 in the 2017 Patriot League Championship Game. It was also the fewest goals scored by Army in an Army-Navy Game (Star Game or otherwise) since the Mids beat the Black Knights 8-4 on April 11, 2009.

Navy plays its regular-season finale on Saturday when it makes the trip to Easton, Pa. to play Lafayette (0-10, 0-7 PL). CBS Sports Network will broadcast the game with faceoff set for 2:30 pm.

Navy's 2021 Patriot League Players of the Week
Feb. 22 / Nick Franchuk / Defense
March 1 / Jacob Jarosz / Faceoff and Jon Jarosz / Rookie
March 29 / Spencer Rees / Goalkeeper
April 19 / Christian Daniel / Offense
April 26 / Nick Franchuk Defense and Spencer Rees / Goalkeeper

### Go Navy ###