Setting the Stage
• Winners of back-to-back games over nationally-ranked opponents, 13th-ranked Navy (5-2, 3-2 Patriot League) will close out the regular season on Saturday when it travels to Easton, Pa. to face Lafayette (0-10, 0-7 PL). Faceoff is slated for 2:30 pm at Fisher Stadium.
• Saturday's contest will be televised live by CBS Sports Network with Jason Knapp and Steve Panarelli calling the action.
• Please be advised, visiting team spectators are not allowed at Lafayette home events.

Game Day Storylines
• Rees and Franchuk Garner National and Conference Accolades: Spencer Rees (Sr /GK) garnered multiple honors this week following his 19-save performance that led Navy to a 9-4 victory over then 10th-ranked Army and held the Black Knights to its lowest goal output since 2017. 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.  Rees was named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week on Monday and a day later was named the US Lacrosse Div. I National Player of the Week, while also being named to the 10-player USILA Div. I National Team of the Week. Meanwhile, co-captain Nick Franchuk (Sr / D) was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week, as well as the Baltimore Sun's Div. I National Player of the Week after shutting down the nation's eighth-leading scorer and Tewaaraton Award nominee Brendan Nichtern. It was just the third game in Nichtern's 35-game career in which he was held without a point.
• Tournament Bound: Just a day after the Patriot League announced it would expand the 2021 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Championship to its traditional six-team format, Navy secured a berth in the tournament by upsetting 10th-ranked Army, 9-4, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy, the No. 3 seed in the South Division, will play at second-seeded Loyola on Tuesday evening beginning at 5:00 pm in the quarterfinals. While Army, Boston U. and Colgate have all clinched tournament berths via the North Division, the seeds have not yet been determined. The winners of the two quarterfinal games will advance to the semifinals hosted by undefeated Lehigh on Friday where the winner of the South quarterfinal will play the top seed of the North Division and the winner of the North quarterfinal will play Lehigh, the No. 1 seed in the South. Both semifinal games (4:00 / 7:00 pm) will be televised by CBS Sports Network, as will the championship game slated for 12:00 pm on Sunday, May 9.
• Back-To-Back: Navy has defeated nationally-ranked Loyola (#15) and Army (#10) in the last 2 weeks. It's the first time Navy has won back-to-back games against nationally-ranked opponents since 2009 when the Mids needed triple overtime to beat #17 Colgate (9-8) in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals before taking the title with a 9-8 win over #15 Bucknell in Lewisburg. It's the first time it has beaten two top-15 opponents in consecutive games since 2005 when Navy claimed a 9-8 win over #6 Maryland and defeated #4 Army (12-9) a week later.
• 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 38 games he has played in over his career, has amassed 114 points on 72 goals and 42 assists and is ranked 25th on the Mids' all-time scoring list. He is just 7 points outside of the top 20 (121 by Brendan Schneck, 1977-78).

Scouting Lafayette
• Lafayette heads into Saturday's contest looking for its first win of the season under third-year head coach Patrick Myers. While the Leopards have struggled in the win column, they are closing the gap, losing by 3 (14-11) to undefeated Lehigh and 4 (11-7) to nationally-ranked Loyola.
• The Leopards have lost 26-consecutive games, earning their last win on Feb. 23, 2019, in a 13-12 decision at home over Binghamton. Meanwhile, they have lost 30-straight Patriot League games with their last victory coming against none other than Navy on March 11, 2017.
• While it has adjusting during the season, Lafayette fields perhaps the youngest lineup in the country with 6 freshmen, 3 sophomores and a junior. Five of the starting 6 offensive players are rookies, while just 1 defenseman is in his first year.
• Lafayette's top 3 scorers are freshmen with attackman Peter Lehman leading the way with 24 points on a team-high 20 goals and 4 assists. First-year middie Charlie Cunniffe has tallied 22 points on 11 goals and a team-high 11 assists. Attackman Carter Cecil, meanwhile, has 16 points on 10 goals and 6 assists.
• Standing between the pipes is Ryan Ness (Jr / GK) who owns a 14.43 goals-against average and a 48.3 save percentage. He is averaging 12.70 saves per game.
• Lafayette has utiltized 3 faceoff men throughout the season with James Turco (So) posting a team-best 49.6 (56-113) winning percentage. Aidan Kelly (Fr) has won 29 of his 92 draws (28.3) and Dean Carnival (So) is 28 of 65 (43.1).
• As a team, Lafayette is averaging 8.80 goals per game, while its defense is yielding 14.60 goals per game.
• From a special teams perspective, the Leopards have scored on just 19.4 percent (7-36) of their extra-man chances, while the man-down team has stopped 13 of its opponents' 24 opportunities (54.2).

Navy vs. Lafayette - The Series
• Saturday's contest marks the 22nd meeting between the two programs, and the 18th since the Midshipmen joined the Patriot League in 2004. Navy leads the series 19-2.
• Navy and Lafayette first met in 1926 with the Mids earning a 23-0 win. The two teams battled one another three times between 1929-31 before the series went on pause. the two programs would not meet again until the Mids joined the Patriot League.
• The Mids won 10 straight against the Leopards before dropping the program's game to Lafayette on March 12, 2010 in Easton. Navy won seven in a row before falling a second time, again in Easton, by a 9-8 count in 2017.
• Navy has scored double digits in 17 of the 21 games, while the Mids have held Lafayette to single digits 19 times.
• In the 21-game history, the Mids have outscored the Leopards, 267-107. Since joining the league in '04, Navy has outscored Lafayette, 203-106.

Road Rules
• Navy closes out the regular season on Saturday in what will be just its third road game of the season - April 10 at Lehigh (L, 13-7), April 17 at Loyola (W, 14-12) and May 1 at Lafayette.
• Navy's April 10 contest at Lehigh was its first road trip in 287 days. Ironically, the Mids' last road game prior to that was at Lehigh on Feb. 29, 2020, a game the Mountain Hawks would win 14-6.
• Navy snapped a three-game road skid with its 14-12 victory over #15 Loyola on April 17. Prior to that, the Mids had lost consecutive road games to #18 Richmond (12-9) and #19 Lehigh (14-6) in 2020 and  #8 Lehigh (13-7) in 2021.
• Prior to the Mids' win at Loyola, their last win on the road against a nationally-ranked opponent was a memorable one. On April 21, 2018, Navy scored 2 goals in the final minute, including the game-winner with two-tenths of a second left, to defeat #9 Syracuse 13-12 at the storied Carrier Dome.
• The Mids own a 225-176-4 (56.0) all-time record in true road games and a 14-13-0 (51.9) mark in neutral site games.
• Since the beginning of the 2004 campaign, Navy has won 51 of its 103 (49.5) true road games.
• Navy has had a losing record on the road in 6 of the last 12 years.

Special Teams Making Their Mark
• Navy closed out the 2020 campaign with both the extra-man (#3) and man-down (#11) units ranked among the nation's top 11. Navy was one of four teams nationally to be ranked among the top 11 in BOTH extra-man offense and man-down defense, joining Providence, Marist and Georgetown.
• The extra-man squad scored 10 goals on 15 opportunities (66.7). The Mids were a perfect 7 for 7 in their last two games of 2020 - 4 for 4 at Lehigh and 3 for 3 vs. Colgate.
• Navy's 4 man-up goals against Lehigh marked the first time since 2011 that it has scored 4 or more extra-man goals in a game (5-for-10 against Holy Cross, 3.19.11). It was also just the second game in program history that Navy was a perfect 4-for-4 on extra-man (VMI, 2.7.09).
• Last year marked the first time Navy has scored double-digit extra-man goals in a season since 2016 when it was 12 of 33.
• The man-down squad allowed just 3 goals on 14 opportunities, holding its foes scoreless on 78.6 percent of their tries.
• The Mids' 2021 man-up unit has been stellar and is ranked #9 nationally and #1 in the Patriot League (11-24, 45.8). Navy scored on 2 of its 4 opportunities in its opener against Mount St. Mary's, 2 of 3 against Jacksonville and 2 of 4 in the league opener against Bucknell. After being held scoreless (0-2) by Loyola in the first meeting, the Mids came back and scored on 4 of their 6 chances in the second meeting against the Greyhounds.
• Navy's 11 extra-man goals are the most it has scored since the 2016 season when it was 12 of 33 and made it to the NCAA Quarterfinals. Navy played 16 games that season.
• Jack Sweeney (Jr / A) scored a hat trick at Loyola (4.17) with all 3 goals scored on extra-man sets. It's the second-consecutive year Navy has had a player score 3 extra-man goals in a game (3 by Tyler Perreten at Lehigh).
• Sweeney has scored 6 of Navy's 11 extra-man goals this spring with Christian Daniel (Sr / A) scoring a pair and Ryan Magnuson (Jr / M), Bryson Rhee (Fr / M) and Dane Swanson (Fr / M) accounting for the rest.
• Sweeney's 6 extra-man goals are the seventh most in Div. I this spring behind Payton Cormmier (Virginia), Will Yorke (Notre Dame) and Dalton Young (Richmond) and another 3 who have scored 7.
• The 6 man-up goals by Sweeney are the most by a Navy player since Harrison Chaires turned in 7 in 2011. Ironically, that same season Chaires turned in a hat trick made up of extra-man targets in Navy's win over Holy Cross (3.19.11).
• Daniel, meanwhile, has recorded 12 extra-man goals over his career (5 Fr // 4 So // 1 Jr // 2 Sr), while dealing out 6 assists. Five of the 6 assists have come this season as he has been involved in 7 of Navy's 11 extra-man goals (2G, 5A).
• On the other side of the ball, Navy's man-down squad (17-25, 68.0) moved up to 29th nationally and fifth in the Patriot League after holding Army scoreless on 2 opportunities.