HEMPSTEAD, N.Y.—Dane Swanson scored four goals and handed out an assist, while Patrick Skalniak scored two goals and dished out three assists to lead the Navy men's lacrosse team (2-1) to a dominating 13-6 win over Hofstra (2-1) on Friday night in front of an announced crowd of 1,176 on Long Island.
 
"I was impressed with our intensity and focus right from the start of the game," said Navy head coach Joe Amplo, who is a Hofstra grad and was bringing his team to his alma mater for the first time as the Navy head coach. "We played the way we want to play tonight. It was a Navy lacrosse win."
 
Navy jumped out to a 2-0 lead 7:21 into the game on goals by Skalniak and Jack Sweeney, off an assist from Skalniak, and never looked back in the contest as the Mids led from start to finish.
 
Hofstra would cut the lead to 2-1, but Dane Swanson and Henry Tolker quickly answered to give Navy a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
Navy outscored the Pride 3-0 in the second quarter to take a commanding 7-1 lead into the halftime locker room behind two goals from Max Hewitt and one from Skalniak.
 
Tolker would make it 8-1 to start the third quarter, before the Pride scored back-to-back goals at 13:59 and 11:11 to make it 8-3.
 
The Mids would extinguish any hopes of a Hofstra comeback by scoring three goals in a span of 2:15 to finish the third quarter with an 11-3 lead as Swanson, Dom Cole and Tolker tallied goals. The freshman Tolker finished the night with three goals and an assist.
 
Navy outshot Hofstra 38-30 as the Navy defense held the Pride to just 13 shots on goals.
 
Longstick midfielder Zach Snider had an incredible night with five ground balls and four caused turnovers, while Augie Fratt had four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Pat Ryan was solid between the pipes with seven saves.
 
"Snider is turning into a little bit of a nuisance" said Amplo. "He's a product of player development. He's worked hard to get to where he is right now.
 
The Mids played its best game of the year despite having to deal with six week exams all week
 
"There are lots of challenges at this institution, but this is what they signed up for," said Amplo.  "I told the team that on Friday night at 6:00 pm nobody is going to care that they had to take exams all week, it was just going to be two lacrosse teams trying to get a win.  I thought they handled it like professionals."
 
The Mids will stay in Hempstead and take on Manhattan (1-1) Sunday at 12 noon at Hofstra.