Mount St. Mary's (1-0) used a 5-1 run in the third quarter to build a three-goal advantage and went on to defeat the Navy men's lacrosse team (0-1) 11-9 Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The contest was the opener for both teams.

Despite Navy leading in nearly every category - 50-41 shots, 40-39 ground balls, 13-10 faceoffs, 14-21 turnovers, 16-21 saves - Mount St. Mary's took advantage of a number of plays that went its way throughout the game, including scoring two man-down goals and had two team or own-goals scored. Both rare occurances, the last time Navy surrendered an own-goal was in a 14-9 loss at Towson on March 11, 2014. Meanwhile, the last time Navy allowed a man-down goal was on April 26, 2019 against Boston U.

"Credit to Mount St. Mary's, Coach Gravante and Coach Giblin. Those kids played their tails off. They had them ready to play. They had a terrific plan and they outplayed us for 60 minutes and they deserved to win," said third-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo.

"It's frustrating. You think going into the game the guys are mentally prepared and that's on me as the head coach to have been playing with confidence. Unfortunately our guys were not as confident as they needed to be and that led to us not being as polished in our stickwork as we should be."

Navy opened the 2022 campaign with First-Team All-Patriot League midfielder Patrick Skalniak (Jr / Dallas, Texas) feeding Henry Tolker (A / Fr / Catonsville, Md.) for his first collegiate goal just over a minute into the contest. That assist extended Skalniak's streak to 15-straight games with a point dating back to his arrival in Annapolis in 2020. Mount St. Mary's, however, answered by scoring three-consecutive goals, including the first own-goal.

The Mids drew within one by the end of the quarter when Tolker returned the favor to Skalniak and also sparked what would be a 4-0 run by the Mids that extended into the second period. Dane Swanson (M / So / St. Mary's City, Md.) scored back-to-back goals in the opening minutes of the second frame, while Tolker scored his second of the game off an assist from co-captain Nick Cole (A / Sr / Ashburn, Va.) to give Navy a 5-3 advantage.

The two teams played a scoreless seven-plus minutes before Mount St. Mary's long-stick midfielder Steven Schmitt fed senior attackman Jared McMahon for a man-down goal at 3:44. Two minutes later, junior attackman Cormac Giblin wrapped around the right side of the cage, tucking his shot past first-year Navy starting goalkeeper Pat Ryan (Jr / Groton, Mass.) to level the game.

Navy took a one-goal lead into locker room at halftime, however, when Swanson found Skalniak for a 10-yarder on the right wing with 33 seconds remaining in the opening half.

Mount St. Mary's came to life in the third quarter on both ends of the field, as the Mount found the back of the net early and often while their defense swarmed the Mids.

Amplo added, "They got to the loose balls on the offensive end when they needed to and their goalkeeper made some key saves (in the second half). Our shot selection was not terrific and it allowed them to build some confidence on the defensive end. Their aggressiveness threw us off our rhythm and their tenacity on the ball really impacted our stick work. That's something our guys are going to have to learn from if we are going to win some games."

The Mount evened the scored just 34 seconds into the second half and took a 7-6 advantage when Giblin fired in his third goal of the afternoon off an assist from McMahon.

The Mids tied the game up for the fourth time on the afternoon when Jon Jarosz (A / So / Gambrills, Md.) found Swanson at the top of the box, who notched his second-career hat trick.

The game turned in Mount St. Mary's favor with just under seven minutes to go in the third frame. Midfielder Kelly Gouin's shot from five yards out ricocheted off the goalkeeper and back into traffic, where it would hit a stick before bouncing off the leg of Navy defenseman Nick LiCalzi (So / Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and into the net for the own-goal. Two minutes later, Navy found itself a man up, however, Swanson's shot was saved by Griffin McGinley which prompted a transition opportunity for the Mount. Defenseman Mitchell Dunham grabbed the loose ball and found fellow defenseman Jackson Phillips who targeted his shot for the second man-down goal of the day. Navy was flagged on that goal, putting the ball right back into the possession of Mount St. Mary's. The Mount scored its lone extra-man goal of day (on 4 attempts) just 42 seconds later when McMahon once again found Giblin to give MSM's a 10-7 lead after three quarters.

The Mount made it four in a row when Giblin scored his fifth goal of the game at the 10:40 mark and pushed their lead to four (11-7).

Navy's defense held the Mount scoreless over the final 10-plus minutes, but goals by Cole (9:51) and Skalniak (1:57) would not be enough as the Mids would fall two goals short at the final horn.

Navy was paced by Skalniak and Swanson who each had 3 goals and 2 assists, while Tolker turned in a pair of goals and an assist against the team in which his dad, Greg, played for and remains the program's all-time leading scorer.

Defensively, Second-Team All-Patriot League defenseman Jackson Bonitz (So / Shrewsbury, Pa.) wreaked havoc with a career-high tying 4 caused turnovers and 6 ground balls. Meanwhile, Ryan earned his first collegiate start after having played just under 13 minutes in a combined 3 games prior to Saturday's opener. He finished the contest with 16 saves and forced a pair of MSM turnovers.

Navy held a slight advantage at faceoff where Jacob Jarosz  (Sr / Gambrills, Md.) and Nate Hammond (Jr / Lincoln University, Pa.) combined to win 13 of the 23 draws. Hammond's 9 wins (9-14) tied his career best set a year ago against Bucknell (9-21).

Five different players scored for the Mount, including Giblin who scored 5 goals on 10 shots. On the other end of the field, McGinley was sensational in the goal where he made 21 saves, including 12 in the second half.

Navy returns to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium next Saturday when it plays host to Mercer in what will be the first game between the two programs. The Bears won their opener against Bellarmine (9-4), but fell short against Bucknell (16-14) this afternoon. The Navy-Mercer contest is slated for a 12-noon faceoff and will be streamed on ESPN+, however there will be no radio coverage due to the Army-Navy men's and women's basketball doubleheader at West Point.

### Go Navy ###