Setting the Stage
• Inside the Game: Looking for its first Patriot League win, Navy (3-3, 0-1 Patriot League) returns home to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium where it will play host to Colgate (1-3, 0-1 Patriot League) Sunday at 12-noon. The Mids are led by Joe Amplo, who owns a 12-8 record in three seasons at the helm of the Navy program, while Colgate's Matt Karweck has posted an 8-25 record in four seasons as the Raiders' head coach. Sunday's contest marks the 21st meeting in a series that dates back to 1911. The Mids hold a 15-5 series advantage, winning each of the last three contests.
• Follow the Action: Sunday's contest will be streamed via ESPN+ (subscription based) with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call. Additionally, the game will be carried live on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with coverage beginning at 11:45 am with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show. Live stats will also be available on NavySports.com(.)

Game Day Storylines
• Patriot League Play Continues: Last weekend marked the beginning of Patriot League play for 8 of the 9 conference teams. Army, Boston U., Lehigh and Loyola opened with a win, while Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Navy are still looking for their first league victory. Unbeaten Bucknell played a nonconference game against Binghamton a week ago, but will travel to Boston this weekend to face the Terriers in their conference opener.
• Scoring Early and Often: In its 6 games this season, Navy has outscored its opponent 66-53. The Mids have been fairly balanced among the 4 quarters, scoring 21, 15, 17 and 13 goals and is outscoring the opponent in 3 of the 4 quarters (21-10 / 15-12 / 17-20 / 13-11). Navy has outscored its opponents 36-22 in the opening half, while the second half the opponent has outscored the Mids 31-30.
• Need a Point, Call on This Trio: Starters Nick Cole (Sr / A), Henry Tolker (Fr / A) and Patrick Skalniak (Jr / M) have produced a point in each of the Mids' 6 games this season. Skalniak has turned in a point in each of the 20 games during his career, while Cole has recorded a point in 31 of the 33 games in which he's played including each of the last 14.
• Milestone Watch: Co-captain Nick Cole (Sr / A), the team's fourth-leading scorer this spring (5G-10A=15Pts), has at minimum 8 games to score 29 points and become the 37th player in program history to reach the 100-point milestone for his career. Cole has produced 71 points on 39 goals and 32 assists in the 33 games in which Navy has played over the last 4 seasons.
• 1-2 Midfield Punch: Starting midfielders Patrick Skalniak (Jr) and Dane Swanson (So) have been sensational for the Mids this season. Skalniak is Navy's leading scorer with 23 points on 12 goals and 11 assists, while Swanson has turned in 16 points on 10 goals and 6 assists and is tied with Henry Tolker (Fr / A) for the second-most points. While not unusual to have a midfielder lead the team in scoring (Ryan Wade did so in 2019), it is unusual to have your top-two scorers out of the midfield. So rare, it's never happened in the previous 114 years of Navy lacrosse. Perhaps the closest would be in 1969 when Dennis Yatras played both midfield and attack (two-thirds midfield) and paired up with Harry MacLaughlin to lead the Mids with 29 and 28 points, respectively.
• The X Factor: Xavier Arline (So / A), the five-star standout who was rated the #5 overall incoming recruit in the summer of 2020, made his much-anticipated lacrosse debut last Saturday at Lehigh. Arline, who is a quarterback on the Navy football team, kept his focus solely on football his first year, but this past January received the blessing from both head football coach Ken Niumatalolo and head lacrosse coach Joe Amplo to play both sports moving forward. Arline spent the better part of the last 2 months recovering from an injury, while also fine-tuning his stick skills. Arline, who had not seen action in a lacrosse uniform since his junior year of high school, lost his senior year of lacrosse due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Bonitz Among Navy's All-time CT Leaders: With a pair of caused turnovers against Manhattan (2.20), Jackson Bonitz (So / D) joined Navy's all-time caused turnovers list. Bonitz is tied with former teammate Jeff Durden (2018-21) for 17th on the list with 21 takeaways in 15-career games. He is now 1 shy of tying Alex Heyward (22, 2012-15) for 16th.
• Three Seasons, Three Keepers: Navy has had 3 different starting goalies in each of Joe Amplo's 3 seasons as head coach. Ryan Kern was a four-year starter for the Mids, making his final start in Amplo's first season (2020) that was cut short due to COVID-19. Last season, Spencer Rees garnered All-America and Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year honors as a senior and a first-time starter. This season, Pat Ryan (Jr) stands between the pipes where he is ranked #9 nationally in goals-against average (9.03) and #23 in save percentage (53.9).

Scouting Colgate
• Fourth-year head coach Matt Karweck has led Colgate to a 1-3 record this season, including an 0-1 mark in Patriot League action. The Raiders' opened the season with back-to-back losses on the road to High Point (11-10) and North Carolina (15-9), before bouncing back with an 11-8 victory over Air Force in their home opener. In last weekend's Patriot League opener, Colgate suffered an 18-6 rout at the hands of Boston U.
• Brian Minicus (Sr / A), a 2021 Second-Team All-Patriot League selection, is atop the scoring list for Colgate, pacing the team in goals (11), assists (7) and points (18). Meanwhile, Rory Connor (Fr / A) stands second with 10 points on 8 goals and 2 assists. The younger brother of Brian Minicus, Michael Minicus (So / A) has contributed 7 points on 5 goals and 2 assists.
• Standing between the pipes is Matt LaCombe (Fr / GK) who owns a 12.90 goals-against average and a 50.0 save percentage as a first-year starter.
• Colgate has averaged just 4.4 caused turnovers per game with Aidan Murnane (D / Fr) leading the team with 5 takeaways.
• Thomas Colucci (Jr) owns a 59.8 (55-92) faceoff winning percentage and has taken all but 8 of the team's draws this season. He is ranked #15 nationally, while the team stands 13th. Additionally, he leads the team with 33 ground balls.
• Lehigh has scored 6 extra-man goals on 13 opportunities (46.2), while its man-down defense has stopped 5 of the 11 (45.5) man-up chances by the opponent.

Navy vs. Colgate - The Series
• Navy leads the all-time series with Colgate 16-7, including an 8-3 advantage in games played in Annapolis.
• The Mids have won 3 straight in the series (12-10 in 2018 // 16-11 in 2019 // 16-14 in 2020), and have also won 3 in a row at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (16-9 in 2016 // 12-10 in 2018 // 16-14 in 2020).
• The two teams have met 21 times since the Midshipmen joined the Patriot League in 2004. During that span, Navy has produced a 14-7 record and has outscored Colgate, 222-181.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, last year was the first time since Navy joined the Patriot League that the two teams did not meet.
• Navy and Colgate have twice faced one another in the Patriot League Tournament and have been met with split results.  In 2007, the Mids claimed a 15-9 win over the Raiders in the championship game, before dropping the program's first Patriot League Tournament contest at the 2008 semifinals against eventual champion Colgate.
• Six of the last 13 contests between the two programs have been decided by one goal with Navy winning 4 of the 6 (L in 2009, W in 2009, W in 2010, L in 2011, W in 2012, W in 2015).

Patriot League Success
• Since joining the Patriot League in 2004, Navy has put together an 89-48 record (65.0) against conference members, which includes a 2-0 mark against Hobart who left the league following the 2004 season.  
• The Mids are 78-40 (66.1) in regular-season action and 11-8 (57.9) in the Patriot League Tournament.
• Navy won eight-consecutive Patriot League Tournament games and four-straight Patriot League Tournament titles (2004-07) before dropping the program's first tournament contest in the 2008 semifinals against eventual champion Colgate.  
• 31 of the 48 losses (64.6) have been in games played either at the opponent's field (26) or at a neutral site (5).
• Navy owns a 45-17 (72.6) Patriot League record at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, including a 39-14 (73.6) mark during the regular season.
• The Mids have produced undefeated records in regular-season conference action twice, 7-0 in 2004 and 6-0 in '07.
• Navy has won at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title eight times (2004-05-06-07-08-15-16-18) since joining the league in 2004.
• Additionally, the Mids have claimed the league's tournament crown five times (2004-05-06-07-09).