ANNAPOLIS, Md. // Henry Tolker (Fr / A / Catonsville, Md.) scored three of his career-high four goals during a 6-1 Navy run in the first and second quarters, helping the Mids (6-3, 2-1 Patriot League) to a 14-8 victory over the visiting Holy Cross men's lacrosse team (0-8, 0-4 Patriot League) Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

"I thought it was very sloppy (the start of the game). It was due to Holy Cross coming out with great energy. Their coaching staff has done a terrific job with that team. I know their record doesn't speak to it, but watching them on film and how they have grown from the beginning of the season until now is pretty impressive. They came out with energy and gave us fits, especially on the offensive end. I thought their defensive kids were pests and our guys were not sharp. We would love to be sharper, but I'm always going to credit the opponent, especially these guys. Coach Reppert was the captain here in 1999. I played against him in college. I know the type of man he is. I know how he coaches and I knew he would have his guys ready. He's done a great job with that team. All the credit in the world goes to them. Certainly we could have been sharper, but the opponent deserves a ton of credit in this one.

"I think our guys played a little more confidently," Amplo said in regards to Navy's ability to open up its lead in the second quarter. "As the game moved along, the looks were open. We were confident that we were going to get to the spots that we were capable of, we just needed to be a little bit sharper. We beat their pressure with better stickwork. That's what good players do."

Co-captain Nick Cole (Sr / A / Ashburn, Va.), who saw his 14-game point-scoring streak come to an end in last week's historic win over 18th-ranked Johns Hopkins, wasted little time in notching what would be the first of his six points on the afternoon by netting an unassisted shot at 9:04 to give Navy a 1-0 advantage.

After being held in check for the first 13 minutes, Holy Cross knotted the game when junior middie T.J. Lynch sent his low-to-low sidewinder past Navy keeper Pat Ryan (Jr / Groton, Mass.) with 2:47 left in the opening quarter.

The tie would be short-lived, however, as Navy won the ensuing faceoff with long-stick midfielder Zach Snider (Jr / Drexel Hill, Pa.) picking up the loose ball and punching in his first-collegiate goal to give Navy the lead just eight seconds later.

While Navy would never trail again after Snider's go-ahead goal, the Mids were able to open up a comfortable lead by going on a 5-1 run in the second quarter that featured three goals by Tolker - all fed by Cole.

Holy Cross, however scored a pair of goals just 17 seconds apart to close out the first half and trail by 3 at the break.

Though Cole pushed the Mids' lead to four (8-4) by scoring the opening goal of the third quarter on a wrap-around shot, Holy Cross answered with back-to-back goals including a bouncer in transition by junior middie Cameron Magalotti to get to within two (8-6) with 3:12 left in the third quarter.

Jon Jarosz (So / A / Gambrills, Md.) stepped up in the final minutes of the third frame for the Mids, scoring back-to-back goals at the crease just 56 seconds apart.

"We've been waiting for that," said Amplo. "He's a young man who had a really good freshman year at times and was struggling a little bit during this season. We know he's got it in him. I thought that was a confidence boost for him. He's a big kid and hee can get to the goal when he wants to. He scored two big ones (today)."

Navy went on to outscore the Crusaders 4-2 in the final quarter and featured the second goal of the day by Snider, the third by Jarosz, the fourth by Tolker and Keegan Houser (So / M / Annapolis, Md.) capped the scoring for Navy with his third of the year.

Cole paced the Mids with a career-high six-point performance, that included tying his career best in assists with four. Meanwhile, Tolker turned in his fourth hat trick of the season on a career-best four goals. Additionally, he contributed a career-high seven ground balls that included several that maintained possession for the Mids.

"I thought we picked up some big ground balls. I thought the play of the game was Henry Tolker's ground ball in the third quarter to save a possession and then we score on that possession and I think the possession after that. To me, that was the turning point. It's plays like that that we need in games like this against a scrappy opponent.

"He's just steady," added Amplo about Tolker. "He's not playing like a freshman, that's for sure. He had four goals, he did his job with the ball in his stick. But the most impressive thing was his seven ground balls. That's what big time players do. They pick up ground balls. He is stealing possessions for us, he's making the plays that a lot of people don't see that help you win lacrosse games. As a freshman, that's pretty impressive."

Meanwhile, Holy Cross zeroed in on the Mids' midfield, holding leading scorer Patrick Skalniak (Jr / Dallas, Texas) to a single goal, second-leading scorer Dane Swanson (So / St. Mary's City, Md.) to just an assist and allowed two shots by last week's USILA Team of the Week selection Max Hewitt (So / Denver, Colo.).

While Navy entered the game having scored just four transition goals this season, the Mids scored three in their win on Saturday. In addition to Snider's goal in the opening period, he would find the back of the net a second time when he grabbed a ground ball and went coast to coast. Meanwhile, short-stick defensive middie Augie Fratt (Sr / Bellevue, Wash.) grabbed the loose ball off a faceoff in the second quarter and split two defensemen to fire in his first goal since moving from offense to defense. His last goal was against Colgate in the final game of 2020 before the season was shut down.

"We made it a point to work on transition this week, the basics of odd man opportunities, 3-on-2s, 2-on-1s, things that develop over the course of the game that we need to capitalize on. We did a good job with that in practice and those guys saw those opportunities and seized them and made the plays. We're going to need that moving forward. We can't rely on just half-field offense. I was happy with what we did today."

Ryan anchored a solid defensive performance for the Mids with 10 saves over the first 56 minutes. Senior Ryan Verducci (Alexandria, Va.) played between the pipes for the final four minutes where he matched his career high with a pair of saves while yielding an extra-man goal by the Crusaders in the final two minutes.

Four players took faceoffs for the Mids with Nate Hammond (Jr / Lincoln University, Pa.) winning 9 of the 12 he took on the day.

Seven different players accounted for Holy Cross' eight goals with Lynch leading the way with a pair. Defenseman Chris Conlin recorded four caused turnovers and picked up six ground balls, while Dawson Friers made 12 stops in goal for the Crusaders.

Winners of three in a row, the Mids will make the trek north next weekend when they play 13th-ranked Boston University (7-1, 4-0 Patriot League) at Nickerson Field. Next Saturday's game is set for a 12-noon faceoff and will be streamed live on ESPN+. Additionally, WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will carry the game live with Pete Medhurst on the call.

### Go Navy ###