The Navy lacrosse team (7-5, 3-3 Patriot League) held Lafayette (4-9, 1-6 Patriot League) to its lowest scoring output since 2020, while co-captain Nick Cole (Sr / A / Ashburn, Va.) and Dane Swanson (So / M / St. Mary's City, Md.) both recorded hat tricks to lead the Mids to a 9-5 victory over the Leopards Saturday afternoon at Fisher Stadium in Easton, Pa.

"I am proud of our defense for executing a great game plan put together by Coach Orsen after a challenging two weeks," Navy third-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "The new, youthful faces we put ou there on our faceoff unit and on offense stepped up and helped us secure a very good Patriot League win. We have a lot of work to do and will continue trying to play our best down the stretch."

After a scoreless opening quarter by both programs, Navy ripped off four-unanswered goals over the first-three minutes of the second frame. Swanson drilled back-to-back 15-yard shots to get things rolling for the Mids, including the first goal just 22 seconds into the quarter. Meanwhile, Tommy Hovivian (So / A / Dallas, Texas) scored his first-collegiate goal when he wrapped around the left side of the cage and punched his shot past rookie goalkeeper Gabe Cummins. Cole, meanwhile, capped the four-goal Navy run when he curled around the right side of the goal for his first of the day at 12:02.

After 20-plus minutes without a goal, Lafayette's Cole Dutton (Sr / M) put the Leopards on the scoreboard with his extra-man strike at the 9:18 mark. The Leopards tacked on a Liam Sargent goal (Fr / M) to trim the Mids' lead to two at the half.

Lafayette picked up where it left off with leading scorer Peter Lehman (So / A) punching in his lone goal of the game at the 8:12 mark in the third quarter to get to within one (4-3).

Hovivian, who made his first-collegiate start, answered the call for the Mids, who had not scored since the 12:02 mark in the opening quarter. Uncovered, the second-year player danced along the crease with Henry Tolker (Fr / A / Catonsville, Md.) finding him from nearly 15 yards away for the easy goal.

The Hovivian goal sparked a four-goal run by Navy that spilled into the final frame. Max Hewitt (So / M / Denver, Colo.) targeted his 12-yard shot less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, while Cole completed the run by equaling his career high in goals with back-to-back targets. The first was generated on a restart after Lafayette was whistled for over-and-back and Zach Snider (Jr / LSM / Drexel Hill, Pa.) found Cole alone at the crease. Meanwhile, moments later Cole stripped Cade Kilbride (Fr / D) on a Lafayette clear and had only the goalkeeper to beat to give the Mids their largest lead of the day at 8-3.

Lafayette tried to rally its way back into the contest with back-to-back goals by Dutton just over a minute apart to get to within three (8-5) with 2:17 to play.

The Leopards would pull the goalkeeper the rest of the way and Navy would salt the game away when Swanson split a double team and fired his shot on an open net with 1:09 remaining to give the Mids the 9-5 victory.

Cole and Swanson led the way in the scoring column as Cole turned in his first hat trick of the 2022 campaign and the third of his career. With 87-career points, Cole is now just 13 points shy of becoming the 37th player in program history to reach 100-career points. Swanson, meanwhile, posted his third hat trick of the season and sixth multi-goal game of the spring. He is now just one point shy of becoming the second Navy midfielder this season to reach 30 points and only the 18th different midfielder in school history to achieve the feat.

Patrick Skalniak (Jr / Dallas, Texas) recorded his 17th assist of the season and with 39 points, he needs just one point to become one of only five midfielders in Navy history to post 40 points in a season.

After yielding double-digit goals in each of the previous two weeks, Navy's defense was stout in holding the Leopards to just 5 goals. The Mids held Lafayette scoreless for nearly 20 minutes on two occasions (20:42 - 1/2 Qtrs; 19:38 - 3/4 Qtrs) while putting together their own 4-0 scoring runs. Navy held Lafayette's top-three scorers - Peter Lehman, Kalman Kraham and John Matthes, who each came in with 20-plus goals - to a combined 3 points on a goal (Lehman) and a pair of assists (Kraham).

The 5 goals were the fewest Loyola has scored since Loyola dealt the Leopards a 14-4 loss on Feb. 29, 2020, while it also tied for the fewest goals by a Navy opponent this season (def. Mercer 15-5).

Pat Ryan (Jr / Groton, Mass.) played a solid game between the pipes for the Mids where he made 11 saves.

Meanwhile, Navy recorded 10 caused turnovers with Cole, Nick LiCalzi (So / D / Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and Jackson Bonitz (So / D / Shrewsbury, Pa.) each posting 2.

Navy was also solid in the faceoff game where it won 9 of the 17 draws. The Mids got a huge lift from draw specialist Anthony Ghobriel (Fr / Dallas, Texas) who won 5 of his 8 faceoffs in just his second-career appearance.

Navy will be back in action next Saturday when it travels to West Point for the annual Star Game against archrival Army (10-2, 5-1 Patriot League). CBS Sports Network will televise the contest from Michie Stadium beginning at 12-noon with Jason Knapp and Evan Washburn calling the action. Additionally, WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will carry the game live with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call.

### Go Navy ###