ANNAPOLIS, Md. // Senior co-captain Nick Cole's (A / Ashburn, Va.) goal at 2:31 in the third quarter broke a 5-5 tie and sparked an 8-1 run by the Navy men's lacrosse team, as the Mids (9-5, 5-3 Patriot League) captured a 13-6 victory over Bucknell (9-5, 3-5 Patriot League) in the regular-season finale played Friday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The win marked the sixth in a row by the Mids in the 21-game series against the Bison.

"Great game. I was really proud of our guys," said third-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "I thought our energy coming out to start the game was the key. It gave us confidence that we can play well."

Navy's defense took center stage in the contest, holding the nation's third-ranked offense better than 8 goals under its average (14.62). While it marked the fourth time in its 14 games this season that Bucknell was held to single digits, the 6 goals were the fewest by the Bison since dropping an 18-6 decision to Lehigh a year ago. Bucknell's starting attack unit comprised of Dutch Furlong, Connor Davis and Alston Tarry was held to a combined 1 goal on 18 shots in Friday night's contest. Each of the three players came into the game with 50 or more points, while the three closed out the game with a combined 4 points (1G, 3A). The Mids clamped down in the second half, holding the Bison to just 1 goal over the final 24:32 in the contest.

"There's no surprise that I'm blessed to have two of the best assistant coaches in the country," added Amplo. "John Orsen has done a magnificent job with this young defense and getting them to be able to play at their best at the end of the year. After two tough couple of weeks against some really good opponents, I think he's done a great job just getting back to the fundamentals and then building that defense."

Navy opened the game on a 3-0 run with Henry Tolker (Fr / A / Catonsville, Md.) scoring two of the three goals, including the first of the night at 13:44. Navy went up 2-0 just under two minutes later when defensive middie Ryan Chase (Sr / Chatham, N.J.) ran the field in transition, dishing off to Xavier Arline (So / A / Wading River, N.Y.) who would dip under defenseman Andrew Stanzel for the goal at the crease. Tolker capped the run at 5:44 off an assist from Patrick Skalniak (Jr / M / Dallas, Texas).

Bucknell, however, would get the final say in the opening quarter, rattling off a pair of goals by Harry Wellford and Connor Davis to close to within one (3-2).

Though Navy went on to stretch its lead to three (5-2) at the half, both teams struggled to get their offensive units running in the second quarter. The Mids went nearly 17 minutes without a goal before Skalniak drew the slide and found Tolker on the right wing for the goal at 4:06 in the quarter. Just under two minutes later, Dane Swanson (So / M / St. Mary's City, Md.) connected on his first goal of the game, an unassisted strike.

Bucknell, who had not scored since the 1:14 mark in the opening quarter, came out of the halftime break with the hot hand, ripping off three-consecutive goals by three different players to level the game at 5 apiece with 9:32 to go in the third quarter. That goal would be the last for the Bison until under a minute to play in the contest, as Navy's defense yielded 13 shots and goalkeeper Pat Ryan (Jr / Groton, Mass.) made 7 saves during that stretch.

Max Hewitt (So / M / Denver, Colo.) found Cole in the center of the box for what would be the first of seven-consecutive goals by the Mids. Six different players accounted for the seven goals, including senior faceoff specialist Nick Barry (Islip, N.Y.) who capped the run with his first-career goal in what was his final appearance at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Bucknell's lone goal in the fourth quarter came with 59.2 seconds remaining when Brenden Lundy targeted his only shot in the game for just his fourth goal this season.

Tolker, who paced the Mids with 3 goals and an assist, became just the 14th Navy freshman to reach the 30-point milestone. With 31 points, he is tied for 12th on Navy's all-time freshman scoring list alongside Christian Daniel (2018) and Dave Pittard (2001). He also added his name to the Mids' all-time freshman goals scored list. With 22 goals, the second most on the team, he is tied with Jack Ray (2015) and Brendan Schneck (1977) for 10th on the list.

Hewitt also finished the game with 4 points (2G, 2A) and is now just 1 points shy of the 30-point mark this season.

Ryan played a strong game between the pipes where he made 16 saves, 1 off his career high, and gave up just 5 goals.

Meanwhile, Navy put together a solid game plan at the faceoff "x" where four players combined to win 13 of the 22 draws (59.1). Nate Hammond (Jr / Lincoln University, Pa.) took the bulk of the faceoffs, winning 10 of 16 (6.25), and grabbing a career-high tying 6 ground balls for a second-straight game.

Five different players accounted for Bucknell's 6 goals, including Wellford who scored 2 on 10 shots (2 on goal).

Defensively, senior Jack Van Slyke went the distance in goal after seeing a combined 53 minutes coming into the contest. He made 12 stops (had 11 coming into the game) and gave up all 13 goals.

Navy learned its Patriot League Tournament fate roughly 40 minutes after the conclusion of its win Friday evening. While the Mids had assured themselves a spot in the six-team tournament a week ago with their win over Army, the only seed locked up heading into Friday night's games was the No. 1 seed by Boston U. In addition to Navy's win over Bucknell, Loyola posted a 13-12 overtime victory at home against Lehigh, while Army upset Boston U. 15-14 on the road. Boston and Army will receive byes, while third-seeded Loyola will play host to sixth-seeded Bucknell on Tuesday at 3:00 pm and fifth-seeded Navy will travel to fourth-seeded Lehigh for a 7:00 pm game on Tuesday in the Patriot League Quarterfinals. Navy's game will be streamed live on ESPN+, while WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will also carry the contest live.

### Go Navy ###