WORCESTER, Mass. // Junior
Max Hewitt (M / Denver, Colo.) scored 5 goals and assisted on another to lead the Navy men's lacrosse team (4-6, 1-2 Patriot League) to a 13-8 Patriot League victory over Holy Cross (0-9, 0-4 Patriot League) Saturday afternoon at Kuzniewski Field in Worcester, Mass.
"This was a tough week fighting through injuries and illness and I was proud of the team for fighting through it," said fourth-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "Max (Hewitt) stepped up and played like the leader of the offense and it was his day to shine. Despite battling the flu the last three of four days, Jon (Jarosz) was also able to provide us with an offensive spark. Defensively we were solid and our faceoff game continues improve."
Navy, who never trailed in the contest, quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals by Hewitt, including his strike just 38 seconds into the contest. Holy Cross got on the scoreboard at the 8:38 mark when Julius Jenkins (D / Fr) wisely launched his clearing pass down the field. Navy's
AJ Hernandez (D / Fr / Dayton, Md.) was unable to intercept the pass and
Pat Ryan (Sr / Groton, Mass.) was out of the goal, allowing Matt Major (A/M / Jr) to score the first of his 3 goals on the day.
Just over three minutes into the second frame, the Mids extended their lead to 4 (5-1).
Henry Tolker (A / So / Catonsville, Md.), who was one of five starters who sat out Tuesday's game at Villanova due to injury, punched in a goal from the right power alley, while
Sam Dracobly (M / Sr / Seattle, Wash.) found
Jon Jarosz (M / Jr / Gambrills, Md.) who drove in his lefty shot from 8 yards out.
The Crusaders, as they have throughout the season, mounted a comeback which was sparked by an extra-man goal by Major at the 5:30 mark. It was the first of three-consecutive goals by Holy Cross in a two-minute span and trimmed Navy's lead to 1 (5-4) with less that four minutes remaining in the opening half.
Navy answered the challenge first with a transition goal by
Jackson Peters (SSDM / Jr / Darien, Conn.) who ran box-to-box nearly untouched, followed by a heady play by
Jack Flaherty (M / Fr / Massapequa, N.Y.) who sent his pass across the field to classmate
Mac Haley (A / Shady Side, Md.) for a goal with just 13 seconds left to give the Mids a 7-4 lead at the break.
Navy opened the third quarter with a 4-1 run to give the Mids their largest lead of the game at 11-5. Jarosz kicked off the run with a crankshot from 10 yards out just 47 seconds into the half. It's the fourth time this season Navy has scored a goal inside the first minute of the second half. Hewitt contributed a pair of goals during the run, while Navy ran it's transition offense to near perfection with
Tommy Hovivian (A / Jr / Dallas, Texas) capping it off on an assist from Haley.
Holy Cross would get no closer than 4 goals the rest of the way, as Navy earned its 16th victory in the 19-game series against the Crusaders.
While the 6-point performance by Hewitt equaled his career high which was set in Navy's win over Johns Hopkins last spring, he surpassed his single-game goals mark of 4 (also against Johns Hopkins) with his 5 in today's contest. Remarkably, Hewitt, who leads Navy with 15 goals this season, has just 4 hat tricks during his career including one this spring. Jarosz, meanwhile, produced his second hat trick in as many games after leading the Mids on Tuesday with 3 against #7 Villanova.
Defensively, co-captain
Kyle Fairbanks (D / Sr / Potomac, Md.) and
Jackson Bonitz (D / Jr / Shrewsbury, Pa.) accounted for 6 of Navy's 10 caused turnovers in the contest. Fairbanks tallied 2 takeaways, while Bonitz equaled his career high with 4 caused turnovers. He leads the team with 16 which stands 18th on the Mids' all-time single-season top 20. He paced Navy a year ago with 18 takeaways.
Ryan finished the game with 12 saves and moved into 20th on Navy's all-time top-20 saves leader board with 234.
Anthony Ghobriel (So / Dallas, Texas) won 13 of the 24 draws he took in the game and eclipsed the 100-win mark for the season. He is the 12th different Navy player to reach the 100-win milestone and with 101 wins, he is tied with Jason Hull (1998) for 16th on the Mids' single-season leader board. He remains 19th in Navy's career record book with 107, however, just 2 wins separate him from 17th.
Holy Cross, who is coached by 1999 Naval Academy graduate J.L. Reppert, had 4 players account for its 8 goals - 3 by Major, 2 by Thomas McIntire (A / Sr) and William Stahl (M / Fr), 1 by Dean DiNanno (A / Sr). The defense got a huge lift from netminder Dawson Friers (Jr), who came into the contest ranked #1 in the country in saves per game (15.50). He stood tall in the cage against the Mids where he made 18 stops, the second most this season behind his 23-save effort last week against Boston University.
The Midshipmen return home to Annapolis where they will play host to Boston University on Friday under the lights in a nationally-televised contest. CBS Sports Network (Jason Knapp, Evan Washburn) will broadcast the game from Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with faceoff slated for 7:00 pm. Additionally, WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will carry the game live with Pete Medhurst and
Joe Miller on the call.
### Go Navy ###
