Setting the Stage
• Inside the Game: Making its first trip to Lewisburg, Pa. since 2018, Navy (7-7, 4-3 Patriot League) will play Bucknell (3-9, 2-5 Patriot League) Friday evening in both teams' regular-season finale. Faceoff is set for 7:30 pm at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Joe Amplo owns a 25-18 record in his four years at the helm of the Navy program, while the Bison are under the direction of Frank Fedorjak who is in his 18th year (147-105). Saturday's contest marks the 22nd meeting in a series that dates back to 1996. The Mids hold a 13-8 series advantage over Bucknell.
• Follow the Action: The Navy-Bucknell contest will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription based) with Jack Ridenour calling the action. Additionally, the game will be carried live on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call. Radio coverage begins at 7:15 pm with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show. Live stats will also be available on NavySports.com(.)

Navy Quick Hits
• Hewitt Among Program's Elite Midfielders: Last year's starting midfield trio was one for the record books, as Patrick Skalniak (Sr / 28-20=48), Dane Swanson (Jr / 21-17=38) and Max Hewitt (Jr / 20-12=32) all finished the season with at least 30 points. It marked the first time in program history that 3 midfielders reached the 30-point milestone in the same season. Hewitt once again etched his name in the record books when, behind his 4-point (3G, 1A) effort at Loyola (4.7), he reached the 30-point milestone for a second time. Hewitt, Navy's leading scorer this spring (23-10=33), is only the 8th midfielder in school history to score 30 points multiple times in a career - Max Hewitt (2022-23), Greyson Torain (2017-18-19), Ryan Wade (2018-19), Graham Gill (2004-05), Jamie Slough (1992-93-94), Brian Keith (1989-90), Glen Miles (1984-86) and Mike Chanenchuk (1977-78-79).
• Bonitz Looks for 50th Caused Turnover: All-American defenseman Jackson Bonitz (Jr) is 1 caused turnover away from becoming only the 5th player in school history to reach 50-career takeaways. The three-year starter recorded 3 caused turnovers against Army last weekend to move into the top 5 where he resides with 49-career takeaways. John Trainor (2014-17) is next on the list in 4th place with 52 caused turnovers. Additionally, the 3 takeaways against Army also propelled him over the 20-CT mark for the season. He is just the 7th different Navy player to reach the 20-takeaway mark in a season. He stands 9th on the single-season list, 5 outside of the top 5.
• Hernandez has Sights Set on Rookie Caused Turnover Mark: AJ Hernandez (Fr / D) has recorded 11 caused turnovers this season, a mark tied (Pat Kiernan, 2011) as the fourth most by a Navy freshman. He needs just 2 more takeaways to tie and 3 more to set the Navy record. Chris Fennell (2014) and Andrew McKenna (2018) hold the record which stands at 13. Hernandez's 11 caused turnovers this spring are the second most on the team.
• Haley Approaches Freshman Top-10 Lists: Mac Haley (Fr / A) is on the verge of joining the ranks of some of the best rookies in program history. A starter in all 14 contests this season, he is the team's second-leading scorer with 27 points on 15 goals and 12 assists. Haley needs just 3 points to become only the 15th freshman in Navy history to reach 30 points. He stands 10th on the freshman assists list with 12.
• Ghobriel Nears 150-Win Mark: Faceoff specialist Anthony Ghobriel (So) is just 1 win shy of becoming only the 6th Navy player to reach 150 faceoff wins in program history. His 149 wins this spring are the most by a Navy player since Joe Varello won 160 draws in 2018. Meanwhile, he is only 24 wins shy of the program record of 173 set by Chris Pieczonka in Navy's run to the 2004 NCAA Championship Game. Ghobriel, meanwhile, became just the 13th player in school history to reach 150 wins in a career last weekend against Army. He stands 12th on the Mids' all-time wins list with 155 wins in just 16 games.
• Changing Lineup: An injury-riddled Navy team has used 8 different starting lineups in its 14 games this spring, including a different lineup in 6 of its last 9 contests. Mac Haley (Fr / A), Max Hewitt (Jr / M) and Jackson Bonitz (Jr / D) are the only players to have started all 14 games for the Mids this season. Navy swapped starting keepers (Pat Ryan, Dan Daly) and attackmen (Henry Tolker, Jon Jarosz) in the first two games before settling into its original lineup for games against Hofstra, Manhattan and High Point. Navy suffered its first major injury of the season against High Point and has seen injuries mount over the last month. The Mids used the same lineup during their four-game winning streak (Holy Cross, Boston U., Loyola, Lafayette), before changing it up once against last weekend against Army with Sam Dracobly (Sr) getting the nod at midfield over rookie Jack Flaherty.

Scouting Bucknell
• Eighteenth-year Bucknell head coach Frank Fedorjaka has led the Bison to a 3-9 record, including a 2-5 mark in the Patriot League. After winning its opener 20-6 against Mercer, Bucknell lost six-consecutive games that included the first 2 games of Patriot League play. Bucknell, who did not qualify for this year's Patriot League Tournament, owns conference wins over Colgate (14-10) and Holy Cross (18-12). The Bison have lost 3 league games by 2 goals or less - 14-12 vs. Boston U., 14-13 vs. Loyola, 14-13 OT vs. Lafayette.
• Bucknell is ranked #43 nationally and #4 in the Patriot League in scoring offense, averaging 11.50 goals per game.
• Dutch Furlong (Jr / A) is atop Bucknell's scoring leader board with 55 points on 21 goals and a team-high 34 assists. He is ranked #9 nationally in points per game (5.00) and #3 in assists per game (3.09). Connor Davis (So / A) has produced 28 points on a team-best 24 goals and 4 assists. He is ranked #29 in the country in goals per game (2.67). Meanwhile, 4 other players have topped 20 points this season - Will Hopkins (16-11=27), Cam Doolan (17-8=25), Michael Meyer (13-12=25) and Jack Feda (21-1=22).
• Rookie Jaz Zanelli has played nearly 648 of the 724 minutes in goal for the Bison. He enters Friday night's game with a 12.69 goals-against average and a 48.5 save percentage. As a team, Bucknell is allowing 12.50 goals per game.
• The defense has been bolstered by the play of Andrew Stanzel (Sr / D) and Hank Bethel (Sr / D), who have both topped 20 caused turnovers this season. Stanzel has a team-best 25 takeaways, while Bethel owns 22. As a team, Bucknell is ranked #3 nationally in caused turnovers per game (11.75).
• Brendan Coyle (Jr) has taken the bulk of the faceoffs, winning 81 of his 198 draws (40.9). Meanwhile, Conor McCusker (Sr) has won 37 of 88 faceoffs (42.0) and Griffin Shaffer (Fr) is 15 of 34 (44.1).

Navy vs. Bucknell - The Series
• Friday night's contest between Navy and Bucknell marks the 22nd game in a series that began in 1996. It's the 20th game since Navy joined the Patriot League in the spring of 2004.
• Navy owns a 13-8 advantage in the series, winning each of the last 6 contests.
• The Bison own a 5-4 lead over the Midshipmen in games played in Lewisburg, although Navy has won the last 2 (13-6 in 2016 / 13-8 in 2018).
• This will be the first game played at Bucknell since 2018 - meaning no Navy player on the roster has played a college game at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
• Eight of the 21 games in the series have been decided by a single goal, although the Mids have won the last 5 games by an average of nearly 6 goals (5.7).
• Three of the one-goal contests have entered into extra minutes. In 2010, midfielder Patrick Moran stuck his shot 1:20 into overtime to lead the Mids to an 8-7 OT win. Meanwhile, in 2011 Navy scored four goals in the fourth, including a pair by Nikk Davis in the final 18 seconds of the game to send it into overtime. Then-rookie Todd Heritage went on to score the game-winner for the Bison.
• Navy has reached double digits in the scoring column in each of the last 6 contests, while Bucknell has been held to single digits in 7 of the last 8 games.

Patriot League Playoff Scenarios
• Army, Boston U., Lehigh, Navy, Loyola and Lafayette have clinched playoff berths for the six-team Patriot Tournament set to begin next Tuesday with two quarterfinal games involving the #3 through #6 teams.

Friday's Games in the PL
5:00 pm / Holy Cross at Colgate / ESPN+
7:00 pm / Loyola at Lehigh / ESPN+
7:30 pm / Navy at Bucknell / ESPN+
8:15 pm / Boston U. at Army / CBS SN
• The Holy Cross-Colgate game has NO impact on seeding for the conference tournament.

• Below are the potential scenarios and seeding:
• If Loyola, Navy and Boston U win: 1. Boston U (7-1), 2. Army (7-1), 3. Navy (5-3), 4. Lehigh (5-3), 5. Loyola (5-3), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Lafayette at Navy in PL Qtrs
• If Loyola, Navy and Army win: 1. Army (8-0), 2. Boston U (6-2), 3. Navy (5-3), 4. Lehigh (5-3), 5. Loyola (5-3), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Lafayette at Navy in PL Qtrs
• If Lehigh, Navy and Boston U win: 1. Boston U (7-1), 2. Army (7-1), 3. Lehigh (6-2), 4. Navy (5-3), 5. Loyola (4-4), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Loyola at Navy in PL Qtrs
• If Lehigh, Navy and Army win: 1. Army (8-0), 2. Boston U (6-2), 3. Lehigh (6-2), 4. Navy (5-3), 5. Loyola (4-4), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Loyola at Navy in PL Qtrs
• If Lehigh, Bucknell and Boston U win: 1. Boston U (7-1), 2. Army (7-1), 3. Lehigh (6-2), 4. Navy (4-4), 5. Loyola (4-4), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Loyola at Navy in PL Qtrs
• If Lehigh, Bucknell and Army win: 1. Army (8-0), 2. Boston U (6-2), 3. Lehigh (6-2), 4. Navy (4-4), 5. Loyola (4-4), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Loyola at Navy in PL Qtrs
• If Loyola, Bucknell and Boston U win: 1. Boston U (7-1), 2. Army (7-1), 3. Loyola (5-3), 4. Lehigh (5-3), 5. Navy (4-4), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Navy at Lehigh in PL Qtrs
• If Loyola, Bucknell and Army win: 1. Army (8-0), 2. Boston U (6-2), 3. Loyola (5-3), 4.     Lehigh (5-3), 5. Navy (4-4), 6. Lafayette (3-5) / Navy at Lehigh in PL Qtrs