ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  An eight-game home slate that features a matchup against 2023 NCAA Tournament semifinalist Penn State highlights the 2024 Navy men's lacrosse schedule released Tuesday by fifth-year head coach Joe Amplo. The Midshipmen will play a 14-game regular-season schedule for just the third time (2022, 2023, 2024) in program history and feature games against three teams that advanced to at least the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals a year ago.

The Mids are expected to play four total scrimmages before the 2024 season formally kicks off in February. Navy will play Penn (10:00 am) and 2023 NCAA Tournament qualifier Bryant (12:00 pm) at Poly Prep Country Day School (Middle/Upper Schools Dyker Heights Campus) in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sunday, Oct. 22 to close out fall ball. The Mids will face High Point (Jan. 21) and 2023 NCAA Tournament semifinalist Virginia (Jan. 27) in scrimmages before kicking off the program's 117th year with a home contest against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 3. This will mark the fourth-consecutive year Navy will face The Mount in its season opener (W, 8-5 in 2021 / L, 11-9 in 2022 / W, 13-7 in 2023) and the first under new head coach Chris Ryan who came to Mount St. Mary's after spending the last two decades at Mercyhurst. Navy owns a 9-1 all-time mark against Mount St. Mary's, including a 6-1 record in games contested in Annapolis.

After renewing their rivalry with Hofstra in 2022 and playing back-to-back years on Long Island, Navy will play host to the Pride on Feb. 10 in what will be Hofstra's first trip to Annapolis since 1984. Navy owns a 15-6 series advantage, including a 6-2 mark in games played in Annapolis. Last year, starting attackmen Henry Tolker, Xavier Arline and Mac Haley combined for 10 goals to help lead the Mids to a 13-12 victory over the Pride

Navy will make its first road trip of the season on Feb. 17, making the short drive to Towson for the first game between the two programs since 2015. The Mids hold a narrow 8-6 advantage in the series, including an 8-7 triple-overtime victory over the Tigers in the last meeting between the two teams (March 3, 2015). Towson, however, has won 5 of the 7 games played on its home field against the Mids, including a 14-9 win on March 11, 2014.

Navy returns home to play host to 2023 NCAA Tournament semifinalist Penn State on Feb. 24. While the two teams have met on 38 previous occasions (Navy leads the series 36-2), they have not played one another since Navy departed the ECAC and became a member of the Patriot League starting in 2004. The Nittany Lions bested the Mids in State College, Pa. in the last meeting, defeating Navy 5-4 on April 12, 2003. While Penn State defeated Army at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium last May in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals, the Nittany Lions have not faced the Mids on their home field since April 12, 2002, when Navy scored a 9-7 win.

Kicking off the first of three-consecutive road games for Navy is the March 2 Patriot League opener at Boston University. It will mark the fourth time (1-2 - L, 10-9 2OT in 2016 / L, 8-7 in 2017 / W, 10-8 in 2018) in Navy's 21-year Patriot League membership that it will open conference play against Boston U. It will be the 15th time in 21 years Navy begins league action either on the road or at a neutral site (Home 2-4 / Road 5-8 / Neutral 1-0). Navy leads the overall series 5-3, but in games played in Boston, it's split at 2-2. Last year, a stifling Navy defense held the defending Patriot League Champion Terriers to their lowest goal output of the season, while Max Hewitt, Tommy Hovivian and Henry Tolker all pitched hat tricks to lead Navy to a 10-8 victory over 17th-ranked Boston U. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Navy will travel to the Lehigh Valley the following weekend (March 9) to face Lehigh, who is under the leadership of first-year head coach Will Scudder, a 2011 graduate of Lehigh. While Navy leads the all-time series against the Mountain Hawks 32-13, Lehigh has won seven in a row against the Mids.

Navy will take a step away from conference action and make its first trip back to Homewood Field in Baltimore since its historic win over Johns Hopkins in 2022. Max Hewitt scored Navy's final three goals of Navy's win in 2022, including the game-tying and game-winning goals to give the Mids their first win over the Blue Jays at Homewood Field since May 10, 1969. It was also just the third win by Navy in the series since 1975 (9-8 OT in 2010 / 8-2 in 2012). The Mids and Blue Jays, who were NCAA Quarterfinalists a year ago, are slated to square off on March 15.

Last year, Navy and Villanova met for the first time in series history and this year, the Wildcats will make their first trip to Annapolis. The Tuesday nonconference contest set for March 19 will kick off a three-game homestand for the Midshipmen.

Navy returns to conference action on March 23 when it plays host to Holy Cross. Navy handled the Crusaders in last year's contest played in Worcester, Mass., winning 13-8. The Mids lead the series 16-3, including an 8-1 mark in games played in Annapolis.

The Mids will close out the month of March at home when it plays host to Colgate on March 30. Navy, who owns a 17-8 series advantage including a 9-3 mark in Annapolis, will look to avenge its loss to the Raiders a year ago in New York.

Navy will play its next two games on the road beginning with an April 6 contest at Lafayette. The Mids, who lead the all-time series 22-2 (8-2 in Easton, Pa.), will play the Leopards on their home field for the fourth time in the last five years and the fifth in the last seven years. After a near two-hour weather delay a year ago, the Mids jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back as it claimed a 9-6 victory over Lafayette.

The Mids will make their final regular-season road trip of the year when they travel to West Point for one of the sport's longest and most cherished rivalries, the Army-Navy game, on April 13. This year's contest will mark the 104th meeting in a series that began in 1924. Navy leads the series 63-37-3 and has won six of the last 10 meetings and each of the last three games played at Michie Stadium.

Navy returns home on April 19 to play host to Loyola in a game expected to be played under the lights. Henry Tolker scored a career-high 6 goals, while netminder Pat Ryan made the most saves by a Navy goalie since 1999 to lead the Mids to an 11-10 victory over 13th-ranked Loyola last year at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore, Md. The fifth-seeded Greyhounds avenged their regular-season loss by knocking off fourth-seeded Navy in the Patriot League Quarterfinals 12-7. Loyola holds a 12-6 series advantage, including a 7-4 lead in games played in Annapolis.

Navy will play its regular-season finale on April 26 when it plays host to Bucknell on Senior Night at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Winners of each of the last seven meetings, the Mids own a 14-8 series advantage over the Bison, including an 8-3 mark in games played in Annapolis. Last year, the Mids fell behind 3-0 early in the game, but clawed their way back into the contest. With the game knotted 8-8 in the final quarter, Navy would go on to outscore the Bison 4-1 over the final 13 minutes to earn the 12-9 road victory.

The Patriot League Tournament will again feature six teams with the top two seeds receiving a bye, while quarterfinal contests will be played between the 3-6 and 4-5 seeds on Tuesday, April 30. The Patriot League semifinals will be played on Friday, May 3 at the site of the top seed with the championship slated for Sunday, May 5.

Navy's television, streaming and radio schedules, as well as game times will be announced at a later date.

### Go Navy ###