Setting the Stage
• Inside the Game: Navy (2-0, 0-0 Patriot League) will make its first road trip of the 2024 campaign when it travels to Towson on Saturday to play the host to Tigers (1-1, 0-0 CAA) at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Faceoff is slated for 12:00 pm. Navy is led by Joe Amplo, who owns a 28-19 record in 5 seasons at the helm of the Navy program, while Towson's Shawn Nadelen has amassed a 103-83 record in 13 seasons as its head coach. Saturday's contest marks the 15th meeting (Navy leads 8-6) in a series that dates back to 1975.
• Follow the Action: Saturday's contest will be streamed on FloSports (subscription based) with Spiro Morekas and Glenn Smith on the call. Meanwhile, Pete Medhurst will have the radio call on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV. Live stats will also be available on NavyStats.com(.)

Countdown to Faceoff
10    Navy ranks #10 nationally in shooting percentage (36.8 / 35G, 95Sh) ... Navy was #71 last year (22.6 / 164G, 727 Sh).
9    Mac Haley (So / A) owns the team's longest active scoring streak, producing points in each of the last 9 contests.
8    All-American Max Hewitt (Sr / M) is one of just 8 midfielders in school history to reach the 30-point scoring mark multiple times in a career (32 in 2022 / 36 in 2023)
7    Navy's defense is allowing just 7.00 goals per game (6 by Mount St. Mary's, 8 by Hofstra), the nation's 7th-lowest mark and the fewest in the Patriot League
6    All-American Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D) needs 6 caused turnovers to become only the 4th player in school history to reach 60 for his career.
5    Five of Navy's 2024 opponents are currently ranked in the USILA Top 20 Poll - #6 Army (4.13), #10 Johns Hopkins (3.15), #14 Penn State (2.24), #17 Loyola (4.19) and #20 Boston U. (3.2).
4    Navy has lost just 4 games in the Joe Amplo era (2020-present) when scoring 10 or more goals (22-4, 84.6).
3    Navy's defense has accounted for 3 goals in each of its first two games of 2024, including 2 each by co-captains Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D) and Jackson Peters (Sr / DM).
2    Navy has a pair of two-sport varsity athletes on the team. Xavier Arline (Sr / A) was a four-year quarterback on Navy's football team, starting 14 of the 30 games in which he played. Kai Sasaki (Sr / LSM) earned Second-Team All-Collegiate Sprint Football League honors this past fall averaging 15.21 yds/catch and 41.29 yds/gm and scored a team-high 6 touchdowns.
1    Navy has lost just 1 game (25-1) when having the lead going into the 4th quarter in the Joe Amplo era (2020-present).

Scouting Towson
• In his 13th season leading the Towson lacrosse program, head coach Shawn Nadelen has led his Tigers to a 1-1 record this season with a 13-5 loss to nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins in the opener, followed by a 15-5 victory over Mount St. Mary's last Saturday in their home opener.
• Towson returns 7 of its top-10 scorers from a year ago, including 2023 Second-Team All-CAA attackman Nick DeMaio (Gr), who led the team in scoring (29-21=50) a year ago. Also returning is 2023 CAA All-Rookie Team member Joaquin Villagomez (So / A), who was third on the team in scoring last season with (27-10=37) and Mikey Weisshaar (So / M) was the team's fourth-leading scorer (17-8=25). DeMaio (4-3) and Villagomez (5-2) both have 7 points this season, while Weisshaar (2-4) has 6. Of note, 2 of DeMaio's 4 goals this spring have been scored a man up.
• The Tigers also return faceoff specialist Matt Constantinides (Jr) who won 207 of the 369 draws (56.1) he took last spring. He is 22 for 36 (61.1) this spring.
• Luke Downs (Jr) has stepped into the starting goalkeeper role with the departure of Evan Long. Downs has allowed 18 goals (9.00 GAA), while making 18 saves (50.0) in his 2 starts.
• Colby Barsz (Sr / D) was one of two players to post a team-leading 18 caused turnovers a year ago. Meanwhile, Reece Potter (Gr / DM) returns after recording 15 takeaways and grabbing 41 ground balls. Potter has a pair of caused turnovers and 5 ground balls this season.

About the Series
• Saturday's contest between Navy and Towson marks the 15th game in a series that has not seen the two programs meet since 2015.
• Navy holds an 8-6 series advantage, however, Towson has won 5 of the 7 games played on the Tigers' home field. Navy's wins at Towson were on March 13, 2012 (10-6) and April 17, 1993 (8-7).
• The inaugural meeting was won by Navy, 13-9, but a regular series was not set up until the 1991 campaign. Navy and Towson met seven-straight years before the series stalled out. The series was picked back up in 2010, but again ended following a triple-overtime win by the Mids in 2015.
• This will be the first time Navy's Joe Amplo has played Towson as a head coach (Navy or Marquette). Towson head coach Shawn Nadelen, meanwhile, is 2-2 against the Mids , beginning his head coaching career in 2012. As an All-American defenseman at Johns Hopkins, he was 4-0 against the Mids.
• The winning team has reached double digits in 10 of the 14 meetings, including 5 of the last 7 contests.

Program Ties
• Mark Goers (1993-95), the Director of Lacrosse Operations who has been with the Navy lacrosse program since 2002, is a 1995 graduate of Towson. A member of the school's hall of fame and a 1994 Third-Team All-American, he is the Tigers' all-time leader in faceoff winning percentage (70.2) and also holds the record for career ground balls per game (10.58). He stands 5th on Towson's career faceoff wins list with 375.  Additionally, he holds 2 of the top-3 single-season faceoff winning percentage marks in Towson history, winning 77.9 percent of the draws in 1994 and 67.9 percent his senior year.