Setting the Stage
• Inside the Game: The Navy men's lacrosse team (0-0, 0-0 Patriot League) opens its 117th year of competition when the Mids play host to Mount St. Mary's (0-0, 0-0 MAAC) on Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Faceoff is slated for 12:00 pm. Navy is led by fifth-year head coach Joe Amplo, who guided the Mids to an 8-8 record a year ago, while the Mountaineers are under the direction of Chris Ryan, who is in his first year at Mount St. Mary's and 24th as a collegiate head coach. Saturday's contest marks the 11th meeting (Navy leads, 9-1) in a series that dates back to 1998.
• Follow the Action: Saturday's contest will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription based) and will also be carried live on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call. Radio coverage begins at 11:45 am with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show. Live stats will also be available on NavyStats.com(.)

Countown to Faceoff
• 100-Point Scorers: All-American Max Hewitt (Sr / M) is looking to become just the 37th player and 11th midfielder in program history to reach the 100-point career scoring milestone. Hewitt heads into his senior campaign with 75-career points, having produced 50 goals and 25 assists. Among the list of Navy's 100-point scorers, 16 players have added their names to the list in the last 25 years, including aChristian Daniel (122) in 2021, Greyson Torain (132) in 2019 and Ryan Wade (119) in 2019. More than 40 years after graduating, Jeff Long remains the Mids' all-time leading scorer with 233 points (84-149).
• Hewitt Among Program's Elite Midfielders: All-American Max Hewitt (Sr / M) is one of only eight midfielders in program history to reach the 30-point scoring mark 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). Having scored 32 points as a sophomore and 36 as a junior, he is looking to join Torain, Slough and Chanenchuk as the only three-time 30-point midfield scorers at Navy.
• Bonitz Reaches 50, Eyes the School Record: Two-time All-American Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D) is one of just 5 players in school history to reach 50-career takeaways. In his fourth season starting at close defense, Bonitz enters his senior campaign with 50-career caused turnovers, needed just 2 more to tie or 3 to move past fourth-place John Trainor (2014-17) who amassed 52 caused turnovers. Last year, Bonitz finished with 22 takeaways and became only the seventh different Navy player to reach the 20-caused turnover mark in a season. Matt Rees set the program record with 84 takeaways from 2014-17.
• Changing Lineup: An injury-riddled Navy team used 9 different starting lineups in its 15 games last spring, including a different lineup in 7 of its last 10 contests. Max Hewitt (Sr / M) and Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D) were the only players to start every game for the Mids a year ago.

About the Series
• Saturday's contest between Navy and Mount St. Mary's marks the 11th game in a series that began in 1998. The Mids have dominated the series, 9-1.
• The inaugural meeting between the two programs was held April 14, 1998 in Annapolis. Navy led 3-1 after the opening quarter, but broke free of the Mount by outscoring them 7-1 in the second quarter and held a comfortable 10-2 lead at the half. The second half was even between the two teams as the Mids doubled up the Mount for a 16-8 win.
• This will be the eighth game in the series that has been staged in Annapolis with the Mids earning wins in 1998 (16-8), 1999 (11-7), 2001 (16-3), 2008 (12-5), 2021 (8-5) and 2023 (13-7). The Mountaineers won their first game in the series 2 years ago (11-9) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
• Navy has held Mount St. Mary's to single digits in 9 of their 10 meetings, outscoring the Mount 114-58.
• This will be the fourth-consecutive year Navy has played Mount St. Mary's in its opener. The two teams met on Feb. 20, 2021, with Navy holding off a late rally by the Mount for an 8-5 victory. In 2022, Mount St. Mary's used a 5-1 run in the third quarter to take the lead for good and earn their first win in the series behind an 11-9 victory. Last year, Navy used a 6-goal fourth quarter to help seal a 13-7 win over the Mount.

Scouting Mount St. Mary's
• After 28 seasons under the leadership of Tom Gravante, Mount St. Mary's will begin a new era under Chris Ryan.  Ryan was at the helm of the Mercyhurst program from 2001-23 where his teams put together a combined 268-69 record and included winning the 2011 Div. II National Championship. Last spring, the Lakers earned a spot in the title game after upsetting top-ranked Le Moyne in the semifinals.
• The Mount posted an 8-8 record a year ago, including a 7-2 mark in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
• Mount St. Mary's joined the 10-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (Canisius, LIU, Manhattan, Marist, Mount St. Mary's, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, Siena, VMI, Wagner) last spring after the Northeast Conference dissolved.
• The Mount returns just 1 of their top 6 point producers from a year ago. Cormac Giblin (A / Gr) was the team's fourth-leading scorer with 26 points on 17 goals and 9 assists.
• The Mount, however, will need to replace the team's top-three scorers in Jared McMahon (32-15=47), Kelly Gouin (28-5=33) and Jake Krieger (15-18=33).
• Senior Griffin McGinley returns in goal where he started all 16 contests for the Mount a year ago. He recorded an 11.96 GAA and a 44.7 save percentage.
• The Mount will also be tasked with replacing faceoff standout Connor Beals who won 205 of the 315 draws (65.1) he took a year ago. The only returning faceoff specialist is Ethan Holobinko (Sr) who won 15 of the 33 (45.5) faceoffs he took.

Start Me Up
• Navy owns a 97-18-1 record in season openers, including an 82-11-1 mark when opening at home.
• Fifth-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo is 3-1 in openers.
• This is the sixth year in a row Navy has opened its season at home, earning wins over Vermont (13-8) in 2019, Manhattan (9-4) in 2020 and Mount St. Mary's (8-5) in 2021 and (13-7) 2023. The Mids dropped an 11-9 decision to Mount St. Mary's in the 2022 opener.
• Navy has played 18 of their last 23 openers at home. The Mids played their 2004, '05, '06, '17 and '18 openers on the road.
• In what is Navy's 117th season, this marks the 32nd time Navy has opened its season in the month of February. The first time Navy played a game in the month of February was Feb. 29, 1992, when the Mids opened their season at #18 Penn State in a 16-9 losing effort.
• Saturday's game marks the earliest start in program history. February 4 was previously the earliest starting date which took place in 2018 and again last year.
• This will mark the earliest game played at home for a second-consecutive year. The earliest previously played home game was last year's opener against Mount St. Mary's that was played on Feb. 4.

Hall of Famer Dave Cottle Joins Navy Staff
• Dave Cottle will serve as the Mids' offensive coordinator for the 2024 season it was announced on Dec. 28.
• Cottle compiled an overall record of 280-115 (.709) in his 28 seasons as a head coach at Maryland and Loyola (Md.), led the two programs to a combined 22 NCAA Tournament appearances and finished with a winning record in 27 of his 28 seasons. He owns the 13th-most victories among Div. I head coaches all-time, while his winning percentage is the 18th best.
• The winningest men's lacrosse coach in Loyola (Md.) history, Cottle amassed a 181-70 (.721) record from 1983-2001. He helped lead Loyola through its transition to NCAA Division I and guided the Greyhounds to 18-consecutive winning seasons (1984-2001) and 14-straight NCAA Tournament berths (1988-2001). In each of those 14 seasons, Loyola finished the year ranked among the nation's top ten.
• After leading Loyola to its first Div. I NCAA Tournament berth in 1988, he was named the Morris Touchstone Memorial Award winner which is presented by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) to the nation's most outstanding Div. I lacrosse head coach. In addition to the recognition, he became the first coach in Loyola athletic history to receive a national award. A year later, Cottle's squad became the only Loyola men' lacrosse team to complete an undefeated regular season. The Greyhounds defeated four nationally-ranked teams en route to a 10-0 mark. In 1990, he led the Greyhounds to their first appearance in the NCAA Semifinals and NCAA Championship Game. The 1998 season saw Loyola finish with a 13-2 record, reach a No. 1 national ranking and earn the school's first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Cottle is one of just two coaches in the program's history with more than 100 wins or a .650-plus winning percentage (Charley Toomey / 177-93, .656).
• Cottle left Loyola (Md.) in the fall of 2001 to become the head coach at Maryland where he was twice named ACC Coach of the Year and put together a 99-45 (.688) record from 2002-10. The Terrapins finished each of his nine seasons with a winning percentage of .625 or better, while Cottle led Maryland to the NCAA Tournament in eight of his nine years (2003-10), including semifinals appearances in 2003, '05 and '06. Maryland won at least a share of three Atlantic Coach Conference regular-season titles (2003, '04, '09) and back-to-back ACC Tournament crowns in 2004 and '05. During his tenure, 26 different Terps earned a total of 45 All-America citations.
• Following his departure from Maryland, Cottle became a consultant for Major League Lacrosse's Chesapeake Bayhawks and then was hired as president and head coach of the organization in 2012. After winning back-to-back MLL titles in 2012 and '13, Cottle transitioned in a general manager role from 2014 through '17. He returned to his coaching role for a final time in 2018 and directed the Bayhawks to their sixth MLL crown.
• In 2010, Cottle was retained by Marquette to serve as a lacrosse consultant when the school announced its intentions of adding men's and women's lacrosse.
• A widely respected leader within the lacrosse community, Cottle formerly served on the NCAA Div. I men's lacrosse committee and also sat on the board of directors of the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLCA). In 1998, Cottle was inducted into the Greater Baltimore Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame and in 2017, he was inducted into the IMLCA Hall of Fame.
• A 1978 graduate of Salisbury State University, Cottle was enshrined into the institution's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989. He set numerous school and NCAA records and went on to become a three-time All-American. As a freshman in 1975, he led the nation in scoring and became the second player in collegiate history to surpass 100 points in a season. He still ranks among the Seagulls' top 10 in goals (179), assists (123) and points (302). He is among just 5 players in school history to rank among the top 10 in all three categories.

Bonitz Serves as Captain of the Captains
• Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D) not only was selected by a vote of his peers to serve as a captain for the men's lacrosse team this season (along with Jackson Peters), he was also chosen by the captains of the other 35 sports at the Naval Academy to represent them as the Athletic Team Commander, more commonly known as the Captain of the Captains within athletics, for the 2023-24 academic year.
• "I am both excited and humbled to represent the athletes and their respective teams," said Bonitz, who is the third Navy men's lacrosse player to serve in the role (Jordan DiNola, Spring 2008 / Andrew Tormey 2008-09). "One of the things I've most looked forward to in this role is creating new relationships with the other captains who are at the top of their respective sport. I have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the relationships among our captains, athletes and non-athletes. I want each captain to know I am here and I want to help in any way I can."
• "From the moment I met Jackson Bonitz four years ago, I knew there was something special about him," said fifth-year Navy men's lacrosse head coach Joe Amplo "Since that day, he has done nothing but raise the standard of behavior for Navy lacrosse. His earning the distinction of Captain of the Captains at the United States Naval Academy is validation by his peers Brigade-wide that they have noticed. He has proven to be an elite member of this community, and I have complete confidence he will help lead his peers towards excellence in leadership throughout the year."
• Bonitz not only works hand-in-hand with the other captains, he is also supported by Col. Maria Pallotta, who is the Director of the Naval Academy's Center for Experiential Leadership Development (ELD) and teaches leadership and ethics to midshipmen, Capt. Brian Broadwater, who is the Military Deputy Director of Athletics, Brigade Commander Sean O'Dowd and Navy rifle head coach Mike Anti.
• A two-time All-American (2022, '23 USILA / 2022, '23 Inside Lacrosse / 2022, '23 USA Lacrosse Magazine) and three-time All-Patriot League standout (2nd team in 2021, 1st team in 2022, '23), Bonitz was the cornerstone of a defense that ranked 11th nationally and second in the Patriot League in scoring defense (10.44 GPG).
• Individually, Bonitz led the Mids with 22 caused turnovers a year ago, a mark that is tied for eighth on Navy's single-season takeaways list. He is just the seventh different Navy player to reach 20 caused turnovers in a single season. Meanwhile, he stands fifth on the all-time list with 50, trailing record holder Matt Rees (2014-17) by 34.
• Bonitz is the first Navy player to compete as a member of the U.S. Men's Lacrosse Under 21 Team since it was established in 1988. He played a key role in leading the U.S. to a gold medal at the U21 World Lacrosse Championship in Limerick, Ireland in August of 2022. He helped anchor a defensive unit that held 6 of its 7 opponents to 5 or fewer goals, while getting on the scoring action with goals against Australia and Haudenosaunee.
• After garnering First-Team All-Patriot League honors last April, Bonitz became the 14th player in program history to earn All-Patriot League honors at least 3 times and the first since Greyson Torain in 2017, '18 and '19. Additionally, he is Navy's sixth close defenseman / long-stick midfielder to be a three-time All-Patriot League selection and the first since Chris Fennell and Matt Rees in 2015, '16 and '17.