ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  A transition goal by rookie defenseman AJ Marsh (Reisterstown, Md.) ignited a 17-4 run over the final 42 minutes of play to lead the Navy men's lacrosse team (1-0) to a 19-6 victory over Mount St. Mary's (0-1) Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Twelve different players scored for the Midshipmen, as the 19 goals were the most by Navy since last year's 19-5 win over Queens.

"It was a good start to the year," said fifth-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "A little bit of a slow start, but credit to Mount St. Mary's. Chris is a really good lacrosse coach who is going to do good things there. His team came out energized and played hard. It was a battle in the first quarter. I was proud of us for sticking to it. We got goals in a little different ways today and that's important for us.

"Any time you win at this level, you have to be satisfied with something. Winning is not easy. Going from 2 for 17 in the first quarter is a testament to our guys sticking with it. I thought we dodged a lot harder in the second quarter which only helps with getting better shots. It also helped that we got the transition and weren't afraid to take it. We had 3 guys score transition goals."

It would take a quarter for Navy to dust off the rust in the opener to the program's 117th season of varsity lacrosse. Navy had plenty of looks in the opening 15 minutes of action, however the Mids could target just 2 of their 17 shots.

Mount St. Mary's graduate attackman Cormac Giblin put the Mountaineers on top first with a goal off an assist from Connor Barrett just over a minute into the contest. Navy's Xavier Arline (A / Sr / Wading River, N.Y.) answered by giving the Mids their first lead of the game, scoring back-to-back goals just 58 seconds apart, including a spectacular goal at the 8:34 mark in which he punched a shot in from near goal-line extended. Mount St. Mary's would level the score with an unassisted goal by Kyle Cullen with 4:56 to go in the quarter.

Navy settled into the game and found the back of the net on 6 of its 8 shots in the second period, including the aforementioned shot and goal by Marsh that triggered a 6-goal run by the Mids. Both Mac Haley (A / So / Shady Side, Md.) and All-American Max Hewitt (M / Sr / Denver, Colo.) scored a pair of goals during the Mids' run, while Justin Queen (DM / Fr / Crofton, Md.) scored his first-collegiate goal off an assist from co-captain Jackson Bonitz (D / Sr / Shrewsbury, Pa.) in yet another transition play by the Mids.

After nearly 17 scoreless minutes, Mount St. Mary's finally stopped Navy's run with an extra-man goal by Giblin just before the half in which Navy led 8-3.

Navy extended its 5-goal halftime lead by scoring the first-4 goals of the second half. Arline became the first of 3 Navy players to record a hat trick in the game with his unassisted strike at 12:37, followed by Haley who used a little misdirection to get his hands free for his third goal at the 10:21 mark.

Bonitz and fellow senior Keegan Houser (M / Annapolis, Md.) got in on the scoring action to push the Mids' advantage to 9 (12-3) with under 4 minutes remaining in the third stanza.

Second-year attackman Kevin Whitty scored his lone goal of the game at the 2:04 mark in the third, but Navy would get the final say of the quarter with an unassisted score by Jon Jarosz (M / Sr / Gambrills, Md.).

Mount St. Mary's attempted to rally by scoring the first 2 goals of the fourth quarter to trim its deficit to 7 (13-6) with goals by Jack Pilla and Brody Atkinson. However, Navy's defense would hold the Mount scoreless for the final 13-plus minutes of the game while 5 different players would account for Navy's final 6 goals of the contest to earn the 19-6 win.

Hewitt paced Navy with his seventh-career hat trick, scoring 4 goals on 8 shots, while Haley turned in 3 goals on 4 shots and Arline had 3 goals on 6 shots.

Navy's offense got a boost from its faceoff game where newcomers Zach Hayashi (Fr / North Potomac, Md.) and Joey Bucci (Fr / West Chester, Pa.) combined to win 18 of the 28 draws. Hayashi won 14 of the 21 faceoffs and grabbed 3 ground balls, while Bucci was 4 for 7.

"He's (Hayashi) a competitor," added Hayashi. "That's obvious to us, we see it every day. The kid is a warrior. That's why we brought him here. I'm proud of him."

Defensively, Dan Daly (So / Wayne, N.J.) earned his third-career start in goal where he played the first 3 quarters, made 7 saves and allowed 4 goals. Gabe Craven (Sr / Monroe Township, N.J.) and Andrew Calabrese (Sr / Wilton, Conn.) both saw playing time with Craven make a save and giving up 2 goals in nearly 10 minutes.

Bonitz paced the team with 3 caused turnovers and in doing so moved past John Trainor (52 CT, 2014-17) into fourth on Navy's career caused turnovers leader board with 53. He also led Navy with 6 ground balls, just 1 off his career high, and turned in his first-career multi-point performance with a goal and an assist. It was just the third-career goal and second-career assist for the two-time All-American.

"Dan (Daly) was excellent early and allowed it to only be 2 goals in that first quarter," added Amplo. "It was a pretty even first quarter with the way the game was being played. He made some saves and stood strong between the pipes. Defensively, we just won some matchups. We trusted our guys on the ball, didn't slide much and our shorts did a heck'uva job with their two-man game."

Navy's defense accounted for 3 goals and 1 assist on the afternoon.

Giblin led the way for Mount St. Mary's with a pair of goals, while Whitty and Atkinson each contributed a goal and an assist. Goalkeeper Owen Peters yielded 18 goals and made 10 saves.

Navy returns home next Saturday to play host to Hofstra (1-0) in what will be the Pride's first trip to Annapolis since 1984. Faceoff is slated for 12:00 pm with live coverage by ESPN+ with Joe Miller on the call. There will be no radio coverage, however, due to the Army-Navy men's and women's basketball doubleheader being played at Christl Arena in West Point, N.Y.

### Go Navy ###