Setting the Stage
• Inside the Game: In its 21st season as a member of the Patriot League in men's lacrosse, Navy (2-2, 0-0 Patriot League) opens its conference slate on Saturday when it plays Boston U. (3-1, 0-0 Patriot League) at Nickerson Field. Faceoff is set for 1:00 pm. The game is the first of three-consecutive road games for the Midshipmen. Navy is led by Joe Amplo, who owns a 28-21 record in 5 seasons at the helm of the Navy program, while BU's Ryan Polley has amassed an 82-65 record in 11 seasons as its head coach. Saturday's game marks the 9th meeting in a series that dates back to 2014 (Navy leads 5-3).
• Follow the Action: Saturday's contest will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription based) with Paul Lambert and Leverett Ball on the call. There will be no radio coverage for this contest due to the men's and women's basketball games on Saturday. Live stats will also be available on NavySports.com(.)

Countdown to Faceoff
10    Navy has lost just 4 games in the Joe Amplo era (2020-present) when scoring 10 or more goals (22-4, 84.6).
9    Navy has scored back-to-back goals in under one minute 9 times this season (6x vs. Mount St. Mary's, 3x vs. Hofstra).
8    Navy has won at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title 8 times (2004-05-06-07-08-15-16-18) since joining the league in 2004.
7    The Mids have won 7-consecutive games when at least 1 Navy player scores a hat trick.
6    Co-captain Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D) needs 6 takeaways to join Navy's single-season caused turnovers chart for a third time in his career. He holds the #8 (22, 2023) and #11 (18, 2022) best marks in program history. He has 9 this season.
5    Five of the last 6 games between Navy and Boston U. have been decided by 2 or fewer goals. The 2016, '17, '18, '19 and '23 games were decided by a combined 7 goals - 2016, BU 10-9 OT2 / 2017, BU 8-7 / 2018, Navy 10-8 / 2019, Navy 13-12 / 2023, Navy 10-8.
4    Saturday's contest marks the 4th time Navy has faced Boston U. in its Patriot League opener. The Mids are 1-2 in those contests (2.27.16, L 10-9 2OT / 2.25.17, L 8-7 / 2.24.18, W 10-8).
3    Three of Navy's 2024 opponents are ranked in the USILA Top 20 Poll - #5 Army (4.13), #6 Johns Hopkins (3.15) and #12 Penn State (L, 13-3 / 2.24).
2    Despite this being head coach Joe Amplo's 5th year at Navy, he has only played Boston U. twice. The programs did not meet in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic.
1    Zach Hayashi (Fr / FO), who is ranked 22nd nationally in faceoff winning percentage (53-89, 59.6), stands #1 in the Naval Academy's Class of 2027 (1,152 students) in Military Order of Merit.

About the Series
• Meeting for the 9th time overall, Navy holds a narrow 5-3 advantage in the series which began in 2014.
• The two teams did not meet during the 2020 and '21 seasons due to the pandemic. The 2020 season was shut down 2 weeks prior to when the Mids and Terriers were to have met and in 2021, the Patriot League utilized divisions to limit travel because of the pandemic. Navy did not play Boston U., Colgate or Holy Cross.
• Saturday's contest will mark the 5th meeting between the two programs in Boston with each team winning 2 of the  previously played contests (2014, W 13-7 / 2016, L 10-9 2OT / 2018, W 108 / 2022, L 17-9).
• 5 of the last 6 games between Navy and Boston U. have been decided by 2 or fewer goals. The 2016, '17, '18, '19 and '23 games were decided by a combined 7 goals. Navy won 3 of those 5 contests - 2016, Boston U. 10-9 OT2 / 2017, Boston U. 8-7 / 2018, Navy 10-8 / 2019, Navy 13-12, 2023, Navy 10-8.

Scouting Boston U.
• Tenth-year Boston U. head coach Ryan Polley has led the Terriers to a 3-1 record this season. BU opened the year with back-to-back wins over Saint Joseph's (14-10) and Vermont (18-8) before Bryant dealt the Terriers their first loss (12-6). Boston U. got back to its winning ways with a 16-10 win over Brown on Feb. 20
• The Terriers, who won the Patriot League title in 2022, have been picked to finish 2nd in the 2024 Patriot League Preseason Poll.
• The Terriers have 8 grad students on their roster and seven of them are either starters or major contributors, including 3 of their top 4 scorers. Louis Perfetto (A / Gr) has produced a team-high 28 points on 17 goals and 11 assists. He is the only player in program history to record 100 goals and 100 assists. He is ranked #2 in the country in points per game (7.00), #3 in goals per game (4.25) and #14 in assists per game (2.75).
• Meanwhile, Vince D'Alto (A / G) has produced 21 points on 12 goals and 9 assists. He is ranked #13 nationally in points per game (5.25), #26 in goals per game (3.00) and #33 in assists per game (2.25). Perfetto and D'Alto are 2 of just 3 players in school history to produce 200-career points with D'Alto becoming the program's all-time points leader earlier this season.
• Jake Cates (Gr / M) and Brenden Kelly (Jr / A) are tied for 3rd on the team with 10 points apiece.
• BU is ranked among the nation's top 20 in 7 of the 15 statistical categories, including leading the country in caused turnovers per game (15.25). Patrick Morrison (Gr / D) stands #1 nationally (3.50), while Dane DeGoier (Sr / D), Connor Kehm (So / D) and Roy Meyer (Gr / LSM) are 28th (1.75).
• Defensively, the Terriers are holding their opponents to 10.00 goals per game which stands 21st nationally.
• Netminder Will Barnes (Jr) is in his first season as the starter where he has made 54 saves, while yielding 40 goals. He stands #26 nationally in goals-against average (10.27), #13 in save percentage (57.4) and #13 in saves per game (13.50).
• The faceoff duties have been split between Conor Calderone (Gr) and Matthew Fritz (Jr). Calderone has won just 21 of his 55 draws (38.2) this season, while Fritz has claimed wins on 28 of his 47 faceoffs (59.6).

A Look Back - March 31, 2023 | Annapolis, Md.
Game 11 • Navy 10, #17 Boston U. 8

• Only the eighth game in the series, Navy now leads 5-3 overall and 3-1 in games played in Annapolis.
• Navy's defense held the nation's 8th-ranked scoring offense (14.75) to single digits for the first time since last year's NCAA Tournament game against Princeton.
• Tommy Hovivian recorded his first-career hat trick with 3 goals on 5 shots.
• Henry Tolker posted his third hat trick of 2023, scoring all 3 goals in the fourth quarter ... responsible for 3 of Navy's 4 goals in the final quarter.
• Jackson Bonitz held Vince D'Alto, the Terriers' leading scorer and the nation's sixth-ranked scorer (5.25) without a goal for just the third time in his career (Ohio State '20, Princeton '22) ... held D'Alto without a point for 58 minutes before he dealt out an assist on Boston U.'s final goal.
• Kyle Fairbanks tied his career high with 3 caused turnovers and in doing so, he joined Navy's all-time career top-20 takeaways list.
• Pat Ryan made 11 saves and tracked down 7 ground balls between the pipes ... last year, he made just 1 save in 19 minutes (19:06) while Boston went on an 8-0 run during that time span.
• Anthony Ghobriel and Colin Shadowens combined to win a season-best 68.2 percent of the draws ... Ghobriel was 14-21 and Shadowens was 1-1.

Breaking Down Patriot League Openers
• Eight of the nine Patriot League teams are set to open conference action this weekend. In addition to the Mids playing at Boston U., Loyola travels to Colgate and Holy Cross is at Bucknell on Saturday. Additionally, Lafayette plays host to Army on Sunday. Meanwhile, Lehigh plays an out-of-conference matchup at home against Villanova.
• Saturday's game against Boston U. marks the 21st Patriot League opener for the Midshipmen. Navy joined the conference in men's lacrosse in 2004.
• Navy owns an 8-12 (40.0) record in Patriot League openers and has won 3 of its last 6.
• This will be 14th time in 21 years that Navy has opened conference play on the road and has posted a 5-8 mark.  
• The Mids have lost 6 of their last 7 league openers that were played on the road - 2011 / L 14-10 at Lehigh, 2013 / L 11-2 at Bucknell, 2014 / L 9-6 at Bucknell, 2016 / L 10-9 (2OT) at Boston U., 2018 / W 10-8 at Boston U., 2020 / L 14-6 at Lehigh, 2022 / 13-10 at Lehigh.
• This will be just the 4th time (2016, 2017, 2018) Navy has opened its Patriot League schedule against Boston U. The Mids are 1-2 against the Terriers in the conference opener.
• Navy has never played Army, Colgate, Holy Cross or Loyola in a league opener, while Bucknell has been the most common foe, meeting Navy in 9 of the 20 openers.

Navy Picked Fourth in PL Preseason Poll
• In a vote cast by the league's coaches and sports information directors, Navy has been picked to finish fourth in the 2024 Patriot League Preseason Poll.
• Army, the defending Patriot League Champion, secured 14 of the 18 first-place votes (eligible for only 16 due to not being able to vote for your own team) and amassed 126 points to top the poll for the first time since 2011. It's only the second time (2023, Boston U/) since Loyola joined the Patriot League in 2014 that the Greyhounds were not the preseason favorite.
• Boston U., who claimed the league title in 2022, earned 103 points and a first place vote to finish second in the balloting, while Loyola, who has won at least a share of the regular-season title in 7 of its 10 years as a member of the league, posted 99 points to finish third. The remaining three first-place votes were scattered among the field with Navy earning a vote and 84 points to come in fourth, while Lehigh also had a first-place vote and 82 points to take fifth. Lafayette accounted for the final first-place vote and was selected sixth with 87 points, followed by Bucknell (44), Colgate (33) and Holy Cross (17).

Patriot League Success
• Since joining the Patriot League in 2004, Navy has put together a 99-55 record (64.3) against conference members, which includes a 2-0 mark against Hobart who left the league following the 2004 season.  
• The Mids are 88-45 (66.2) in regular-season action and 11-10 (52.4) in the Patriot League Tournament.
• 34 of the 55 losses (61.8) have been in games played either at the opponent's field (29) or at a neutral site (5).
• Navy owns a 50-21 (70.4) Patriot League record at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, including a 44-17 (72.1) mark during the regular season.
• The Mids have produced undefeated records in regular-season conference action twice, 7-0 in 2004 and 6-0 in '07.
• Navy won 8-consecutive Patriot League Tournament games and 4-straight Patriot League Tournament titles (2004-07), before dropping the program's first tournament contest in the 2008 semifinals against eventual champion Colgate.  
• Navy has won at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title 8 times (2004-05-06-07-08-15-16-18) since joining the league in 2004.
• Additionally, the Mids have claimed the league's tournament crown 5 times (2004-05-06-07-09).