ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  Villanova (5-3) used a 7-0 run while holding the Mids without a goal for better than 22 minutes to earn a 14-7 victory over the Navy men's lacrosse team (4-4, 1-1 Patriot League) Tuesday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It was just the second meeting between the two programs and the Wildcats' first trip to Annapolis.

"Navy did not show up and play their best tonight all over the field," said Navy fifth-year head coach Joe Amplo. "It's my job to have our team show up and play their best every night. Every time we can have a competition, regardless of the opponent, it's my job as the head coach to get them to play and show up and perform. We didn't do that. I own that and I take it personally."

After Villanova jumped out to a 5-2 lead early in the second period, Navy's Henry Tolker (Jr / A / Catonsville, Md.) scored a pair of goals less than 2 minutes apart as the Mids closed to within a goal (5-4) with 10 minutes remaining in the quarter. However, a goal by Dan Martin (Jr / A) at the 8:35 mark sparked a 5-0 run by the Wildcats and was capped by Nick Lucchesi's (Fr / M) goal with just 1 second remaining in the half, as Villanova went into the break with a 10-4 lead.

Lucas Newton (R-Fr / A) and Thomas McIntire (5th / A) scored two quick goals for the Wildcats to open the third quarter and Villanova extended its lead to 8 (12-4), its largest of the contest.

Navy answered with a Dane Swanson (Sr / M / St. Mary's City, Md.) goal to close out the quarter and made it two in a row when Jack Flaherty (So / M / Massapequa, N.Y.) worked his defender, switching hands to power in his fifth goal of the season and cut into Villanova's lead (12-6). It would be as close as Navy would come, as Villanova scored two of the final three goals in the game to earn their third win over a Patriot League foe this spring (Colgate 15-9, Lehigh 14-8).

Tommy Hovivian (Sr / A / Dallas, Texas) and Tolker paced Navy with each scoring 2 goals and adding an assist, while both Swanson and Max Hewitt (Sr / M / Denver, Colo.) finished with a goal and an assist. Dan Daly (So / Wayne, N.J.) recorded a career-high 15 saves while yielding 14 goals between the pipes. Meanwhile Navy's defense forced 10 of Villanova's 15 turnovers in the contest.

Eight different players scored for Villanova, including Matt Licata (Sr / A) who had 3 goals and 2 assists, while Colin Michener (R-Fr / A) had 2 goals and 3 assists and McIntire finished with 3 goals. Seven different players scored the Wildcats' first-seven goals in the contest, while 6 different players accounted for goals during Villanova's 7-0 run in the second and third quarters.

"They play a motion offense which is tough to guard, but when you can't defend the ball it makes it really challenging to defend it. You have to slide quickly and they move really, really well. They are all really skilled. Truthfully the story of the game defensively for us was our inability to guard them on one-on-one matchups, specifically with our short-sticks."

One of the biggest storylines going into the game was the matchup between veteran faceoff specialist Justin Coppola (5th) from Villanova vs. the freshman phenom from Navy, Zach Hayashi (North Potomac, Md.). Coppola, who came into the game ranked 12th nationally in winning percentage (61.2), got the best of Hayashi, winning 14 of the 22 draws (63.6) he took against the Navy newcomer. Meanwhile, Hayashi, who came in ranked 16th with a 59.8 winning percentage, was held to under 50 percent for just the second time this season.

"He's (Coppola) excellent, he really is. He's a tough matchup for Yash (Hayashi) in the sense that the kid has really quick hands and he gets the ball to the back left. Their pole (#9) is excellent and their faceoff kid is very good at picking up those ground balls in that area. But their pole helps them. He drives your man off the ball, he does a really good job of boxing out, their defensemen do a really good job boxing out the attackmen, so you cannot converge on them as quickly as you'd hope. That kid is not a very big player, but he plays real big. He's low to the ground and picks up some tough ground balls and escapes some pressure. We tried our best, but credit to him. He's very, very good at what he does. It's the best faceoff unit we've seen all year."

Hayashi, who finished the game 9-24 (37.5), became only the third Navy freshman to reach 100 faceoff wins, as he has won 107 of the 188 draws he has taken this season.

After playing two-consecutive nonconference games, Navy will return to Patriot League action this weekend when it plays host to Holy Cross. The game is slated for a 3:30 pm faceoff at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call. Additionally, WNAV 1430 AM / 99.9 FM will carry the game live.

### Go Navy ###