Setting the Stage
• Inside the Game: After knocking off Boston University last Saturday in the Patriot League opener, Navy (3-2, 1-0 Patriot League) will look to carry that momentum into Saturday's contest at Lehigh (2-3, 0-0 Patriot League). Faceoff is set for 3:30 pm at Frank Banko Field at the Ulrich Sports Complex. Navy is led by Joe Amplo, who owns a 29-21 record in 5 seasons at the helm of the Navy program, while Lehigh's Will Scudder has posted a 2-3 record in his first season as the Mountain Hawks' head coach. Saturday's game marks the 46th meeting in a series that dates back to 1910 (Navy leads 32-13).
• Follow the Action: Saturday's contest will be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription based) with Marco Socci 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 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 (23-4, 85.2).
9 - Last Saturday's league opener against Boston U. marked the 9th-career start and first of the year by Tommy Hovivian (Sr / A). He played a pivotal role in the victory, posting a career-high 4 points on 2 goals and a personal-best 2 assists.
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 - Saturday's contest between Navy and Lehigh marks the 46th game in a series that began in 1910. It's the 7th-most games Navy has played against an opponent and the 2nd most against a team in the Patriot League.
6 - Navy has won 6 in a row when leading at the half, including 3 times this spring ... in Joe Amplo's 5 seasons at the helm, the Mids are 22-3 when leading at the half.
5 - Dane Swanson (Sr / M) scored a career-high 5 goals at Boston U. last weekend. It was his first multi-point game since High Point on Feb. 25, 2023 and his first hat trick since April 16, 2022 at Lafayette
4 - Saturday's contest will mark the 4th time in the last 5 regular-season meetings the two will meet in Bethlehem (2020, 2021, 2022 - all 3 games won by Lehigh).
3 - Three of Navy's 2024 opponents are ranked among the USILA's top 10 - #2 Army (4.13), #4 Johns Hopkins (3.15) and #10 Penn State (L, 13-3 / 2.24).
2 - Co-captain Jackson Bonitz (Sr / D) needs 2 takeaways to join Navy's single-season caused turnovers chart for a 3rd time in his career. He holds the #8 (22, 2023) and #11 (18, 2022) best marks in program history. He has 13 this season.
1 - Zach Hayashi (Fr / FO), who is ranked #16 nationally and #2 in the Patriot League in faceoff winning percentage (72-116, 62.1), stands #1 in the Naval Academy's Class of 2027 (1,152 students) in Military Order of Merit.

Navy-Lehigh Series Breakdown
• Two of the oldest programs in the sport's history, Navy (117th year) and Lehigh (135th year) will meet for the 46th time in a series that began in 1910. It's the 7th-most games Navy has played against an opponent and the 2nd most against a team in the Patriot League.
• The Mids own a 32-13 advantage in the series. Navy was 19-1 against the Mountain Hawks before it joined the Patriot League in 2004 and 13-12 since (11-9 in the regular season, 2-3 in the league tournament).
• Navy won the first three contests in the series before suffering its first loss, a 4-3 decision in 1913. The Mids then won 25 in a row (1914-2010) before Lehigh dealt Navy a 14-10 loss in Bethlehem in 2011. That win sparked a 5-game winning streak by the Mountain Hawks over the Mids. Navy snapped that 5-game skid in 2015 when it outscored Lehigh 4-2 in the final quarter to earn a 13-12 win at home.
• Heading into Saturday's contest, the Mountain Hawks have won 7 in a row against the Mids dating back to 2018.
• In games played in Bethlehem, the series is locked up at 8 wins apiece. Saturday's contest will mark the 4th time in the last 5 regular-season meetings the two will meet in Bethlehem (2020, 2021, 2022). Meanwhile, it will be the 5th time in the last 6 overall meetings (2 were Patriot League Tournament games) that the two will play on Lehigh's home field.
• Navy's last win in the series was a 10-7 victory on March 24, 2018 which is also the last time the Mids have won at Lehigh.
• Navy has failed to score in double figures against Lehigh in 6 of its last 7 contests (Navy scored 10 last spring). Among Navy's 13 losses in the series, Navy has failed to score double figures in 11 of those games.

Scouting Lehigh
• Will Scudder is in his first year as the head coach at Lehigh after Kevin Cassese, who led the Mountain Hawks since 2008, announced his departure over the summer. Scudder, however, is no stranger to the program. He is a 2011 graduate of Lehigh where he played 51 games over his career and garnered Second-Team All-Patriot League recognition as a junior. Scudder joined Lehigh's coaching staff in 2014 and had served as associate head coach for the 5 years leading up to him being named the head coach.
• Lehigh enters the weekend with a 2-3 mark, earning wins over Fairfield (8-7) and Dartmouth (11-6), while dropping games against Rutgers (14-12), Cornell (17-13) and Villanova (14-8). Saturday's game against Navy will be the Mountain Hawks' Patriot League opener.
• Leading the way for the Mountain Hawks is Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Scott Cole (Sr / A) who owns 18 points on 17 goals and an assist. Cole stands among the nation's top 10 in goals per game (3.40). Andrew Kelly (So / A) and Quinn Armstrong (So / M) have produced 8 points apiece with Kelly tallying 7 goals and an assists while Armstrong has 5 goals and 3 assists.
• Lehigh, who scored 24 extra-man goals on 54 attempts a year ago, has yet to score an extra-man goal this spring. The Mountain Hawks are 0 for 13.
• Richard Checo (So / D) leads the defensive charge, posting 10 caused turnovers and grabbing 15 ground balls.
• Standing between the pipes is second-year starter Nick Pecora (Sr / GK) who owns an 11.60 goals-against average and a 52.1 save percentage.
• Sean Dow (Jr) has been tasked with replacing one of the best faceoff men to play the sport in Mike Sisselberger. Dow has won 48 of the 107 draws (44.9) he has taken, while Matt Brock (Sr) has won 9 of the 18 he has taken. Dow, meanwhile, leads the team in ground balls with 24.

Historic Series
• One of the oldest programs in the sport of lacrosse, Navy is in its 117th year of having a varsity men's lacrosse team. It is the fifth-oldest in Div. I men's lacrosse.
• Four of Navy's opponents this spring are among the top-10 oldest, including Saturday's foe Lehigh, who is the second oldest and is in its 135th year. Navy also plays Johns Hopkins, who is the oldest in its 137th year, Penn State, who is 6th on the list (111 yrs), and Army, who is 7th (107 yrs).
• Navy and Lehigh will meet for the 46th time when the two teams clash in Bethlehem on Saturday. It's the 7th-most games Navy has played against an opponent and the 2nd most against a team in the Patriot League.
• Navy will play 2 other teams on that list this spring - Army and Johns Hopkins - while the Mids faced Penn State for the 39th time when the two teams met on Feb. 24. The Nittany Lions won that game 13-3 in Annapolis.

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).