Setting the Stage
• Inside the Game: Navy (7-5, 4-2 Patriot League) returns home to play its final two Patriot League games of the season beginning with Loyola (6-6, 4-2 PL) on Friday evening. Faceoff is set for 7:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Joe Amplo owns a 33-24 record in his 5 years at the helm of the Navy program, while the Greyhounds are under the direction of Charley Toomey who is in his 19th year (183-98) and the program's winningest coach. Friday's contest, presented by Navy Mutual, marks the 19th meeting in a series that dates back to 1939. Loyola holds a 12-6 series advantage over the Mids.
• Follow the Action: Friday's contest will be televised by CBS Sports Network with Brent Stover and Evan Washburn calling the action. Additionally, the game will be carried live on 1430 AM WNAV with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call. Radio coverage begins at 6:45 pm with the Navy Lacrosse Pregame Show. Live stats will also be available on Navystats.com(.)

Countdown to Faceoff
10  -  Navy has lost just 5 games in the Joe Amplo era (2020-present) when scoring 10 or more goals (27-5, 84.4).
9  -  Navy's defense has held the opposition to 9 or fewer goals in 7 of its 12 games this spring, including 4 of the 6 Patriot League games (6 - Mount St. Mary's, 8 - Hofstra, 9 - Boston U., 9 - Johns Hopkins, 7 - Holy Cross, 9 - Colgate, 9 - Lafayette). Loyola, meanwhile, has scored double digits in each of its last 9 games against the Mids.
8  -  Navy, who is currently in a six-way tie for 1st place in the Patriot League, 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  -  Loyola has won 7 of the 11 games contested in Annapolis, including each of the last 4. Navy's last win over the Greyhounds in Annapolis was in 2016 (10-9).
6  -  Henry Tolker (Jr / A) scored 6 goals against Loyola in last year's regular-season meeting. It's the most goals by a Navy player since Dave Little's 9 goals on 9 shots vs. Lehigh on March 25, 2017.
5  -  Navy is the 5th-oldest (117th year) and 5th-winningest (837-387-14) program in NCAA Div. I men's lacrosse history.
4  -  Four of Navy's 2024 opponents are ranked among the USILA's top 20 - #4 Johns Hopkins (W, 10-9 OT / 3.15), #10 Penn State (L, 13-3 / 2.24), #12 Army (L, 13-8 / 4.13) and #16 Towson (L, 17-5 / 2.17).
3 -   In Joe Amplo's 5 seasons at Navy, the Mids have lost just 3 games when leading at the half (24-3). Navy has won 8-consecutive games when leading at the half, including 5 contests this spring.
2  -  Max Hewitt (Sr / M) needs just 2 points to become the 37th player and the 11th midfielder in school history to produce 100-career points (61-34=95).
1  -  Zach Hayashi (Fr / FO), who is ranked #2 in the Patriot League in faceoff winning percentage (151-270, 55.9) AND ground balls per game (5.83), stands #1 in the Naval Academy's Class of 2027 (1,152 students) in Military Order of Merit.

Navy-Loyola Series
• Loyola and Navy are meeting for the 19th time overall and the 13th since Loyola joined the Patriot League in 2014.  
• Loyola owns a 12-6 series advantage, winning 12 of the last 15 meetings. Navy's 11-10 regular-season win over the Greyhounds a year ago marked just the third win over Loyola since 1943. The win also marked just the second win by Navy on Loyola's home field.  
• Tuesday's contest will be the 12th game between the two programs played in Annapolis with the Greyhounds leading 7-4. Navy has lost 4-consecutive games played against Loyola at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Mids' last win against the Greyhounds at home was a 10-9 victory on March 19, 2016.
• The two programs first met on May 6, 1939, with Navy posting a 14-4 victory. The Mids also took wins over Loyola in 1942 (12-8) and 1943 (8-1). However, the two teams would not meet again until the NCAA Tournament in 1993. The Greyhounds dealt the Mids a 19-8 to end their season.
• The series was rekindled in 2010 with Loyola scoring an 8-7 decision in overtime and a year later the Greyhounds earned a 9-8 come-from-behind win over the Mids in Baltimore.

Scouting Loyola
• Nineteenth-year Loyola head coach Charley Toomey has guided the Greyhounds to a 6-6 record this spring, including a 4-2 mark in the Patriot League.
• After earning a convincing 18-10 win over #11 Georgetown in the opener, the Greyhounds lost 6 of their next 7 games (Maryland-Johns Hopkins-Rutgers // Colgate-Duke-Boston U.). An 11-10 overtime win over Towson was sandwiched between the two 3-game losing skids. Loyola, however, has bounced back and enters Friday night's game against the Mids riding a 4-game winning streak where they have averaged 15.0 goals per game, while holding their foes to 9.75 goals per game.
• Adam Poitras (Gr / A) leads a Loyola offense that is averaging 11.33 goals per game this spring. After leading the team with 34 goals and tying for team-high honors with 49 points  a year ago, Poitras once again leads the team with 43 points on 31 goals and 12 assists. Evan James (Gr / A) has also reached the 40-point milestone with 30 goals on 10 assists, while Matthew Minicus (So / A) is nearing that mark with 37 points on 24 goals and 13 assists. Minicus leads Loyola with 5 extra-man goals this season.
• The defense, meanwhile, is allowing 11.50 goals per game, giving up just 2 more goals than Loyola has scored this year. Loyola has held just 1 team to single digits this season (6 by Holy Cross), though it has held 4 other foes to 10.
• Luke Staudt (Sr / GK) has started all 10 games in which he has played. He owns an 12.27 goals-against average and a 52.4 save percentage. Meanwhile, Max Watkinson has started 2 of the 3 games in which he has appeared and has produced a 7.89 GAA and a 59.5 save percentage.
• Rutgers transfer Remi Reynolds (Jr / D) leads the team with 15 caused turnovers, while Diego Roman (Jr / LSM) has 9.
• Eric Pacheco (Gr) and Carson Hall (Fr) have shared the facing off duties this spring. Pacheco has won 72 of the 167 draws (43.1) he has taken, while Hall has won 56 of the 147 (38.1) he has taken. Both players have a team-high tying 29 ground balls, along with Remi Reynolds and Adam Poitras.

Program Ties
• Long-time friends Joe Amplo and Charley Toomey share the same sideline as assistant coaches for the US National Team, however, the two will coach from opposite sidelines on Friday evening. The two first met as opposing head coaches on April 3, 2021, when Loyola traveled to Annapolis to play the Mids. This will be the 7th time the two have faced one another as opposing head coaches (Amplo vs. Loyola, 2-4).
• Toomey served as the Naval Academy Prep School head coach during the 1993 season before joining the Navy coaching staff as an assistant for two years. He served under Bryan Matthews (1994) and Richie Meade (1995).
• Current Navy assistant coach Dave Cottle began his coaching career at Loyola where he amassed a 181-70 (72.1) record from 1983-2001. He was the program's winningest coach until April 6, 2024, when Toomey, a former pupil of Cottle's, passed his former coach. Toomey was a two-time All-American goalkeeper at Loyola from 1987-90.
• Cottle 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.
• 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.

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 16, cannot 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.

Patriot League Success
• Since joining the Patriot League in 2004, Navy has put together a 103-57 record (64.4) against conference members, which includes a 2-0 mark against Hobart who left the league following the 2004 season.  
• The Mids are 92-47 (66.2) in regular-season action and 11-10 (52.4) in the Patriot League Tournament.
• 36 of the 57 losses (63.2) have been in games played either at the opponent's field (31) or at a neutral site (5).
• Navy owns a 52-21 (71.2) Patriot League record at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, including a 46-17 (73.0) 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).

Hewitt and Tolker Closing in on 100
• Max Hewitt (Sr / M) is looking to become just the 37th player in program history to reach the 100-point scoring milestone. Hewitt heads into Friday night's contest with 98-career points, having produced 64 goals and 34 assists.
• Should he reach that milestone, he would become just the 11th midfielder in program history to score 100 points and the first since Greyson Torain and Ryan Wade (played at least one season at attack) in 2016-19.
• Teammate Henry Tolker (Jr / A) is also approaching the 100-point milestone. The three-year starter has produced 92 points (74G, 18A) in 42 games to date.
• Tolker also needs just 2 goals to join Navy's all-time top-20 career goals scored list.
• Patrick Skalniak, who suffered a fractured spine a year ago at the hands of Lehigh, missed 9 games in his final season and came up just 1 point short of reaching 100 points.
• Among the list of Navy's 100-point scorers, 16 players have added their names to the list in the last 25 years, including Christian Daniel (122) in 2021, Greyson Torain (132) in 2019 and Ryan Wade (119) in 2019.
• Nearly 50 years since graduating, Jeff Long remains the Mids' all-time leading scorer with 233 points (84-149).