ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It was only appropriate for a senior to rise to the occasion and lead the Navy men's lacrosse team (8-6, 5-3 Patriot League) to victory Friday evening in what was seemingly the final home game for the Mids' 17 senior players. Navy's Dane Swanson (Sr / M / St. Mary's City, Md.) answered the call and with 1:53 remaining in the extra frame, he sped past Bucknell's short-stick defensive midfielder and buried his 15-yard shot to lead the Mids to a 13-12 overtime victory over Bucknell (4-10, 2-6 PL) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

The win, Navy's eighth in a row against the Bison, secured the No. 3 seed and a home game for the Mids Tuesday evening (6:00 pm) against sixth-seeded Loyola in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals. It will mark the second-consecutive year the Mids not only meet Loyola in the quarterfinals, but also the second-straight year in which they play host the Greyhounds.

After a back-and-forth, Navy broke open the game midway through the second quarter. The scored three-consecutive extra-man goals by three difference players over the final three minutes of the opening half to take a 6-4 lead into the break.

Bucknell closed to within one just a minute into the second half on an unassisted goal by Cam Doolan. Navy would answer right back, scoring three in a row to push its lead to 4 (9-5) with 10:47 remaining in the third quarter.

The Bison got hot on the offensive end of the field and clawed their way back into the game, scoring four in a row over a two-and-a-half minute span to even the game at 9 apiece with 5:41 remaining in the quarter.

Swanson used an Xavier Arline (Sr / A / Wading River, N.Y.) pick to get a step on his defender and fired a bouncer beyond the reach of Bucknell goalkeeper Jaz Zanelli to put the Mids back up by one (10-9). Navy closed out the frame with a two-goal advantage when Arline found a wide-open Henry Tolker (Jr / A / Catonsville, Md.) standing on the crease for his lone goal of the contest.

Arline scored an unassisted goal, his third of the game, two minutes into the fourth quarter to extend Navy's lead to 3 (12-9). It marked Arline's eighth-consecutive game scoring a goal and his team-high fifth hat trick of the year.

Bucknell was again able to rally and scored three-straight goals, including the game-tying goal by Richie Striano (2:19 remaining) which would force overtime.

The Bison won the ensuing draw, just their eighth win on 28 tries on the evening, to set up the potential game-winner. Rookie Hans Huber got a solid look from 15 yards out, but Dan Daly (So / GK / Wayne, N.J.) turned aside the shot and Navy would be awarded the ball after it was deflected out of bounds.

Navy successfully advanced the ball and set up for a shot, but Bucknell defenseman George Talarico poked the ball out of Max Hewitt's (Sr / M / Denver, Colo.) stick and Talarico quickly picked up the loose ball. Pressured by Navy, Talarico looked for an outlet and threw the ball towards Zanelli on the end line. Tolker made a spectacular play for the Mids, checking the ball out of the outstretched arms of Zanelli and the ball trickled out of bounds.

Following a Navy-called timeout, Arline put the ball in play with Swanson setting up on the near sideline where he took Striano one on one, driving his way to the center of the box and finding the back of the net for the game-winner.

Eight players accounted for Navy's 13 goals, while 11 produced either a goal or an assist in the contest. Navy's seniors accounted for 8 goals and 3 assists, including Arline who led the way with 4 points on 3 goals and as assist. Swanson and Hewitt contributed a pair of goals and an assist. Additionally, with his assist on Carter Ash's (Jr / A / Leesburg, Va.) first extra-man goal of the contest (13:02, 2Qtr), Hewitt became just the 37th player and 11th midfielder in program history to reach the 100-point milestone. The last Navy midfielder to reach 100 points was the tandem of Greyson Torain and Ryan Wade, who both achieved the feat in 2019.

Roman LaRocco (Jr / M / Mt. Airy, Md.) scored his first-collegiate goal and added an assist, while Graham Parker (Fr / SSDM / Owings, Md.) dealt out his first-career assist in the win.

Defensively, recorded 6 caused turnovers in the contest, including 2 apiece by Tolker and Ian McGullam (Jr / D / Centerport, N.Y.), while the Mids held Bucknell's Connor Davis, ranked #1 in the league in goals per game (2.85) scoreless for the first 54 minutes of the game before allowing just a single goal by the third-year player. Daly, meanwhile, made 14 stops in the game, including 6 in the opening quarter and the ever-important save in overtime.

Zach Hayashi (Fr / FO / North Potomac, Md.) has had countless standout performances throughout the season, including Friday night's effort. He won 20 of the 28 (71.4), falling just 1 win shy of tying the school's single-game record. Meanwhile, Hayashi tied Navy's single-season faceoff wins record, equaling Anthony Ghobriel's record set a year ago with 185 wins. Ghobriel set the record over 16 games, while Hayashi has matched the record in 14 appearances this season.

Bucknell had 11 different players score goals in the contest with only Michael Meyer punching in multiple goals (2). Meanwhile, Sean Berrigan and Henry Boykin both finished with a goal and 2 assists. The Bison forced 10 of Navy's 16 turnovers, including 3 by defenseman Will Pickering, while Zanelli finished the contest with 12 saves.

With eight of the nine teams in action on Friday evening, the Patriot League Tournament seeding came down to the final contest of the night. Remarkably three of the four games not only were decided by one goal, they all had the same score. Boston U. overcame an eight-goal deficit (10-2) on the road to defeat Colgate 13-12, Army scored a 13-11 win at Loyola, Lehigh came from behind to edge archrival Lafayette 13-12 and Navy earned the 13-12 overtime win against Bucknell. Three of the four games were won by the visiting team (Navy was home).

Army and Lehigh are both 6-2, however, the Black Knights defeated Lehigh during the regular season to earn the No. 1 seed and right to host the semifinals and championship game. Lehigh fell in as the No. 2 seed, while the remaining teams - Navy, Boston U., Colgate and Loyola - all finished 5-3. By way of tie-breakers, Navy earned the No. 3 seed and will play host to No. 6 Loyola, while Boston U., the No. 4 seed, will play host to No. 5 Colgate.

Tuesday's game between Navy and Loyola will be streamed on ESPN+ and carried live on 1430 AM WNAV with Pete Medhurst and Joe Miller on the call.

Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Championship Schedule
Quarterfinal Round - Tuesday, April 30 | Hosted by higher seed
6:00 pm | No. 6 Loyola at No. 3 Navy | ESPN+
6:00 pm | No. 5 Colgate at No. 4 Boston U. | ESPN+
 
Semifinal Round - Friday, May 3 | Hosted by No. 1 Seed
Lowest-remaining seed at No. 1 Army | CBS Sports Network at 4 pm
Highest-remaining seed vs. No. 2 Lehigh | CBS Sports Network at 7 pm

Championship Game - Sunday, May 5 | Hosted by No. 1 Army
Lowest-remaining seed vs. Highest-remaining seed | Noon | CBS Sports Network at 12 noon

Patriot League standings
1. Army: 11-2 / 6-2
2. Lehigh: 8-6 / 6-2
3. Navy: 8-6 / 5-3
4. Boston U.: 8-6 / 5-3
5. Colgate: 8-6 / 5-3
6. Loyola: 7-7 / 5-3
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7. Bucknell: 4-10 / 2-6
6. Lafayette: 6-7 / 2-6
9. Holy Cross: 2-11 / 0-9

### Go Navy ###