ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  The Navy's men's lacrosse team (2-0) used a 10-goal opening quarter to seize control of the game and went on to post a 22-9 victory over Iona (0-2) Saturday afternoon in the Mids' home opener at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It marked just the second Division I contest played by the Gaels who announced the addition of men's lacrosse in August of 2022.

"I've been on that sideline on the other side with a new program in the early part of things and I know how challenging it can be when you play a team that plays well against you," said sixth-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "I give those guys a tremendous amount of credit for not giving up and competing the entire time. It's very impressive. It's not easy to do and I think Chad is going to do a great job with those kids and I hope they stick together. They will continue to improve.

"I was proud of our guys. For the most part, we played our way and that was the challenge today. To just stay accountable to who we want to be as a team and do the little things right. I thought aside from a lull in that second quarter, we did just that. I was really proud of the guys for handling that."

It's the first time Navy has scored 20 goals since defeating VMI 21-7 on Feb. 8, 2015 and it's the most goals scored by the Midshipmen since they defeated Holy Cross 23-5 on April 18, 2004.

Scoring was fast and furious early in the contest, as the Mids' took a 2-0 lead just over 2 minutes into the game. Mac Haley (Jr / A / Shady Side, Md.) scored the first of his 3 goals in the quarter when Henry Tolker (Sr / A / Catonsville, Md.) threw a behind-the-back pass to Haley who drilled the shot at 13:06. Navy won the ensuing faceoff and just 13 seconds later, Josh Nagy (Fr / SSDM / Westminster, Md.) found a charging AJ Marsh (So / D / Reisterstown, Md.) who scored his second goal in as many games.

Iona answered Navy's run with one of its own as the Gaels won the next faceoff and draw specialist Vincenzo Gramaglia found an open Cullen Lawry who fired his shot in past Navy netminder Dan Daly (Jr / GK / Wayne, N.J.). Just over a minute passed and Iona's Jake Riglietti, who scored the Gaels only 2 goals in a 20-2 loss to Hofstra last weekend, found a seem to get his hands free and score.

Just 36 seconds elapsed before Navy would take the lead for good, as Carter Ash's (Sr / A / Leesburg, Va.) goal at the 10:59 mark triggered an 8-0 run by the Mids to close out the quarter with a 10-2 lead.

Iona went on to outscore the Mids 3-2 in the second frame, scoring the final two goals of the quarter to trim Navy's lead to 7 (12-5) at the half. That is the closest the Gaels would get the rest of the way, as Navy outscored Iona 10-4 in the second half en route to its second to open the season.

The game provided Navy the opportunity to play nearly its entire 60-man roster, as every player dressed (58) played in the contest, including 5 goalkeepers. Navy's starters played just the opening quarter, giving a young squad a chance to get some much-needed game experience.

"These guys who aren't the 'named' starters are good players," Amplo stated. "That's a tribute to the job the staff has done recruiting good guys and developing a team. They deserve an opportunity to keep. I said to them at halftime after we lost that second quarter, I could decide to put the guys that started the game back in, but I'm not because I believed they would turn the tide and play better and they did."

Fifteen different players scored goals for the Mids, including 9 who recorded their first-career goals. In total, 19 players finished the contest with at least one point.

Race Ripley (Jr / A / Annapolis, Md.) was one of those 9 who scored their first goal, but he did not stop there. He went on to pace the Mids with a career-high 5 points on 4 goals and an assist. 

"They work their tails off every day in practice," added Amplo. "Some guys are right there and could be starters, but they just aren't at that point just yet. But they are right there and I think you saw that today. Race is a perfect example of that. He's on the man-up team now and then he goes in and plays a lot of minutes at attack and has a productive day. That's a tribute to not only him, but the guys who went out there with him who everyday come out and work and they're not far behind the other guys." 

Haley turned in 4 points on 3 goals and an assist, marking just the fourth hat trick of his three-year career.

Tolker closed out the day with a pair of goals and an assist to move up in both career points and goals. He is now tied with Matt Pawlikowski (1990-93) for 30th on Navy's career scoring list with 106 points, while he is tied with all-time leading scorer Jeff Long (1974-77) for 12th on the Mids' all-time goals scored list with 84. His 84 goals are the most by a Navy player since Sam Jones scored 85 goals from 2011-14.

William Goers (Fr / A / Chester, Md.) also had a career day for the Mids with 2 goals and 2 assists. He recorded his first-collegiate point a week ago in the opener at High Point where he dealt out an assist and followed up with his first-career goals on Saturday at home.

In addition to Ripley and Goers, Joey Bucci (So / FO / West Chester, Pa.), B (So / A / Wantagh, N.Y.), Aydan DiRocco (Fr / M / Haverford, Pa.), Sean Gallagher (LSM / Jr / Garnet Valley, Pa.), Alec Gregorek (Fr / A / Wading River, N.Y.), Liam Hurley (So / M / Williamsburg, Va.) and Andrew Ross (Jr / M / Morris Plains, N.J.) all recorded their first-collegiate goals in a Navy uniform

Defensively, Navy's 5 goalkeepers combined for 10 saves, led by George Vlahos' (Fr / San Francisco, Calif.) 6 stops, the first of his young career.

Additionally, the Mids' defense did a nice job of shutting off the Iona offense. Navy held the Gaels without a goal for nearly 16 minutes (15:52) between the first (11:35) and second quarters (10:43) and another 16-minute stretch (16:31) between the third (10:04) and fourth (8:33) quarters.

Navy had 6 players take and win at least one faceoff in the contest. Zach Hayashi (So / North Potomac, Md.), the 2024 Patriot League and ECAC Rookie of the Year, won 8 of the 10 draws he took in the opening period, while Colin Shadowens (Jr / Severna Park, Md.) was 5 for 10, Joey Bucci (So / West Chester, Pa.) was 5 for 7, David Graham (Sr / Littleton, Colo.) was 2 for 3, Rory Blanchard (Fr / New Market, Md.) was 1 for 3 and Max Thomas (Jr / Nyack, N.Y.) was 1 for 2.

Meanwhile, 4 players accounted for Iona's 9 goals, including Cullen Lawry who scored 4. Jake Riglietti and Beckett Foley scored 2 apiece and Kolbe Curtin scored his first-career goal. Denny Piekutowski and Noah Perea shared time in goal with Piekutowski making 8 saves and Perea turned in 7.

The Midshipmen will be back in action next Sunday when they play host to #17 Towson (0-1). Faceoff is slated for 12:00 pm at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with Joe Miller calling the action on ESPN+ and 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV.

Single-game tickets may be purchased by stopping by the Navy Ticket Office at Ricketts Hall, by calling 1-800-US4-NAVY, via the internet at www.navysports.com or at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on game day. Ticket prices for home games are $10 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and under, while groups of 20 or more will be offered a discounted ticket (in advance only, contact Jordan Albright at 410-293-8791 / grouptickets@usna.edu). Additionally there is a $10 charge (credit card only) to park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for all games.

### Go Navy ###