ANNAPOLIS, Md. —  The Navy men's lacrosse team (4-1, 1-0 Patriot League) opened its 2025 Patriot League schedule in impressive fashion on Saturday afternoon, as the Mids built an 11-1 lead over the first 40 minutes of action en route to handing 20th-ranked Boston University (4-1, 0-1 Patriot League) a 13-9 loss, its first of the season. The win marked Navy's second victory over a top-20 opponent this season after defeating #18 Towson 14-10 on Feb. 16.

"We certainly didn't play for 60 minutes the way we wanted to," said sixth-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "I felt like we deserved to win 13-9 with the way we played in the first half. And credit to Boston University, they played their tails off in the second half. 

"We've got a lot to work on. We clearly have to handle pressure moments and decision making and we have to stay out of the penalty box, that's for sure. I think we broke the Navy record for the last two games in fouls. Probably Navy in a season didn't have 15 fouls and we've got 15 in two games. We have to do better there, but overall a good day for Navy lacrosse to start the Patriot League against a good team."

Navy scored early and often to open the game, as back-to-back goals by Carter Ash (Sr / A / Leesburg, Va.) gave the Mids a 2-0 lead less that 3 minutes into the contest. Preseason All-Patriot League midfielder Jack Flaherty (Jr / Massapequa, N.Y.) and Mac Haley (Jr / A / Shady Side, Md.) provided assists on goals by one another, including Haley's wraparound shot with just 2.5 seconds remaining in the opening frame to give the Mids' a 4-0 lead.

The Mids' defense was spectacular over the first quarter of play, holding the Terriers without a goal. It was the first time since Navy's 16-9 win over Boston U. last March (16 gms) that the Terriers did not score a goal in a quarter.

Boston U. looked as though it had stopped Navy's momentum 3 minutes into the second quarter when it appeared Jimmy Kohr beat the shot clock. However, after a challenge by Navy, the play was reviewed and the goal was waived off.

Navy pushed its lead to 5 when Henry Tolker (Sr / A / Catonsville, Md.) found Flaherty for his second goal of the contest.

Just over 21 minutes into the contests, the Terriers made their way onto the scoreboard as James Corcoran put his head down and bulled his way towards the crease for the goal at 8:26 in the second quarter.

The Mids would have the final say of the opening half, as Sean Gallagher (Jr / LSM / Garnet Valley, Pa.) picked up a loose ball on a BU failed clear and punched in his third goal of the season, while Flaherty capped off his first-career hat trick with an unassisted strike with just 5.9 seconds left to give Navy a 7-1 advantage at the break.

Navy outshot BU 27-20 in the opening half, but the Terriers put just 7 of those 20 shots on goal. The Terriers also turned the ball over 12 times in the opening 30 minutes of play.

Navy opened the second half much like it did to start the game, as the Mids went on a 4-0 run to push their lead to 11-1. Navy rookies William Goers (A / Chester, Md.) and Jack Ponzio (M / Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) played key roles during the run with Goers targeting a pair of goals and Ponzio providing the assist on both Haley and Tolker's goals. 

An extra-man goal by BU's Mike Rooney with 3:41 left in the third quarter not only was what the doctor ordered to stop the Navy run, it triggered a run of their own by the Terriers. BU closed out the third quarter on a 4-0 run, getting goals from four different players, and trimmed the deficit to 6 goals (11-5). The Terriers showed their firepower by scoring a pair of goals in the final 32 seconds of the frame.

The momentum carried over into the fourth quarter for the Terriers, as leading scorer Timothy Shannehan and Tommy Garofalo punched in goals and BU trailed by just 4 (11-7) with 8:32 to go in the contest.

Ash, who passed up an opportunity to extend Navy's lead midway through the frame, didn't make the same mistake twice. This time he shot and scored off an assist from Flaherty for his third-career hat trick and second this season to put the Mids back up by 5.

A determined BU team continued to push the Mids, scoring back-to-back goals in just 6 seconds (1:25 and 1:19) to trim Navy's lead to 3 (12-9).

Navy's Joey Bucci (So / FO / West Chester, Pa.) won one of the most important faceoffs of his career on the ensuing draw and co-captain Jack Norton (Sr / SSDM / Vienna, Va.) put away the insurance goal on an empty net with 12.9 seconds remaining to give Navy the victory.

"They completely outplayed us in every single aspect of the game (during its 8-1 run)," said Amplo, whose Mids went nearly 18 minutes without scoring between the third and fourth quarters. "It was one thing after another. It wasn't one person or one aspect. I can point to every aspect of the game - offensively we turned the ball over carelessly, in the clearing game we made a bad decision, we couldn't win a faceoff at that point and defensively we looked a little tired. BU played really well and they were crisp during that stretch where they kicked our tails in for a good nine minutes."

Leading all scorers was Flaherty, who ended the game with a career-high 6 points on 3 goals and 3 assists. His previous high was 4 points against Towson two weeks prior. Ash (3G) and Haley (2G, 1A) both finished with 3 points, while Goers (2G), Ponzio (2A) and Tolker (1G, 1A) all turned in a pair of points.

Tolker moved into 27th on Navy's career points leader board with 109 (86G, 23A), while also taking sole possession of 11th on the Mids' all-time goals scored list with 86. The 86 goals are the most by a Navy player since Ian Dingman finished his career second on the leader board with 125 from 2003-07.

Defensively, Navy produced 11 caused turnovers including 2 apiece by AJ Marsh (So / D / Reisterstown, Md.) and Gallagher. Marsh also equaled his career high with 5 ground balls and took 5 shots, 2 on extra-man and the other 3 in the clearing game. Meanwhile, Dan Daly (Jr / GK / Wayne, N.J.), who was coming off a career-high 20-save performance, allowed 9 goals, 6 at even strength, while making 7 stops.

One of the key stats in the game was ground balls. While BU bested the Mids 43-40, it was a far better performance by Navy over last week.

"We got our tails kicked in last week on the ground," said Amplo. "We challenged our guys this week to be better off the ground. I told them that if we could get what we call a "Looney," which is 40 ground balls, we are going to win the game. I think we had 21 (22) at the half. That's a huge stat. That's more than what we had the entire game last week against Penn State."

Meanwhile, Navy was without the faceoff services of 2024 Patriot League Rookie of the Year and ECAC Rookie of the Year Zach Hayashi (So / FO / North Potomac, Md.). Navy's No. 2 specialist, Colin Shadowens (Jr / Severna Park, Md.), took a hard hit on the opening faceoff of the game and did not return, leaving Bucci as the go-to specialist. The former walk-on battled and won 8 of the 23 draws he took, while David Graham (Sr / FO / Littleton, Colo.) was 1 for 1 on the day.

"Lacrosse is a team game. Unfortunately Colin Shadowens gets hurt, but I was really proud of Joey Bucci," said Amplo. "We know how important the faceoff game is and we know how certainly Zach Hayashi is to us and Colin Shadowens who is Zach's backup. When he (Shadowens) goes down, there's a tendency for a team to deflate because it's such an important factor in the game. I felt a rise of an emotion when I was walking off the field from our bench because our team was so excited for Joey Bucci. To me it is a sign this team is so connected and so together because they were truly excited for Joey Bucci to get a shot and they believed in him. That to me is the most exciting thing about today. 

Navy plays its second contest of a four-game homestand next Friday (5:00 pm) when it plays host to Lehigh (1-4, 0-0 Patriot League) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network with Dave Ryan and Steve Panarelli on the call, while Joe Miller and Tim Nolan will have the radio broadcast on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV.

"This league is a bear," said Amplo, who begins the conference season 1-0 for the third time in his Navy career and the second-consecutive year. "Like I've said to you many times before, it's a very underrated league. We know it's going to be a challenge every single week against every opponent. To start 1-0 shorthanded without a really important player for us and secure a win and hold serve at home is really important to us. It sets us up for hopefully a good week ahead a chance to compete against the defending champions in our league next Friday night."

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 ###