JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —  Navy senior defender Sean Gallagher's (Garnet Valley, Pa.) goal just 45 seconds into the extra frame led the Navy men's lacrosse team (5-2) to a 10-9 overtime victory over Jacksonville (3-4) Tuesday evening at Rock Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. 

In what was a wild finish to the contest, the two teams combined to score three goals in the final minute of regulation and 45 seconds of overtime. Jack Taylor, the Dophins' leading scorer, capped a three-goal run by Jacksonville on an unassisted goal with 52 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Dolphins a 9-8 lead.  

Jacksonville won the ensuing faceoff, but turned the ball over. Navy advanced the ball before taking a timeout with 27 seconds to go. Senior co-captain Mac Haley (Sr / A / Shady Side, Md.) took his defender one-on-one, curling his way around the right side of the cage and threaded his shot between the pipe and netminder Ryan Della Rocco's left hip for the equalizer with 15.9 seconds left on the clock. Navy won the faceoff and Haley got a look, but Della Rocco turned his shot aside to force the extra frame.

After winning the overtime faceoff, Jacksonville quickly called a timeout to set up its offense. Head coach John Galloway put the ball in his leading scorer's hands only to have Gallagher knock the ball loose from Taylor's stick. Gallagher fought his way to the loose ball, picked it up and the foot race was on. Navy had numbers as Gallagher ran the Mids' transition to perfection and cranked his 15-yard shot past Della Rocco for the game-winner.

It was Navy's first overtime game of the season and sixth during head coach Joe Amplo's seven-year tenure. The Mids are now 5-1 in overtime contests under Amplo's direction.

The victory also topped off an already amazing day of Navy lacrosse as Amplo captured his 100th victory in 14 years as a collegiate head coach. He has put together a 52-53 record in 7 seasons at Marquette (2013-19) and stands 48-35 in his 7 seasons in Annapolis. Earlier in the day, Cindy Timchal led the Navy women's lacrosse team to a 13-10 win over Jacksonville at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. With the victory, Timchal became the first Div. I lacrosse coach, men's or women's, to win 600 games.

It was a gritty performance by the Midshipmen who had numerous players battling a stomach virus since their arrival in Florida on Saturday evening and were game time decisions.

"I really want to give a shout out to our support staff," said Amplo. "If there was an MVP to this game, it was each of our support staff members - our athletic trainer Lindsay Riley, our nutritionist Bailey Goggin, our strength and conditioning coach Tim Murray, our equipment manager Brian Sellers and our officer representative Capt. Mendenhall. All of them went above and beyond for this team in ensuring that we had everything we needed. We could not have stepped on the field tonight without them.

"Our guys had a refuse to lose mentality, especially over the last minute of the game," added Amplo. "We go down a goal and Kenny (Broschart) drew up a play. The first option was covered, but Jack Nichtern set a great pick and Mac (Haley) just made a heck of a play to tie the game. Then in overtime, Sean (Gallagher) D's up against their best player, knocks the ball out and ran down the field and scored. I was ready to call a timeout before he shot, but I saw the lane he was running towards and they weren't sliding to him so I just let him go."

The game began as a defensive battle as the two teams combined for six goals and went into halftime tied at 3-3. Both goalkeepers played exceptionally well over the first 30 minutes, including Navy's Dan Daly (Sr / Wayne, N.J.) who made 6 stops in the first quarter.

The game began to free up in the second half as it became a game of runs, one answering the other. Neither team would lead by more than 2 goals at any point in the game with Navy taking a two-goal lead twice in the second half. The second of the two-goal leads transpired at the beginning of the fourth quarter when Alec Gregorek (So / A / Wading River, N.Y.) scored back-to-back goals to give the Mids an 8-6 advantage with 9:54 remaining.

Navy, however, would go cold as Jacksonville patiently worked its way back into the game scoring at 7:54, 5:38 and the go-ahead goal by Taylor with 52 seconds left. After nine minutes and 39 seconds without a goal, Haley would answer the call with goal that sent the game to overtime and set up Gallagher's game-winner.

Haley led Navy with 4 goals and extended his point-scoring streak to 22-consecutive games. Additionally, he moved into a tie for 23rd on Navy's all-time scoring list with 119 points. Gregorek turned in 3 goals for the Mids, not only marking his seventh game this season with a goal, but his seventh game with multiple goals. He now leads the team with 19 goals on the year. 

Zach Hayashi (Jr / North Potomac, Md.) and Colin Shadowens (Sr / Severna Park, Md.) continued to share faceoff duties with Hayashi winning 6 of his 12 draws and Shadowens winning 3 of 10. While Jacksonville edged Navy 13-9 in faceoffs, Hayashi and Shadowens won 5 of the 7 draws in the fourth quarter to help put the ball in the sticks of the offense.

Daly was stout between the pipes where he ended the day with 11 saves and made his way onto Navy's all-time top-10 saves leader board with 434 over four seasons. He and the Navy defense held the Dolphins to single digits for the first time this season and well under their 14.33 goals per game average. Jacksonville came into the game ranked eighth nationally in scoring offense. While Taylor earned his average of 5 points per game, the Mids held Daylin John-Hill to just an assist. John-Hill came into the contest averaging 2.50 goals per game and shooting 60 percent. He was held to just one shot on the evening.

"We looked a little different tonight on defense because we didn't have the depth that we normally do," said Amplo. "We played a physical conference game against Bucknell on Saturday, traveled down here that evening and then we've battled illness ever since, so some of the things we typically do like 10-man ride we were unable to do tonight. I'm incredibly proud of our guys!"

Navy will have little time to celebrate as the Mids will be back in action on Saturday when they make the short drive to Baltimore to take on 14th-ranked Johns Hopkins (4-2). One of the sport's most historic rivalries, the two programs will meet for the 95th time. Action is slated for 1:00 pm at Homewood Field. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

### Go Navy ###