Naval Academy Athletics

2023 // Freshman Year
• Saw action in all 16 contests, earning the start in each of the last 9 contests
• Member of a defensive unit that closed out 2023 ranked 10.44 nationally and #2 in the Patriot League in scoring defense, holding opponents to 10.44 goals per game
• Finished the season with 12 caused turnovers, the third most on the team ... it also tied as the 3rd-most takeaways by a Navy freshman in school history, just 1 shy of the record held by Andrew McKenna (2018) and Chris Fennell (2014) ... teammate Jackson Bonitz recorded 10 caused turnovers as a rookie in 2021
• Recorded a takeaway in 7 of the 16 games this season, including 5 of the 9 games in which he started
• Caused a turnover and grabbed a pair of ground balls in his Star Game debut
• Navy’s defensive unit held Lafayette to its second-fewest goals of the season with 6 and fewest since the Leopards lost a 14-5 decision to Delaware in the second week of the season ... Navy held Lafayette scoreless for the first 14:19 of the game ... after the Leopards got to within one (6-5) in the third quarter, the Mids held them without a goal for the next 19 minutes, giving up a goal with 1:00 left in the game
• Recorded a pair of caused turnovers and grabbed 2 ground balls against Lafayette
• Part of a Navy’s defense that held Boston U., the nation’s 8th-ranked scoring offense (14.75), to single digits for the first time since last year’s NCAA Tournament game against Princeton
• Recorded a career-high 4 caused turnovers and grabbed a pair of ground balls against #7 Villanova
• Made his first-collegiate start on a huge stage against #9 Johns Hopkins
• Picked up a career-high 2 ground balls at Colgate
• Posted a career-best 2 caused turnovers in Navy’s league opener against Lehigh
• Recorded his first-career caused turnover in the Mids’ loss at High Point
• Navy’s defense is now 65-1 since 2003 (7-0 under Amplo) when holding an opponent to 5 or fewer goals after defeating Queens 19-5 ... the Mids held the Royals scoreless for the first 34 minutes of the contest before allowing a goal
• Part of a defensive unit that held Mount St. Mary’s to just 2 goals in the first half en route to a 13-7 victory in the opener

High School
• 2021 graduate of Boys’ Latin School of Maryland in Baltimore, Md.
• Two-sport athlete who lettered in football (3) and lacrosse (4)
• A four-star recruit, he was ranked #55 among the Inside Lacrosse / EVOShield Power 100 Freshman Rankings
• Served as team captain of the lacrosse and football teams his senior year
• Led Boys’ Latin School to the MIAA Championship his senior year

Personal
• Son of Al and Shannon Hernandez
• Majoring in Political Science
• Attended the Naval Academy Prep School during the 2021-22 academic year
• Also considered Maryland and Ohio State
• Father, Al, is a 1998 graduate of UMBC where he was a four-year member of the lacrosse team ... served as captain of the Retrievers his senior year ... helped lead UMBC to a win over #1 Maryland in 1998, a win that propelled UMBC into the NCAA Tournament for the first time at the Div. I level
• Mother, Shannon (Bagrosky), is a 1997 graduate of UMBC where she was a four-year member of the soccer team and a member of the UMBC Athletic Hall of Fame ... a three-time All-Big South performer, she remains among UMBC’s top 10 career goals (#8), assists  (#T8)and points (#8) record book