Biography
• 2019 Lt. Robert T. Bianchi Award winner (Navy)
• 2018 Second-Team All-Patriot League
Kern in the Record Books: Has started every game in which he has played over his career (41 gms = 14 Fr / 14 So / 13 Jr) ... Stands 10th on the Mids’ all-time saves list with 416 ... became only the 10th goalkeeper in school history to reach 400 saves behind a career-high tying 18-save performance in the Mids’ 13-12 win over #16 Boston U. (4.26.19) ... reached 300 career saves with a 16-save effort against Princeton (3.5.19) ... needs 84 saves to become one of only five players in school history to reach 500 career saves ... trails ninth-place John Connors (2013-16) by 11 saves.
2019 (Jr.): The 2019 recipient of the Lt. Robert T. Bianchi Award, presented to Navy’s Valuable Player ... ranked #12 nationally in saves per game (12.85), #22 in save percentage (53.2) and #48 in goals against average (12.00) ... finished the season with 167 saves which tied as the 15th most by a Navy player in a single season and the most since RJ Wickham recorded 188 saves in 2010 ... he is one of just 2 players in the last 20 years who rank among the top 15 on the single-season list ... named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week following a spectacular performance against #16 Boston U. where he made a career-high tying 18 stops, 9 in each half, to preserve a 13-12 win in the season finale ... made 9 saves and gave way to 17 goals against #9 Syracuse ... Navy’s defense held Army to just 2 second-half goals, while the Mids outscored the Black Knights 5-2 over the final 30 minutes to force overtime ... part of a defensive unit that held Colgate scoreless over the final 18:46, as Navy rallied from two goals down in the fourth quarter to win 16-11 ... turned in a season-high and career-high tying 18 saves against the Black Knights ... produced 16 saves against the Raiders, including 10 in the opening half ... made 15 saves and gave up 12 goals at Holy Cross ... turned aside 10 shots against #17 Lehigh and gave up 15 goals ... struggled against #9 Loyola where he allowed 9 goals in the first 20:39 of the game and made just 2 stops ... part of a strong defensive effort by the Mids against Lafayette that saw the Mids keep the Leopards off the scoreboard for 21:53 (1:12 1Qtr - 9:19 3Qtr) ... Navy gave up just 3 goals to the Leopards over the first 3 quarters of play ... turned in a second consecutive 16-save effort in the Mids’ win over Lafayette ... became only the 14th goalkeeper in program history to tally 300 career saves behind his 16-save performance against Princeton ... part of a Navy defense allowed just two even-strength goals in the first 45 minutes of its Patriot League opener against Bucknell, while giving up three extra-man goals over that same timeframe ... for the game, the Bison scored five 6-on-6 goals and three extra-man strikes ... produced 9 saves against the Bison, including 7 in the first 3 quarters, and grabbed 5 ground balls ... turned in 11 saves against #3 Maryland), while forcing 3 Terp turnovers ... anchored a defense that held UMBC to just 3 goals over the final 3 quarters and scoreless in the fourth ... garnered Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honors for the first time this season and the fifth time of his career by pitching in a season-best 14 saves to move into 14th on the Mids’ all-time saves list with 276 ... credited with an assist on a long outlet pass to long-stick midfielder Jeff Durden who scored the goal midway through the first quarter ... Kern is the first Navy goalkeeper to record an assist since Tommy Phelan fed Andy Tormey in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at Duke on May 9, 2009 ... after missing nearly 3 weeks of the preseason due to a back injury, helped lead a defensive effort that yielded just 4 goals to Vermont in the first 50 minutes of action ... made 13 saves, including 10 over the first three quarters.
2018 (So.): One of six Navy players to earn All-Patriot League recognition, he was named to the second team ... he is a first-time selection ... closed out the season ranked 14th nationally in goals-against average (8.82), 34th in save percentage (50.2) and 46th in saves per game (8.86) ... produced 7 saves in a 10-9 overtime loss to Lehigh in the Patriot League semis ... turned aside 8 shots on goal against Syracuse, including 4 in the opening quarter to five the Mids a 4-2 lead ... named Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week for a second time this season, he recorded nine saves including seven in the second half ... after Army closed to within one (9-8) at the 6:19 mark, the Black Knights fired off seven shots to just one by Navy ... among those seven shots, Kern would face a flurry of three shots in the final 13 seconds. Conor Glancy’s shot steered wide at 0:13, while Kern warded off Sean O’Brien’s shot before it caromed off his stick with 0:04 left and Austin Colvin’s narrowly missed as his shot sailed just wide of the right post as time expired ... Navy’s defense held Colgate, ranked #6 nationally in scoring offense (13.00), to 10 goals and was just 00:01 from holding the Raiders to single digits ... he recorded 10 saves, including 5 in the third period when Colgate outshot the Mids, 14-4 ... also picked up 4 ground balls ... helped spearhead a defensive performance by the Mids that held Holy Cross to just 1 goal over the final 45 minutes in a 5-4 Navy win ... the Crusaders were without a goal over the final 17 minutes, as the Mids scored the final 2 goals to earn the come-from-behind victory ... the 4 goals marked the fewest by a Navy opponent this season ... recorded 10 saves against the Crusaders, including 2 pivotal stops in the final two minutes, including a point-blank save on a Drew Babiak shot with 1:31 remaining ... named to the USILA National Team of the Week after anchoring a defensive effort that held #14 Lehigh, the nation’s 12th-ranked offense averaging 12.22 goals per game, to just seven goals ... recorded a career-high 18 saves in the win ... spearheaded what was perhaps the biggest play of the game, making a save on a point-blank shot by Eddie Bouhall with 2:27 left in the third quarter and throwing an outlet pass that led to a transition goal by the Mids ... that goal (scored by Dave Little) stopped a 2-0 run that saw Lehigh trim Navy’s lead to one (7-6), but the Mountain Hawks would get no closer ... made 7 saves while giving up 14 goals against Loyola ... defensively, Navy held Lafayette to just 5 goals, including 1 over the first 33 minutes of the game, en route to a 15-5 win ... made 5 stops and gave up 4 of the 5 Leopard goals ... part of a defensive unit that held Bucknell to 4 goals over the final 45 minutes and scoreless over the final 14:12 in a 13-8 Navy victory ... made 7 stops against the Bison, including 5 in the second half ... member of the Mids’ defensive unit that held Boston U. to just one goal over the last 19:43 of the game and scoreless for the final 10:25 ... turned away eight shots on goal, including four in the opening quarter of the Mids’ win over Boston U. ... made 10 saves between the pipes while giving up 5 goals against UMBC in the home opener ... the 5 goals were the second fewest he has given up in his career (4 vs. Holy Cross, 2017 regular season) ... member of the Mids’ defensive unit that held UMBC scoreless for better than 15 minutes between the third and fourth quarters that allowed Navy to go on a 3-0 run and clinch the victory ... recorded the second-highest save total of his young career (then) with 15 stops at Jacksonville in the opener ... made 11 of the 15 saves in the second half as the Navy “D” held the Dolphins to just 2 goals in the final 30 minutes ... also matched his career high in ground balls with 6.
2017 (Fr.): A starter in all 14 contests, closed out his rookie season with 125 saves which are the most by a Navy freshman goalkeeper since Mickey Jarboe amassed 179 in 1997 ... made 11 saves while allowing 11 goals against Holy Cross in his first Patriot League Tournament appearance ... earned USILA National Defensive Player of the Week honors, while also being named the Patriot League Goalkeeper and Rookie of the Week following his performance against Army ... only the fourth Navy freshman goalkeeper to start an Army-Navy game, Kern produced a career-high 17 saves that included 10 stops on 15 shots in the fourth quarter ... the 17 saves marked the best performance by a Navy goalkeeper in an Army-Navy game since Mickey Jarboe made 19 stops in the final game of his career in 2000 ... 17-save performance put him over the 100-save mark for the season ... member of the Mids’ defensive unit that held Army scoreless for the final 18:32 of the contest while the Mids went on a 7-0 run to upset the Black Knights … Navy also held Army without a goal for the first 22 minutes of the game … the six goals by Army tied as the fewest by the Black Knights this season ... Navy’s defense held Colgate scoreless for nearly 21 minutes between the second and third quarters ... contributed seven saves and three ground balls ... after giving up an extra-man goal two minutes into the game at Holy Cross, the Mids’ defense held the Crusaders scoreless for 33 minutes while Navy built an 8-1 lead ... also held them off the board for nearly 20 minutes between the third and fourth quarters ... the Mids held Holy Cross to just eight shots in the first half, including two in the opening quarter ... turned in six saves and surrendered three goals in 55 minutes of action ... part of Navy’s defensive unit that held Lehigh off the board for the first 17-and-a-half minutes to allow the Mids to jump out to a 3-0 lead, a lead it would not relinquish en route to a 14-9 win ... turned in five saves ... member of the Mids’ defense that held Dartmouth to a season-low tying six goals and scoring droughts of 18 (2/3Qtr) and 13 minutes (4Qtr) ... contributed 10 saves ... allowed six goals in just under 16 minutes of action at #17 Loyola, making just one save on 11 shots ... Navy’s defensive unit held Lafayette to just one shot in the fourth quarter and scoreless for the final 15:51 of the game ... produced 10 saves while giving up 9 goals at Lafayette ... turned in a 10-save performance against Penn, making four saves in the opening quarter and six in the second half ... part of a defensive effort that held Bucknell scoreless for better than 31 minutes (13:47 2Qtr - 12:34 4Qtr) and enabled the Mids to go on a 5-0 run to lead the Bison 10-4. Made 8 stops in goal, including saves on three of the Bison four shots in the third quarter ... part of a defense that held Boston U. scoreless for 16-plus minutes in the third and fourth quarters, enabling the Mids to go on a 6-0 run and grab a 7-5 lead against the Terriers ... made just 5 stops and gave up 8 goals in Navy’s Patriot League opener against Boston U. ... became the first Navy freshman to earn Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honors following a spectacular performance at Delaware ... anchored a defensive effort by the Mids that held Delaware off the scoreboard for two stints of 14-plus minutes, including the first 14:44 ... Navy held the Blue Hens well below their scoring average (15.50, #3 nationally) with just five goals ... turned in a career-best 14 saves, including five of the Blue Hens’ first seven shots of the contest ... only the third freshman in program history to start the season-opener in goal ... gave up 15 goals and made 12 saves in his debut against Johns Hopkins.
More on Kern: A 2015 graduate of Salesianum School School in Wilmington, Del., Kern spent the 2015-16 academic year at the Naval Academy Prep School ... lettered four years in lacrosse, one year at Appoquinimink High School as a freshman and three years at Salesianum ... member of two Delaware Lacrosse State Championship winning teams (2013, ‘15) ... a four-time All-State (Del.) goalkeeper, who earned first-team honors as a sophomore, junior and senior ... named a U.S. Lacrosse All-American in 2014 and ‘15 ... recipient of the 2015 U.S. Lacrosse Sportsmanship Award ... took part in the U-19 USA Team tryout and was the team MVP ... member of the National Honor Society ... also considered Maryland and Fairfield ... majoring in Political Science, he owns a 2.98 grade-point average ... has twice been named to the Commandant’s List (S2017, F2019) ... son of the late Walter Kern and Pamela Kern ... his service assignment is Marine Corps Ground
