Mark Goers is in his 24th season serving as a member of the Navy men’s lacrosse program, including his 20th as the Mids’ Director of Lacrosse Operations and his sixth under Joe Amplo.
Goers came to the Academy in 2002 as an assistant coach, but in 2006 transitioned into the Mids’ Director of Lacrosse Operations. In that role, he oversees Navy’s travel, facilities scheduling, camps and clinics, as well as other administrative duties including budget, compliance items and film.
Serving as an assistant coach from 2002-05, Goers molded the Mids into one of the most successful faceoff squads in the country. In 2004, Chris Pieczonka was ranked No. 2 nationally in faceoffs, winning 67.6 percent (173 of 256) of his draws and led Navy as a team to a tie for No. 2 in the national rankings, winning 65.5 percent (268 of 409). By virtue of his ability to face off, Pieczonka was ranked 10th nationally in ground balls, scooping up 5.81 per contest.
Another player Goers is credited in refining is two-time All-American Steve Looney. The middle of three lacrosse playing brothers, Steve was the workhorse of Navy lacrosse during his four-year career. A multi-faceted player, he saw time as a face-off specialist, a wing player on face-offs, a defensive midfielder and an offensive midfielder. Looney, the 2004 Patriot League Tournament MVP, surfaced with the ball in 2004 and ‘05 in nearly every ground ball opportunity.
Goers came to the Naval Academy after a three-year stint at Ohio State where he oversaw the Buckeyes’ offense and face-off strategy.
A 1995 graduate of Towson, Goers was one of the most dominant faceoff specialists the sport has known and was was enshrined in the Towson University Athletic Hall of Fame in October of 2016. He garnered Third-Team All-America recognition in 1994 after setting the NCAA record for single-season faceoff winning percentage (166-214, 77.6). That record stood for better than 20 years before Albany’s TD Ierlan finished the 2018 season winning 79.1 percent (359-454) of the draws he took. Goers is one of just three men in NCAA history to win 75 percent or more of their faceoffs in a season (Delaware’s Steve Shaw in 1985 and ‘86, Ierlan in 2018 and ‘19). Goers still holds the Towson record for career faceoff winning percentage (375-535, 70.1), a mark that stands #3 in the NCAA record book behind Denver’s Trevor Baptiste (1158-1622, 71.4)and Delaware’s Steve Shaw (838-1186, 70.7). Baptiste, Shaw and Goers are the only players in NCAA history to close out their careers having won at least 70 percent of their career faceoff attempts (min. 500 attempts). Additionally, Goers held Towson records in faceoffs won in a game (21 vs. Villanova in ‘94), ground balls in a season (127 in ‘94) and ground balls in a career (274, 1993-95) until 2004 when Justin Berry edged out Goers in those categories. He remains the Tigers’ all-time leader in ground balls per game (10.58).
Upon graduation, he began his coaching career in 1996 as an assistant coach at his alma mater where he helped lead the Tigers to the quarterfinals of the ‘96 NCAA Tournament.
In 1998, he returned home and assisted his former high school coach Earl Brewer at Langely High School in Virginia, and helped to direct the prep team to the state regional finals.
Just a year later, he joined the Ohio State program that was beginning to flourish. In 2000, Goers helped develop face-off specialist Anthony Kelly to a .540 percentage — the nation’s 27th-best mark.
The Fairfax, Va., native has competed for the Columbus Landsharks of the NLL and was an all-club team member for Team Toyota.
Mark and his wife, the former Jessica Anna Christina duHoffmann, reside in Kent Island with their daughter, Juliette. Their son, Will, is a freshman at the Naval Academy and a member of the Mids’ men’s lacrosse team.
Goers is an instructor within the Academy’s Physical Education Department and in 2022 was the recipient of the Superintendent’s Distinguished Athletic Leadership Award. An active member of the faculty, Goers serves on many yard-wide committees as well as representing the Physical Education Department on a global basis. In support of the State Department, Professor Goers has travelled to foreign service academies throughout Africa, as part of the Africa Military Education Program. Professor Goers assists in evaluation, redesign and implementation of physical mission training, based on the US Naval Academy’s Martial Arts instruction. Under Goers’ leadership, these programs have seen resounding success rates. These dramatic improvements, have resulted in much international good will, expressed from levels as high as the participating countries’ Presidents.
Goers comes from an athletic family. His mother, Melissa, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan, holds multiple indoor track records, his father, Philip, played basketball at Wittenberg and his brother, Matt, played lacrosse at Ohio State and was the team captain his senior campaign.
