April 15, 2006

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Led by All-American Matt Russell (Madison, Conn.) in goal, fifth-ranked Navy staved off a second-half comeback bid by No. 16 Army, and earned an 11-10 win over the Black Knights Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium. The Mids have now won 10 in a row against their archrival, including nine-consecutive Star Games.

One of the most entertaining Army-Navy games in recent memory, it's the first one-goal game between the two teams since 2003 (Navy def. Army, 12-11, in Annapolis) and only second one-goal decision in the last 12 meetings.

"It was a typical Army-Navy game," said Navy All-American midfielder Billy Looney (Silver Spring, Md.). "There were two teams out there battling it out and fortunately we made enough shots to come away with a win."

Early on, it looked as though the Mids would cruise to an easy victory as they built a 4-0 lead with just three minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Four different players found the back of the net for Navy, including junior midfielder Tommy Wallin (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) who put the Mids on the scoreboard first at 12:30. Army, however, got on the scoreboard just seconds after the Mids' fourth goal when Navy's face-off man William Wallace (Bloomfield Village, Mich.) was called for illegal procedure. The Black Knights quickly picked up the ball and Mike Obringer found Paul Wigdzinski in an unsettled situation who scored just his second goal of the year.

Army cut deeper into Navy's lead when All-American John Walker took Navy's Russell one-on-one. Russell came out of the goal to put a hit on Walker, who released the ball as he was hit and scored with 11:12 on the clock.

Navy sophomore Nick Mirabito (Binghamton, N.Y.) scored his second goal of the day when Wallin drew a crowd as he dashed towards the goal. Wallin made a heads-up play by tossing the ball back to Mirabito, who gave Navy a 5-2 lead heading into the half.

The second half featured 10 goals between the two teams, including six by Army who came out sticks ablazing. The Black Knights scored four of the first six goals in the third quarter, as the two-man show of Walker and Mike Obringer carried Army.

With just a one-goal lead (7-6) with 7:58 to play in the third quarter, Navy padded its lead with back-to-back goals by Looney and Ian Dingman (Deferiet, N.Y.). Looney turned his defender around and tossed the ball towards the net where Adam Fullerton was unable to stop it. Dingman, meanwhile, caught the ball high, but shot low to the side of Fullerton.

Army, however, wasn't ready to pack it in as Matt Scheel scored on an unsettled play with 1:20 remaining in the quarter. As time was running out, Obringer electrified the Army crowd when rippled the net with just six seconds on the clock.

The Black Knights used the momentum to open the fourth quarter with a goal by Scheel at the 13:26 mark. Scheel knotted the game at 9-9 after picking up a loose ball and punching it into the goal.

Navy was bound and determined not to give Army the lead as Looney took a pass from Wallin and fired off a 15-yarder with 10:03 to play to put the Mids back up by one. Wallin gave Navy an 11-9 lead when he placed his shot over Fullerton's shoulder with just over five minutes to play.

Scheel, who had scored two of Army's last three goals, made it a hat trick as his right-handed shot caught the inside corner of the left post at the four-minute mark.

With just over a minute to play, Mirabito lost the ball at mid-field as a defender poke-checked him and Scheel scooped up the ball. Just as he pulled back to shoot from point-blank range, Navy defender Brendan Teague (Annapolis, Md.), who trailed Scheel, reached out and got a piece of his stick, deflecting the ball out of bounds.

Army had two possessions in the last 30 seconds, however both shots by Walker and Scheel were wide and the Mids earned a win in the 82nd meeting between the two programs.

Looney finished with a career-high tying four goals for the Mids, while Mirabito turned in his seventh-career hat trick. Wallin added a pair of goals and an assist, while sophomore Terence Higgins (Chappaqua, N.Y.) finished with a career-best two assists in the victory.

Coming into the game, Wallace had struggled from the face-off "x" where he was just 32 of 72 (.444) in the last six games. But Wallace was confident from the get-go and finished the game 16 for 23 (.696).

"Will had a great day facing off for us," said Looney. "Any time you get possession, it gives you the opportunity to run your offense. The more possessions you have, the better chance you have of winning the game. Will gave us a lot of chances today."

On the defensive end of the field, Russell finished with 11 saves, several of which were memorable. Russell stuffed a shot from point-blank range by Jon Burton on man-down defense late in the second quarter, and in the fourth quarter when Kevin LoRusso was on the doorstep Russell robbed him of a goal.

Army's 10 goals are the most given up by the Midshipmen this season. Virginia, who put up 10 goals against Navy in last year's NCAA quarterfinal win over the Mids, is the last to score double-figure goals against Navy.

In addition to winning the N-Star, the victory also gives the Midshipmen at least a share of the Patriot League regular-season title. Navy, who is 5-1 in Patriot League play this spring, is the lone team in the league to have played all six conference contests. After defeating Lafayette today, 12-5, Colgate owns a 4-1 record and will face Bucknell in Lewisburg next Saturday in its Patriot League finale. Should Colgate defeat Bucknell, the Patriot League Tournament will be held in Hamilton, N.Y., April 28-30. If the Bison beat Colgate, the Midshipmen will win the regular season outright and will be on tap to host the tournament for the third-straight year.

In what Navy has coined the Triple Option Weekend, next Friday, Saturday and Sunday has plenty to offer to not only the Navy lacrosse fan, but the Navy fan in general. The football team kicks the weekend off Friday at 7:00 pm with the playing of the annual Blue-Gold Spring Game. On Saturday, Navy will take a crack at breaking the NCAA single-game lacrosse attendance record of more than 19,000 fans when eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins plays the Midshipmen at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Face-off is slated for 12:00 pm in a game nationally-televised by CSTV. The Voice of Navy Lacrosse Pete Medhurst will call the action via Sirius Radio, as well as on 1430 WNAV. The Navy baseball team will take the spotlight on Sunday when it faces archrival Army at Baltimore's Camden Yards. First pitch is set for 12:00 pm and will be aired live on CSTV.

Fans wishing to attend all three events can purchase a Triple Option Weekend ticket package for just $10 by calling the Navy Ticket Office at 1-800-US4-NAVY or via the internet at www.navysports.com(.)

G-o N-a-v-y