May 14, 2008

•Navy-Johns Hopkins NCAA Tournament Game Notes
Navy Stats | Johns Hopkins Stats

Game 16: Navy vs. Johns Hopkins
NCAA Tournament; Quarterfinals
Saturday, May 17 • 3:00 pm • Annapolis, Md.

Media Information
Television: ESPNU - Dave Ryan (play by play), Quint Kessenich (analyst)

Radio/Internet:
Listen: 1430 WNAV, 1050 WFED (Pete Medhurst)
Listen: Navy All-Access on www.NavySports.com (free)

Live Stats: Gametracker on www.NavySports.com

Game Preview
• Making its third quarterfinal appearance in the last five years, unseeded Navy (10-5) will battle defending National Champion Johns Hopkins (9-5) on Saturday in the second of two quarterfinal contests held at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis ... game time is set for approximately 3:00 pm or 45 minutes after the completion of the 12:00 pm contest featuring second-seeded Virginia against Maryland.
• Saturday's NCAA Tournament contest will be televised live on ESPNU with Dave Ryan (play by play) and Quint Kessenich (analyst) calling the action. • The Voice of Navy Lacrosse Pete Medhurst will make the call live on 1430 WNAV and 1050 WFED, as well as Navy All-Access (free) located on www.NavySports.com(.)
• Additionally, fans can log onto www.NavySports.com where they can follow the game for free via Gametracker.
• The Mids began their quest for the program's first NCAA Championship by upsetting fourth-seeded North Carolina last Saturday in Chapel Hill ... attack Tim Paul scored a career-high four goals, while senior Nick Mirabito produced his first game-winner since his sophomore year ... Tommy Phelan was stellar in goal, making 12 saves.
• Johns Hopkins avenged its overtime loss to Hofstra early in the season by knocking off The Pride, 10-4, behind a four-goal performance by Tewaaraton Award finalist Paul Rabil.

Taking the Field in ...
10 • For the fifth-consecutive year Navy has reached the 10-win plateau, marking the first time in program history the Mids have achieved the feat.
9 • Nine Navy lacrosse players earned All-Patriot League recognition, including Jordan DiNola who was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year.
8 • The Mids have scored eight or more goals in 10 of their 15 games and own an 8-2 record.
7 • Senior Nick Mirabito has been involved in 7 of the Mids' 14 extra-man opportunities, scoring two goals and adding five assists.
6 • Six of Navy's 15 games have been decided by one goal with the Mids owning a 4-2 record in those contests.
5 • Navy' 8-7 win over North Carolina last Saturday was head coach Richie Meade's fifth NCAA Tournament victory, evening his tournament record at 5-5.
4 • Navy is one of just four programs nationally who has won 700-plus games (728), joining Johns Hopkins (879), Syracuse (774) and Hobart (713).
3 • Saturday's game marks the third quarterfinal appearance by the Mids in the last five years (2004-05-08).
2 • Sophomore Tim Paul has punched in 2 or more goals in 10 games this spring, including a career-high four at North Carolina last Saturday.
1 • Navy's defense has been ranked No. 1 in the country in seven of the last eight weeks ... No. 2 this week.

Navy vs. Johns Hopkins - The Series
• Saturday's contest marks the 82nd meeting between Navy and Johns Hopkins ... it's the 59th-consecutive year the two programs have battled and it is the third-longest continuous series between Navy and another team on the lax field.
• The Blue Jays own a commanding 55-25-1 advantage in the series, including an amazing 34-game winning streak that dates back to May 10, 1975, when Hopkins defeated Navy, 16-11, in Baltimore.
• The last time Navy walked away the victor was May 4, 1974, by way of a 13-12 decision in Annapolis ... Navy All-American Ray Finnegan, who has served as the Mids' keeper coach for 18 seasons, was in goal that afternoon.
• Johns Hopkins owns a 30-17-1 record in games played in Annapolis, which includes a 12-5 thumping the Blue Jays handed the Mids at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on April 19 of this year ... the last time the Mids beat Hopkins in Annapolis was May 4, 1974, 13-12.
• Six of the last nine games between Navy and Johns Hopkins have been decided by one goal, including four of the last five ... three of the six one-goal games have gone into extra minutes.

The Last Time ... April 19, 2008
• Senior attack Kevin Huntley pitched a first quarter hat trick, while fellow attackman Michael Donegar added a pair of goals to lead No. 7 Johns Hopkins to a 12-5 victory over No. 10 Navy in front of 16,042 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on April 19.
• The win not only pushed the Blue Jays' record to .500 this year, it also marked the 34th consecutive victory over the Midshipmen.
• Hopkins jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the 4:48 mark which featured back-to-back goals by Huntley in the opening minutes ... he put the Blue Jays on the scoreboard less than two minutes into the game when Paul Rabil's shot was saved by Navy keeper Tommy Phelan and bounced out in front of the crease ... Huntley outmuscled the rest of the players and sent a wicked shot over his left shoulder and into the net.
• Hopkins was afforded two extra-man opportunities that resulted in the final two goals of the 4-0 run, including a goal by Steven Boyle who converted off a pass from from none other than Huntley after a delay of game call against the Mids with 4:48 remaining in the opening quarter.
• Among the four-goal flurry, Hopkins took seven shots, four resulted in goals, two were saved and the seventh hit the post.
• Navy mounted a small run of its own as sophomore attack Tim Paul punched in back-to-back goals 49 seconds apart, including a nicely placed shot in which he misdirected his defender and shot past Hopkins keeper Michael Gvozden with 2:23 to go.
• Johns Hopkins, though, won the ensuing faceoff and with just seven seconds having elapsed, Huntley fired in his third goal of the first quarter to give the Blue Jays a 5-2 advantage at the end of the first period.
• All-American Paul Rabil got by Navy long pole Zack Schroeder early in the second quarter, putting his left-handed shot over the shoulder of Phelan to push Hopkins' lead to four.
• Navy closed the gap to three when middie Patrick Moran found Nick Mirabito behind the cage and Mirabito bent around the right side to stick in his 20th goal of the year ... while the goal clipped the lead to 6-3 at the half, little did Meade know it would be his team's last goal until under four minutes to play in the game.
• Johns Hopkins scored the first five goals of the second half, including a goal just seven seconds into the third period, to open up an 11-3 lead and put the game out of reach for the Mids.
• It wasn't until Gregory Clement's goal off a saved Sean Standen shot that Navy was able to snap Hopkins' goal scoring streak with 3:14 to play.
• The Mids and Blue Jays traded goals in the final two minutes and was capped off by a Standen goal with 1:03 remaining.

Navy vs. Johns Hopkins - Number Crunching
• Navy has won the battle at the infamous "x" just once in the last 14 games ... in 1998, the Mids won 17 of the 29 draws, but dropped a 15-14 decision at home to the Blue Jays.
• During the Richie Meade era (1995-present), Navy's averages are higher in games played at home vs. at Hopkins' Homewood Field ... the exception would be saves per game where the Mids are putting up two more in games played in Baltimore ... to see a breakdown of statistics, turn to page 6 in the notes package.
• Each of the last four Navy-Hopkins games played in Annapolis have attracted better than 13,000 fans, including the 2004 game in which 18,694 watched the two teams battle into overtime and set a stadium attendance record.
• As of late, Hopkins has been slow to start against Navy as the Mids have led or the game has been tied after the first quarter in four of the last five games (this year the Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter) ... Navy has held the halftime lead in two of the last three meetings and in 2006, the Blue Jays were forced to scored four goals in the fourth to earn a come-from-behind 9-8 win.

Tourney Time
• Navy is making its fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 25th overall.
• The last time Navy qualified for five-consecutive NCAA Tournaments was a quarter of a century ago ... the Mids earned a berth in the NCAA's first tournament in 1971 and earned 11 subsequent bids (1971-82).
• The four teams in the Navy bracket have combined for 124 (of a possible 148) NCAA Tournament appearances ... Johns Hopkins leads the field with 37, followed by Virginia (31), Maryland (31), Syracuse (28-in the Cornell bracket) and Navy is fifth with 25 appearances.
• The four teams in the Navy bracket have accounted for 15 NCAA titles, including a nation's best nine by Johns Hopkins ... Navy is the only team in the Navy bracket who has not won an NCAA title despite have 17 National Championship trophies under its belt (pre-NCAA regulated).
• Navy is 5-5 in tournament action under head coach Richie Meade.
• Navy snapped a two-game losing streak in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament by defeating North Carolina, 8-7, last Saturday ... going into the game, the Mids had lost three straight overall NCAA Tourney games.
• Facing the Tar Heels in the opening round for the second year in a row, it's the first time since the tournament was expanded to at least 10 teams (1986) that the Mids have faced first round opponents in back-to-back years (8-team tournament from 1971-82 with quarters, semis, championship).
• Navy has been unseeded in each of the last three years and is 2-5 as an unseeded team.
• The Mids are 3-1 against teams seeded fifth, however the last time they met a fifth-seeded team was in 1980 when Navy dropped an 18-11 decision to North Carolina.
• Despite having met in 81 previous games, Saturday's contest marks the first time Navy and Hopkins have met in the NCAA Tournament.

Upon Further Review
• The following are a few highlights from last Saturday's First-Round NCAA Tournament win over fourth-seeded North Carolina.
• The win snapped a three-game losing streak by the Mids this season, as well as a three-game NCAA Tournament skid ... it was Navy's first NCAA Tournament win since its 2005 first-round victory over Delaware.
• Seeded fourth, North Carolina is the highest seeded team Navy has beaten since 1981 ... the Mids, seeded sixth, upset third-seeded Army at West Point, 16-10.
• It was only the second time Navy has won an NCAA Tournament as an unseeded team ... the other win was a 10-9 victory over eighth-seeded Harvard in 1988.
• The win pushed Navy's record to 10-5 on the year and for a program-record fifth consecutive season, the Mids reached double digit wins.
• Navy led all but 4:21 in the contest and never trailed.
• Senior Nick Mirabito's goal with 5:14 remaining in the game was his first game-winning goal since his sophomore year ... he is the seventh different player with a game-winner in '08.
• Going into last weekend's contest, nobody on the Navy roster had scored a game-winner in an NCAA Tournament game.
• Senior Terence Higgins scored in transition for the Mids at 6:39 in the third ... it was his first goal since last year's NCAA Tournament game against the Tar Heels.
• Second-year standout Tim Paul scored a career-high four goals in the win ... it's the most goals scored by a Navy player in an NCAA Tournament game since Joe Bossi punched in four against Penn in 2004.
• It was Paul's 10th multi-goal game of the year and second hat trick of '08.
• Senior Gregory Clement made his first NCAA Tournament appearance and scored his first postseason goal ... additionally, sophomores Patrick Moran and Joe Lennon played in their first NCAA Tournament affairs and each pitched in an assist.
• Making his first NCAA Tournament appearance, junior keeper Tommy Phelan made 12 stops in goal ... he has pitched double-digit saves in four of the six games he has started.
• Junior close defenseman Andy Tormey picked up a career-high tying six grounders ... he is ranked No. 35 in the country with his 4.14 ground balls per game.

Fan Support Second to None
• The Mids have led the country in regular-season home attendance in four of the last five years ... in 2005, Navy averaged 5,332 fans per game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and in 2006, the Mids drew 4,321 per contest ... last spring more than 33,000 fans came out to watch Navy's six regular-season home games (5587.3) ... this year, Navy drew 4,722 per game.
• On April 19 of this year, 16,042 fans rocked Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for the Navy-Johns Hopkins games ... it was the largest attended single game in Div. I lacrosse this season and the second-largest crown in stadium history.
• In March of 2007, 14,625 fans crowded into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to watch one of the most hotly-contested battles in Div-I, as Maryland took the Mids to double OT ... it was the fourth-largest documented crowd to watch a Navy lax game at the stadium.
• In April 2005, 14,124 fans witnessed the Mids' 9-8 victory over Maryland ... it was the largest crowd to watch a regular-season Div-I lacrosse game in '05.
• In the following home game, a crowd of 12,117 watched Navy beat archrival Army, 12-9, in the Star Game ... it was the seventh largest in school history and it marked the first time in program history that Navy drew over 10,000 fans in back-to-back games ... it is the largest documented crowd to see an Army-Navy lacrosse game.
• On April 24, 2004, Navy put together a doubleheader showcasing its football and lacrosse teams ... a stadium-record 18.694 fans were in attendance to cheer on Navy against Hopkins, followed by the annual spring football game ... it is the third-largest single-game attended event in Div. I lacrosse history and the fifth largest non-NCAA Championship weekend mark.

Quick Hits
• Senior attack Nick Mirabito is one of 12 players in the country with at least 22 goals and 22 assists ... Mirabito has produced 22 goals and 23 assists this spring ... it's the second straight year he has eclipsed the 20-20 plateau, putting up 23 goals and 21 assists a year ago.
• Sophomore attack Tim Paul has turned in multi-goal games 10 times this season.
• Seven Navy players have produced hat tricks during their careers, including five this season - Nick Mirabito, Tim Paul, Sean Standen, Patrick Moran and Shane Durkin.
• Navy has held the lead at halftime in 11 of the 15 games this season ... the Mids have lost 16 in a row when losing at the half and 61 straight when trailing after three quarters of play.
• The Mids have held seven of their last 12 opponents to five or fewer goals, including No. 3 Maryland who scored just four goals after entering the game averaging more than 12 per game.
• Seven different players have accounted for Navy's 10 game-winners this season ... all upperclassmen, only two (Nick Mirabito and Tim Paul) of the seven had previously posted a game-winner during his career.
• Six of the Mids' 15 games have been one-goal decisions with Navy winning four of the six ... Navy has played a program-record four OT games this season and owns a 2-2 record in those contests.