OVER LEHIGH April 16, 2004  |
OVER LEHIGH April 16, 2004 |
Navy Claims Regular-Season Patriot League Lacrosse Title with 16-7 Win Over Lehigh
ANNAPOLIS, MD. - Navy senior attack Joe Bossi (Skaneateles, N.Y.) scored four of Navy's eight first-quarter goals to lead the second-ranked Mids to a 16-7 triumph over Lehigh Friday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.
Undefeated in the Patriot League at 6-0, Navy clinched the top seed in the Patriot League Tournament and will play host to the four-team tourney April 30 and May 2. Additionally, the Mids have now won eight-consecutive games and are 9-1 on the year.
"I thought we played very well in the first quarter," said Navy head coach Richie Meade. "I fell like if we would have shot better early on, the game could have gotten out of hand. I thought we played hard the entire game and rode them hard.
"I know that Lehigh's record isn't that great, but they are a young team with a lot of good players. I was just happy to win 16-7."
A sloppily-played first five minutes of the game gave way to the game's first goal at the 9:18 mark in the first quarter on the first of five goals for Bossi on the afternoon. Following the Bossi goal, Navy went on to score seven-straight goals, including three more by Bossi, before the Mountain Hawks made Navy pay for a hold with just over a minute to play in the opening stanza. Rookie attack Alec Hooff took a pass from David Walsh and shot it past Navy keeper Matt Russell (Madison, Conn.) to put the Mountain Hawks on the scoreboard. The first of three goals by Lehigh, the Mountain Hawks scored back-to-back goals to open the second period, narrowing the margin to 8-3.
Navy answered with goals exactly four minutes apart with Ben Bailey (Memphis, Tenn.) cranking an unassisted goal at 8:50 and junior attack Ben Horn (Mill Valley, Calif.) scored one of his three goals at the 4:50 mark.
Down 10-3 at the half, Lehigh opened the second half by scoring first. Freshman attack Stephen Marino tossed in his 13th goal of the 2004 campaign. Navy, though, was sparked by an unassisted goal by Ian Dingman (Deferiet, N.Y.) at the 7:28 mark and the Mids went on to score four more before Lehigh was able to stop the Mids' run.
The Mountain Hawks scored three of the game's final four goals, including two goals in the final 40 seconds of the contest.
Bossi paced the Mids with his career-high five goals and an assist, while Dingman and Horn each produced hat tricks. In all, eight different players scored for Navy.
The Mids demoralized the Mountain Hawks in the draw circle, taking 20 of the 27 face-offs. Navy junior Chris Pieczonka (Hamburg, N.Y.) won 17 of the 19 draws, while Tommy Wallin (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) was 2 for 3 and William Wallace (Bloomfield Village, Mich.) was 1 for 5.
Russell gave up four goals on the afternoon and came up with the lone Navy save. Rookie keeper Colin Finnegan (Arnold, Md.) came into the game with 7:31 remaining, giving up a trio of goals against the Mountain Hawks.
Hey Laxers. What are your plans for after college? The members of the Navy Class of 2004 recently learned where they’re headed after graduation. Congratulations and a special thanks to:
Ben Bailey ... Naval Flight Officer
Jared Bosanko ... Surface Warfare Officer
Joe Bossi ... Navy Pilot
Dan Eddy ... Navy Pilot
Brendan Looney ... Intelligence
Matt Midura ... Navy Pilot
Thomas Morris ... Navy Pilot
Adam Reel ... Navy Pilot
Navy's Graham Gill to Joe Bossi High Bandwidth
ACTION VIDEOS
Navy's Trevor Hoselton High Bandwidth Only
Navy's Dan Harris to Ian Dingman High Bandwidth Only
Navy's Steve Looney to Ben Horn High Bandwidth
Navy's Chris Pieczonka High Bandwidth Only
Lehigh's Kevin Donlan to Alec Hooff High Bandwidth
Navy's Ian Dingman to Ben Bailey to Joe Bossi High Bandwidth
Navy's Joe Bossi High Bandwidth Only
Navy's Ben Horn to Jon Birsner High Bandwidth
Face-off! High Bandwidth Only
Lehigh's Tim Higgins to Stephen Marino High Bandwidth
Lehigh's Jeff Davis High Bandwidth Only
Lehigh freshmen Stephen Marino to Andrew Mastromonaco High Bandwidth
Navy's Ben Bailey High Bandwidth
Lehigh's Tom Ellis High Bandwidth Only
Navy's Billy Looney to Ian Dingman to Ben Horn High Bandwidth
PHOTOS
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