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April 14, 2007

Box Score | Video Highlights  | CSTV Recap Feature

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Seniors Tommy Wallin (Mountain Lakes, N.J.), Ian Dingman (Deferiet, N.Y.) and Billy Looney (Silver Spring, Md.) scored goals in the final nine minutes to lead the eighth-ranked Navy men's lacrosse team (9-2, 6-0 Patriot League) to a 12-9 victory over arch rival Army (6-5, 3-3) Saturday afternoon in front of 11,370 fans at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Seven different Midshipmen scored goals, while another two chipped in assists as Navy concluded the Patriot League portion of its schedule undefeated at 6-0.

It looked as thought it would be a blowout early on as the Mids opened up a 3-0 lead seven minutes into the game. Army briefly stopped Navy's momentum at the 6:20 mark when sophomore attackman Brooks Korvin fired off a shot from seven yards out.

Navy, however, answered less than two minutes later when Looney fed junior Nick Mirabito (Binghamton, N.Y.) who was sitting on the door step to push Navy's lead to 4-1.

Army cut into the lead when junior middie Paul Wigdzinski beat Navy sophomore Sean Standen (South Hadley, Mass.) from eight yards out on the right side.

Mirabito scored his second goal of the date, shooting straight up the middle on keeper Adam Fullerton with 5:31 to go. Navy then took a 6-2 lead when Wallin found midfielder William Wallace (Bloomfield Village, Mich.) cutting to the middle with just 32 seconds remaining.

On the ensuing face-off, the Mids failed to get a specialist out in what the referee thought was a reasonable amount of time and in turn gave Army possession for delay of game. Army wasted little time in setting up, as rookie Brandon Butler found Jason Peyer who tucked in his first-collegiate goal against the Mids with just five seconds remaining in the opening half.

Navy scored back-to-back goals just 29 seconds apart in the first three minutes of the second half to open up a five-goal lead, its largest of the game. Army, though, went on a five-goal run to knot the score at the end of the third quarter. After a goal by Justin Bokmeyer at the 12:17 mark, the Black Knights scored three-straight goals in unique fashion. Wigdzinski fired off a shot that was initially saved by Navy keeper Colin Finnegan (Arnold, Md.), but the ball popped up and Finnegan lost site of it as it fell to the ground and literally rolled across the line.

Five minutes later, Ryan Chase sent a shot that again was initially saved by Finnegan, but Peyer snatched it out of the air and poked it in the open net. At the 3:43 mark, Korvin managed to get off a slow bouncing shot as he was falling to the ground that somehow found its way into the goal.

Army knotted the game at eight-all when second-year middie Alex Rhoads punched in a shot from 10 yards out.

The Mids wasted little time in regaining the lead, as junior Mikelis Visgauss (Setauket, N.Y.) won the draw to start the fourth quarter and fed senior Victor Barger (Clifton Park, N.Y.) who raced to the left side of the field untouched and found a gap. Barger, a long stick defensive midfielder, has produced three goals on three shots this season.

Army tied the game at 9-9 (10:43) when Bokmeyer threaded a pass from the left side of the field that went right through a pack of players and LoRusso dunked it in as he sat on the crease.

Seeing a five-goal lead disappear, the Mids found themselves in the same position they had experienced in recent weeks. Navy was coming off back-to-back one-goal losses to nationally-ranked programs Georgetown and Maryland and in both of those games the Mids held the halftime lead. The Hoyas outscored the Mids, 5-2, in the third quarter, while Maryland owned a 2-0 advantage in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. And against Army, the Black Knights found their way back into the game by outscoring Navy, 5-2, in the third.

"I don't feel like we led down in those previous two games," said Meade. "We stood toe-to-toe with Georgetown and Maryland. Sometimes you have to deal with the emotional baggage that comes with adversity or success."

Wallin gave the Mids the lead for good with 8:31 to go as he fought off a triple-team that sent him to the ground as he release a shot from five yards out. Navy tacked on a second goal with 4:15 to play as Wallin found Dingman for his seventh hat trick of the season. Looney sealed the win with his goal at the 2:01 mark.

"When it was 9-9, I felt like we needed to play with some poise and experience and we had that today," added Meade. "Our senior players made some senior plays. I thought our kids did a good job of maintaining their composure."

Finnegan made six stops against the Black Knights, while Fullerton made 10 saves against the Mids in a game that pit the nation's No. 1 and 2 defensive units against one another. The 12 goals by the Mids marked the first game Army's defense has given up double-digit goals since dropping last year's season finale to Ohio State, 12-9.

Navy's 11 seniors, who were honored in a pregame ceremony, own a 6-0 record against Army, the most wins by a class in Navy lax history.

"To beat a rival like Army, even though I have a brother who graduated from there, is pretty special," said Dingman. "It's not only good for us, but for our school and everyone around our program. It makes everyone proud of being Navy."

Navy will be back in action next Saturday when it travels to Baltimore to face ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins in a 3:00 pm battle to be televised live by ESPNU and locally on WMAR Ch. 2.