Wickham Makes 14 Saves in Navy Win
from press release
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Sophomore attackman Andy
Warner (Corning, N.Y.) scored a career-high three goals while
rookie keeper RJ Wickham (Penn Yan, N.Y.) made a career-high 14
saves to lead the 16th-ranked Navy lacrosse team to a 14-9 victory
over Patriot League foe Lafayette Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine
Corps Memorial Stadium. Warner and fellow attackman Tim Paul
(Parkton, Md.) (two goals) were the only multi-goal scorers for the
Mids, as 11 different players accounted for Navy's season-high 14
goals.
The 14 goals were the most by the Mids since putting 16 on the
board in last year's win over Holy Cross in Dallas. Meanwhile, the
nine goals scored by Lafayette were the most scored by the Leopards
against Navy in the 10-game history.
"This was probably the worst defensive game I've seen us play in
the last four years," said an agitated Richie Meade, who has
directed the Mids to a 29-4 Patriot League record, including a 14-0
regular-season mark against conference foes at home. "I have to
give Lafayette credit because Terry Mangan has done an outstanding
job of recruiting some good young talent. But for us to give up
nine goals is unacceptable against any opponent. We need to get
some things fixed. Offensively we are improving, but today we
definitely took a step backwards on the defense."
After exchanging goals over the first five minutes of the contest,
Navy put together a 6-1 run that spanned just over 11 minutes and
gave the Mids a comfortable 8-3 lead with 6:58 remaining in the
opening half.
Included in the run by Navy were a pair of goals off of faceoff
wins. At 13:36 in the second, junior long stick defensive
midfielder Zack Schroeder (Deer Park, N.Y.) picked up the ground
ball and headed for the goal where he tossed in his second score of
the year. At 10:53, junior faceoff specialist Frankie Coppola
(Bethesda, Md.) won the draw and fed Paul for the first of his two
goals.
Lafayette responded just over four minutes later when junior
midfielder Kevin Dunbar, who came into the contest having
scored just once in three games, scored the second of a career-high
four goals to cut into the Navy lead. Dunbar trimmed Navy's lead to
three, 8-5, when he put the ball into play with under 30 seconds to
go before the half and blew past a handful of Navy players only to
fire in a goal just before the horn.
Navy's achilles heel this season has been giving up goals in the
late stages of quarters. Including today's goal scored by Lafayette
with one second left in the first half, the Mids have surrendered
six goals with less than 40 seconds remaining in the period,
including four with under three seconds to go. The only game Navy
has not succumbed to a late goal was in its one-goal loss to
nationally-ranked North Carolina.
The Mids opened the third period with a Brendan Connors (Bellmore,
N.Y.) goal at 8:56, however, Lafayette answered just 50 seconds
later when John Galassi found 2008 Patriot League Rookie of the
Year Tom Perini in the middle of the box. Perini stopped his
momentum and quickly turned and fired a shot that Wickham had no
chance of stopping.
The Leopards got to within two at 9-7 when Dunbar rolled his way
through three players on a miscue by Thomas Zimmerman (Owings
Mills, Md.) and Basil Daratsos (Niskayuna, N.Y.), who were
attempting to switch players. Dunbar smartly attacked Daratsos who
was running at him, but muscled his way through another two
defenders to thread his shot past Wickham with 6:14 remaining in
the third quarter.
It took just four seconds for Navy to respond, however, as Coppola
won the draw and fed Paul for the score. After the first nine Navy
goals were scored by nine different players, the Paul became the
first multiple goal scorer for the Mids in the game with 6:10
remaining in the third period.
Lafayette, though, got the final say of the quarter as Matt Mersky
fed Stefan Bauer for a highlight-reel goal. Bauer set up seven
yards off the crease and scored off a behind-the-back shot to
narrow Navy's lead to 10-8.
Navy went on to seal the victory with a strong offensive effort in
the fourth quarter. The Mids outscored the Leopards 4-1 in the
final period, including back-to-back goals by Warner from Paul, to
take the 14-9 victory.
Among the 11 goal scorers for the Mids were seniors Michael Beggins
(Smithtown, N.Y.) and Bobby Lennon (Westminster, Md.) who each
scored their first goals of the year. For Beggins, it was his fifth
collegiate goal, while Lennon, a short stick defensive midfielder,
pumped in his second goal in four seasons. Meanwhile, Coppola put
up the first points of his career with a pair of assists.
While the defense overall might not have been a bright spot for the
Midshipmen, Wickham was impressive in goal. Earning just his third
career start, he stepped in and cut off scoring opportunities by
Lafayette time and again and ended the contest with 14 saves. It
was the most saves by a Navy keeper since Colin Finnegan warded off
14 shots on goal against Georgetown in a one-goal loss in 2007.
"I felt like after fall ball RJ was our best goalkeeper, but
I was hesitant to start a freshman at the beginning of the
season," said Meade. "After the first couple of games,
I thought we could get more out of that position and decided
to make the change. He made some pretty impressive saves today and
was put in a tough position to make some stops. He hasn't gotten a
whole lot of help from the defense over the last few games."
"Honestly, it's a lot of pressure," Wickham said in regards to
starting as a freshman. "But I'm enjoying it and Matt
(Coughlin) and Tommy (Phelan) have been behind me. They have
been nothing short of supportive, as I would be for each of
them when they are starting."
