Defense Leads Navy Past Army
from press release
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| Tommy Phelan made 16 saves while allowing just four
goals as Navy avenged last year's loss to rival Army. © Kevin P. Tucker |
SIDEBAR
Tormey
Captaining Navy's Turnaround
BALTIMORE, Md. — Smartlink Player of the
Game Tommy Phelan (Towson, Md.) helped stymie the Army attack with
a career-high tying 16-save effort, while junior attackman Brendan
Connors (Bellmore, N.Y.) scored three goals and added a pair of
assists to help lead the Navy men’s lacrosse team (9-3, 4-2
Patriot League) to an 8-4 victory over Army (5-7, 1-5 PL) Saturday
afternoon in the opening contest of the Day of Rivals event played
at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.
Navy has now won 14 of the last 15 contests in the series,
including 11 of the last 12 Star Games. With better than 20,000
fans in attendance, Saturday’s contest at M&T Bank
Stadium marked just the second neutral site meeting between the two
programs and the first time the Star Game has been contested on
neutral ground.
“I am enormously grateful to have won this game,” said
Navy’s Richie Meade, who owns a 14-3 record against Army
since taking over the coaching duties in 1995. “It’s
been a very long year for us and for me personally after having
lost to Army last year. Not a day passed that I did not think about
that game. It was a game that Army deserved to win because they
were able to accomplish all of the intangibles and we were unable
to match them. This year, I think we were that team.”
The Mids’ defense, ranked No. 4 in the country, surrendered
just four goals in the win, holding Army to its lowest goal output
since April 4, 2008, when Bucknell defeated the Black Knights, 7-4,
in Lewisburg, Pa. Phelan played a huge role in what marked his
third straight game of making 15 or more saves.
“Our defense has been in a groove the last few weeks,”
added Meade. “Inserting Tommy Phelan into the lineup has
given us a lot of maturity, as well as stability. He played an
outstanding game for us.”
“Last year was disappointing for me personally because
I got to thinking that I was the only Navy goalkeeper
to have lost to Army in the last decade,” said Phelan, who
was named last week’s Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week
after making a career-high 16 saves against Maryland. “I got
a chance to redeem myself and also help lead my teammates to a
victory. While I certainly prepared throughout the week like it was
Army, once I got into the game, I put it out of my head and
played like it was any other team. Last year, I think I got a
little too excited, too emotional. So I just wanted to go
into the game relaxed.”
Army put the first goal of the game on the scoreboard when senior
middie Kevin LoRusso took a pass from Tyler Oates, tucking in an
extra-man score at 11:10 in the opening quarter for the Black
Knights. It was Army’s only man-up goal on four opportunities
on the day, while it was just the fifth goal Navy’s
top-ranked man-up defense has surrendered this spring.
The Mids evened the game at one apiece when Connors fed senior
defensive midfielder Geoff Leone (Massapequa, N.Y.), who punched in
the goal on the crease. The Leone goal helped trigger a 4-0 run by
the Mids, including three goals in less than a minute.
Thirty-eight seconds elapsed before junior midfielder Joe Lennon
(Westminster, Md.) sent a skip-pass to Navy’s go-to player on
extra-man, junior Evan Sullivan (Westfield, N.J.), who fired in a
seven-yarder to give the Midshipmen a lead they would not
relinquish.
Just 16 seconds later, Phelan intercepted an Army pass and sent
his outlet pass to mid-field where senior defensive middie Bobby
Lennon (Westminster, Md.) awaited the ball. Lennon sprinted to the
goal where he powered his shot past Army keeper Tom Palesky for his
second marker of the year.
Navy capped off its run when Bobby Lennon poke-checked the ball
away from the Black Knights at the top of the offensive box. Lennon
picked up the loose ball and found second-year attackman Andy
Warner (Corning, N.Y.) who saw Connors stationed on the crease.
Connors face-dodged the keeper before putting away his first of
three goals in the contest.
After more than 23 minutes of scoreless action by Army, the Black
Knights scored the only goal of the quarter when Jason Peyer picked
up a loose ball on the right side of the goal and waltzed past
Bobby Lennon to trim Navy’s lead to 4-2 heading into the
half.
It took Navy less than two minutes into the second half before
stretching its lead to three when Joe Lennon ran from left to right
before sending a bouncer past Palesky.
Army answered a short time later when LoRusso scored his second of
the day, racing past Leone who attempted a trail check, but could
not make contact with LoRusso’s stick. Instead,
LoRusso’s shot was a worm-burner that Phelan was unable to
stop. It was one of just a handful of shots that would get by
Phelan, as the senior stopped eight of the nine shots the Black
Knights put on goal in the third.
With just four seconds left in the third period, Patrick Moran
(Annapolis, Md.) took a Connors pass and managed to thread his shot
between Palesky’s right thigh and the inside of the post to
put the Mids back up by three.
Connors went on to score the final two goals of the game for the
Mids at 11:16 and 5:03 to help seal the victory for Navy.
Once again, Navy put together a balanced offensive attack that
featured six different scorers. The Mids’ first six goals
were scored by six different players, as Connors was the lone Navy
player who turned in multiple goals in the win. Five of the six
scored their first career goals against the Black Knights, as only
Joe Lennon had previously scored against Army.
The Mids played without their leading scorer, Tim Paul, who
suffered a sprained ankle just minutes into the second half of
their 10-4 win over nationally-ranked Maryland a week ago. Paul
stood on the sidelines in team sweats.
“Tim would have done anything to play in this game, so all
of the offensive players came together and dedicated the game to
Tim.”
Meanwhile, the win secured a Patriot League playoff spot for Navy,
as the 4-2 Midshipmen will be the No. 3 seed in the tournament set
for April 24 and 26 at a site yet to be determined. Colgate and
Bucknell have identical 4-0 conference records with each having a
pair of games to play.
“The Patriot League is so much better today than six years
ago when we joined the league,” said Meade. “There are
some great young coaches in this league and the dedication to the
sport is starting to spread amongst the schools.”
Navy will be back in action next Saturday where it will look to
snap a 35-game losing streak against the ninth-ranked Johns Hopkins
Blue Jays. Action is set for 2:00 pm at Homewood Field and will be
televised live by ESPNU and locally by WMAR (Ch. 2).
