Wednesday, April 2 | 3 p.m. ET | Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium | Annapolis, Md.
– The San Diego State women’s lacrosse team concludes its two-game east coast road trip at Navy on Wednesday, April 2, beginning at 3 p.m. ET at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. Live stats will be available on GoAztecs.com.
– SDSU (6-4, 3-1 MPSF) is currently fifth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings, but is tied with a league-best three victories in conference play. Wednesday’s game will be the Aztecs’ final non-conference game of the season, as they conclude the 2014 campaign with five-consecutive MPSF contests.
– San Diego State is coming off a road loss at James Madison, 20-7, in a game delayed twice due to weather on Saturday. The Aztecs took an early lead, but an 8-0 run to close the first half put the Dukes ahead for good. Junior attack Michaela Jarvis (Annapolis, Md.) recorded a goal and an assist in the loss, while sophomore Alexa Comfort (Manahawkin, N.J.) scored a team-high two goals for her first scores of the season.
– Senior Meris Walsh (Easton, Md.) scored another goal in Saturday’s game, and has scored at least once in every game this season. The senior attack leads the Aztecs with 25 goals, and is tied with Jarvis (14 goals, 12 assists) for a team-best 26 points. Junior Christina Ricciardulli (Poway, Calif.) is second on the team with 16 goals and junior Bailey Ewing (Reisterstown, Md.) is third with 15, while Jarvis and junior Lauren Maack (Coronado, Calif.) are tied for fourth with 14 scores apiece.
– Defensively, junior Lauren Paul (Grasonville, Md.) is tops on the squad with 20 groundballs and 11 caused turnovers, while Ricciardulli is 50th in the nation with a team-high 34 draw controls, ranks second in caused turnovers (10) and fourth in groundballs (14). In addition, freshman goalkeeper Katrina Reeves (Granite Bay, Calif.) is 41st in the country with 67 saves and 49th with 6.7 saves per game.
– San Diego State is 18th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 13.5 goals per contest, and is 29th in points with 170. The Aztecs have an MPSF-best 135 goals this season, and trail only Oregon and Stanford for the conference lead in goals per game. SDSU also leads the MPSF in shot percentage, scoring 135 goals on 271 shots (.498), while it ranks third in the conference in shots per game (27.1) and second in shots on goal per game (21.9).
– SDSU also ranks highly in several defensive categories, as they’re first in the conference and 21st in the nation in draw controls per game (13.4), 36th in caused turnovers per game (8.8) and 36th in scoring margin, outscoring opponents by 1.3 goals per game.
– San Diego State is 5-0 this season and winners of six-straight games overall when leading at halftime, while its 6-3 when having the lead at any point in the game. Furthermore, the Aztecs are 5-0 this season when outshooting its opponent, 3-0 when scoring the final goal of the game, and 3-0 when they have the edge in draw controls.
– The Aztecs are 4-2 this season in road games, with its only two losses coming in their previous two contests away from home. SDSU has won six of its last seven games when scoring at least 10 goals, and have won four straight when tallying at least 15 goals.
Four-time defending Patriot League Champion Navy women’s lacrosse head coach Cindy Timchal announced the 16-game slate for the 2014 season on Wednesday. The Mids will face five first-time opponents and host 10 teams at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Third-year Navy men’s lacrosse coach Rick Sowell released the Mids’ 2014 schedule on Tuesday which features games against six teams who finished the 2013 campaign ranked among the top 20 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, including four programs who played in the 2013 NCAA Championship.
Navy is on tap to play a 13-game regular-season schedule with seven contests to be played on its home field, Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Additionally, 2012 National Champion Loyola and first-year varsity program Boston University have joined the Patriot League to make it a nine-team league. The annual Patriot League Tournament will now be a six-team playoff with the top-two seeds earning opening-round byes.
The Navy Women’s Lacrosse team captured the Patriot League championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament where they will face Monmouth in the opening round.
No. 11/16 Navy has a golden opportunity to score the first-ever win for a Patriot League team in the NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship when the Mids host Monmouth in a first-round contest on Friday at 5 p.m.
The Mids have already defeated the Hawks in the regular season, scoring a 16-4 win at home against Monmouth on Feb. 24. Navy and Monmouth each have 12-game winning streaks, while the Mids carry a sparkling 18-1 overall record into the contest.
Patriot League teams are 0-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, though it is the first season of bracket expansion from 16 to 26 teams. Previously, League squads had a 5-0 record in NCAA Play-In games to make the 16-team field.
Navy is just the second Patriot League team to host an NCAA Tournament game, and first since Lafayette played against Penn State in 1991. The Mids are hosting the first two rounds of their pod at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. No. 8/10 Duke plays No. 15/17 Princeton in a first-round contest on Friday at 7:15 p.m., and the winners will face off in the second round on Sunday at Noon.
Navy advanced to the NCAA Tournament by winning its fourth-consecutive Patriot League title with a 14-4 victory over Holy Cross on April 28. The Mids are just the second team in League history to win four consecutive titles, and first to do it in the League Tournament.
The 11th-ranked Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse team got a combined nine goals and eight assists from its starting attack trio of Wells Stanwick, John Kaestner and Brandon Bennand the Blue Jays used an 11-0 game-ending run to fuel a 15-4 victory over visiting Navy at Homewood Field Saturday afternoon. Johns Hopkins held the Midshipmen scoreless for the final 28:02.
Despite controlling the game statistically in the first half, the Blue Jays found themselves in a 4-4 tie after Gabe Voumard polished off his hat trick for the Midshipmen with a laser into the top corner less than two minutes into the second half.
That tie held for just over three minutes before Benn quick-sticked home a feed to the crease from Stanwick to complete his own hat trick. It took all of seven seconds for the Blue Jays to extend the lead as a clean win on the ensuing faceoff by Mike Poppletonled to a Kaestner goal that was also assisted by Stanwick. An unassisted goal by Kaestner less than two minutes later made it 7-4 and the Blue Jays never looked back.
