Men’s lacrosse: Navy men set to face in-state foe Maryland

Navy Men’s Lacrosse will take on #3 Maryland this Saturday at Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Midshipmen have not been victorious over the Terps since 2009.

The road to redemption for Navy against Maryland is not even a little easier this year. The Terps are 4-0 on the season. Even though two of those wins came by a one goal margin, you can look at those as tune-ups, because they schlacked #16 Colgate 11-6 earlier this week. Maryland is rounding into form just in time for the toughest opponents on their schedule.

The Terps are led by the dynamic duo of junior attack man Jared Bernhardt and sophomore midfielder Logan Wisnauskas; the pair has combined for 25 goals and 13 assists. If you add up the total number of goals scored by the rest of the team (7 different players) it would still be 5 less than what Bernhardt and Wisnauskas have combined to score. Together the two also have as many assists as the rest of the team combined.

Maryland Senior Goalie Danny Dolan is very good as well; allowing just over 8 goals a game while averaging more than 12 saves each time out and a 60% save percentage, good enough for twelfth in the country.

Navy is off to a solid start of their own. The Mids own a 2-0 record after convincing wins over solid opponents in Vermont and UMBC, but make no mistake, the real test is this weekend.

Navy has some studs of their own starting with Christian Daniel, who had a five-goal night against UMBC this past weekend. Close behind him are Ryan Wade and Greyson Torain who share 8 goals between the two of them. The Mids’ greatest asset to date, however, has definitely been Keeper Ryan Kern who boasts the 4th best save percentage in the country; he also has nearly twice as many save as goals allowed so far this season. Kern will have his work cut out for him this weekend as he faces an aggressive Maryland offense that is hungry to keep their train rolling.

The Mids are looking to end a ten-year losing streak to the Terps and even though Maryland boasts a high-powered offense, Navy is definitely within striking distance this year. In case you missed our 2019 Navy Men’s Lacrosse Preview, we are predicting this to be one of the biggest and most indicative games of the season. If Navy wins, it will catapult them into the conference portion of their schedule on a rocket ship that is bound for games in late May. No, a win on Saturday doesn’t translate into an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament, but it certainly indicates the Mids are poised for one heck of a year.

Faceoff is at noon on Saturday, and a trip to Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to catch this battle will certainly be worth the price of admission!

If you can’t make it to the game then you can listen to it on the radio: 1430 am / 99.9 fm wnav or watch it here.