Service Academy Lax Roundup: Big Week Ahead

We’re back for another roundup to satisfy your Service Academy lax fix! Last week we saw some progress for Army women on their winning streak and the Navy women taking their first Patriot League loss. Air Force fell in their first conference loss of the season as well, but we’ve still got a few weeks to see how each team ends up in their respective conference standings before we get into tourney.

And as if you didn’t know on already, this weekend in Annapolis, Maryland marks the 100th match up for Army-Navy lacrosse. The women’s teams will meet at 1:00 pm EST with the men’s teams meeting later in the afternoon at 3:30 pm EST so get ready for the face-off. Both games will be on CBS Sports Network, but if you are in town, definitely go check out the action and hit up the Sale of the Century while you are at it.

Alright, on to last week’s action!

Army Men

The Army men’s team suffered a tough loss to Boston last weekend, as the Terriers managed to pull away in the second half winning by a final score of 15-13. It was a big setback for an Army team that had won three straight conference games and four in a row overall.

The game was off to a back-and-forth exchange with the first goal being scored by Boston. Army answered quickly with back-back-back scoring: first by Nate Jones with Brendan Nichtern on the assist and the second by Conor Dewitt.

While Army had three-straight to start off the second quarter, and led 8-4 at the half, the second half saw the Terriers dominate in their come-from-behind victory. In the first seven minutes alone they gathered a total of six goals to push the Black Knights defense up against the wall and create a 10-8 lead before Nichtern stopped the bleeding and got Army back within one. Nate Jones was able to tie the game at 10 heading into the fourth.

Unfortunately, another barrage of four in a row was too much to overcome as the Terriers pulled ahead 14-0 enroute to the 15-13 win. Though we saw Nichetern come away with three goals and two assists and AJ Barretto had seven saves, Boston’s massive run to start the third quarter sealed the deal.

Army Women

With a victory against Lafayette, 16-14, the Black Knights are now on a three-game winning streak in Patriot League play. In the first half, we saw the Leopards in a heated exchange going goal-for-goal with the Black Knights during the game’s first 20 minutes. Taylor Andrews, Manuela Cortes, and Jackie Brattan scored two goals each in the first half as Army clung to a 10-8 lead.

Despite Lafayette scoring six goals, Hannah Slomkowski helped the Black Knights keep the Leopards at bay in the second half, getting seven saves on the day, and being a key contributor in the victory. Cortes added two more goals in the second half to give her four on the day to go along with two assists.

Brattan’s two goals gave her Army’s all-time single-season scoring leader with 41 goals total.

Next up is of course the matchup in Annapolis with the #14 ranked Navy women this weekend.

Navy Men

Ending a three-game losing streak, the Mids came away with a league win in Patriot League play against the Colgate Raiders, 16-11.

Coming out the gate running, Navy scored twice early in the first quarter and a total of 7 Mids scored the first 7 goals of the contest. That helped Navy take an 8-6 lead into halftime.

The third quarter proved to a tough one for Navy as the Raiders not only overcame the two goal deficit but surged back ahead by two goals 11-9 heading into the fourth. Ryan Wade made his second goal in the third period but Colgate had three-straight to go into the last period. Turnovers were the name of the game in the final stretch with Navy forcing 5 on Colgate and dominating the scoreboard putting up 7 goals in the final quarter to close out the afternoon. It was a tremendous come-from-behind victory for the Mids as they look for some momentum heading into the showdown against #20 Army this weekend.

Navy Women

The Mids suffered their first Patriot League loss of the season against Loyola, 16-6, snapping their four-game winning streak. It would be three goals for the Greyhounds before Natalie Irwin got Navy on the scoreboard.

After Irwin scored, Loyola created a 5-1 lead with back-to-back goals. Kelly Larkin scored two goals in the first half and Marina Lazarides came away with another to leave the Mids trailing by 7 going into the second half.

In 2018, Loyola lost to Navy twice near the end of the season but this year, they came out swinging, avenging those losses and takin a 11-4 lead into halftime.

It was more of the same in the second half as the lead was too much for the Mids to overcome.

Navy was able to bounce back against a ranked Georgetown team last night. Up 5-3 at the half, it was a back-and-forth affair between the Hoyas and Mids until Nicole Victory scored three straight goals to extend the Navy lead to 13-8 late in the second. Navy would add three more consecutive goals to run the streak to six and close out the game by a 16-9 score.

Air Force

The Falcons saw their first loss in Southern Conference in their match against High Point, falling 13-9 against a ranked foe.

Air Force saw their first and only lead during the first quarter with a goal by Matthew Schwartz. It was tied 2-2 after one, but High Point dominated the early going in the second quarter with a 4-0 during the course of 12 minutes, and it was a challenge for the Falcons offense to find their place. Tim Baker made the last two goals of the first half to leave the Falcons down by only two at 6-4 going into the second half.

Air Force was able to keep it close in the early going of the third, but four straight goals by High Point between the third and fourth quarters saw them extend their lead to seven at 13-6. The Falcons made a comeback attempt in the final five minutes with three straight goals featuring a Matthew Schwartz, Blake Gillund and a hat trick by Jack Flynn but Air Force fell short in the end.

Air Force will see their next league match up against Richmond at home on April 13 at 11:30 am.