Division I Men :      March 21, 2007 [ The Game Story]
Navy 15 Colgate 10 Scoring: Scoring: Basil Daratsos Ian Dingman Billy Looney William Wallace Nick Mirabito Matt Guido Bruce Nechanicky Tommy Wallin (4, 0) (3, 1) (1, 3) (4, 0) (2, 0) (0, 1) (1, 0) (0, 1) Kevin Colleluori Matt Lalli Brendan Hurley Brandon Corp Joshua Back Jeff Hiller Nick Monastero (5, 0) (1, 2) (1, 2) (1, 2) (1, 1) (0, 2) (1, 0) Saves: Saves: Colin Finnegan 12  (0.545) Tim Harrington Brian Cain 11  (0.458) 2  (0.500) Current Record :     (7-0) Current Record :     (4-3) Team Page For 2007 Team Page For 2007       The Game Story: NNAPOLIS, Md. - Basil Daratsos (Niskayuna, N.Y.), William Wallace (Bloomfield Village, Mich.) and Ian Dingman (Deferiet, N.Y.) combined for 11 goals to lead the fourth-ranked Navy lacrosse team (7-0, 4-0 Patriot League) to a 15-10 victory over Patriot League foe Colgate (4-3, 1-1 Patriot League) Wednesday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy utilized a 5-0 run in the opening quarter to help seal its seventh-straight win of the season, giving the Mids their best start since 1986 when Navy opened the year 8-0. After dropping a 6-3 decision to the Raiders last year in Hamilton, N.Y., the Midshipmen came out with one thing on their mind - revenge. Ironically, the charge was led by Daratsos, a rookie who did not feel the sting of last year's loss. Just 14 seconds elapsed in the game before Daratsos stuck in his first of four goals on the afternoon. He followed up with a second goal just over a minute later, firing in a shot from the left side, 10 yards out. By the 12:21 mark, Navy held a 3-0 lead as sophomore attack Bruce Nechanicky (Montgomery Village, Md.) produced his seventh goal of the year. Navy extended its lead to 4-0 when senior Tommy Wallin (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) fed Billy Looney (Silver Spring, Md.) on an extra-man goal at 5:03. On the ensuing face-off, Wallace won the draw, picked up the grounder and headed straight to the goal where he scored the first of his four goals on the day at the 4:57 mark. The Mids opened up a 6-0 lead when Wallace took a pass and poked it past Colgate keeper Tom Harrington just 2:40 into the second period. The Raiders finally got on the scoreboard with 10:20 remaining in the half as a Joshua Back goal staged a mini run by Colgate. The Raiders went on to score back-to-back extra-man goals at 9:23 and 7:02 by Nick Monastero and Kevin Colleluori, respectively, in what turned out to be a penalty-plagued afternoon. In all, 16 penalties were called against teams that came into the contest as the two least penalized teams in the Patriot League. Navy answered with a pair of goals by Dingman and Wallace before Colgate's Brendan Hurley scored the final tally of the half at 1:13, as Navy held a 9-4 advantage at the intermission. Dingman ended the game with three goals and in doing so he moved past Mike Herger (1987-90, 107 goals) into third place on the Mids' all-time goals scored list with 108. Navy salted the game away with four-consecutive goals, including a score by junior attack Nick Mirabito (Binghamton, N.Y.) who extended his consecutive games with a point streak to 38 in a row, the second longest in the country. Navy outscored the Raiders, 5-2, in the third quarter and while Colgate pitched a 4-2 advantage in the goal column in the fourth quarter, it was too little, too late. "Last year our only Patriot League loss was against Colgate, so we definitely had that on our mind," said Wallace, who pitched his first-collegiate hat trick. "We were emotionally very excited for this game and to come out and get five goals right away in the first quarter was exactly how we wanted to start this game." The Midshipmen scored just three goals on eight extra-man opportunities which is not bad considering no team had scored an extra-man goal against Colgate in its previous six contests (0-12). Meanwhile, the Raiders seemed to figure out the Mids' man-down defense, converting on five of its seven man-up opportunities. Navy outshot Colgate, 54-34, while also winning the ground ball war, 39-34. Face-offs were nearly split down the middle as Colgate won 15 and the Mids claimed 14, including 13 by Wallace. "Last year, Chris Eck (12-23 face-offs) had my number, so coming into this game I was focused on my face-off game," said Wallace. "Colgate is a tough team and Eck is an effective player. I believe he has been hurt, but he'll make a difference now that he's back." The 10 goals by Colgate marks the first time since last year's Army-Navy game that a team has been able to put up double-digit goals against the Midshipmen and just the third time in the last 22 games. Navy will be back in action on Sunday when it travels to Lewisburg, Pa., to face 18th-ranked Bucknell. The Mids and Bison are set to face off at 1:00 pm and will be carried live on 1430 WNAV with Pete Medhurst calling the action. In addition, Bucknell will provide a live online video feed free of charge via the Bison web site.

Annapolis, MD - The Navy Midshipmen used a six goal run and never looked back against Patriot League rival Colgate, 15-10 on an overcast chilly day in Annapolis. Four players registered four points for Navy, led by Comcast Player of the Game William Wallace (4g, 13 of 19 facing off), with the help of Basil Daratsos (4g), Ian Dignman (3g, 1a) and Billy Looney (1g, 3a). Kevin Colleluori led the late charge by Colgate with five goals on the day.

Navy’s only Patriot League loss in 2006 came at the hands of Colgate on a frigid day in New York, 6-3. Undoubtedly with that loss in mind, Navy flew out of the gates early. Even though Colgate came on sporadically, the outcome never seemed to be in doubt after Navy’s 6-0 run to start the game. Basil Daratsos got his first two on the day in the first two minutes of the game, that was followed by a Bruce Nechanicky unassisted goal a minute later. Three minutes in and Navy had a three goal lead. Colgate would tighten up slightly, temporarily holding off the Navy attack. It wasn’t until Tommy Wallin found Billy Looney with 5:03 to go in the first period that they were able to notch their fourth goal. Six seconds later, William Wallace had won the face-off and put Navy’s 5th goal in.

While a 5-0 first quarter is bad enough, Colgate was lucky to have it only be a five goal lead. Freshman goalie Tim Harrington only had 11 saves in his 43:35 of play, which was surprising, because it seemed like he came up with a lot more than just 11 saves. Regardless, 8 of those 11 came in that first quarter, which was completely dominated by Navy. Colgate was out shot in the opening quarter 16-4, only managing two of them on cage, which Navy goalie Colin Finnegan easily turned away.

Driven with the thought of revenge, Navy was playing 100 mph from the opening whistle. After the initial sluggishness, Colgate tried to match the intensity, opening up the door for the man-up units to get an awful lot of work. On the whole Colgate took advantage of the seven man-up opportunities they were given by converting goals on five of them. Navy did an admirable job converting three of their eight chances. Credit Colgate’s man-down unit, because any one of Navy’s man-up players was looking to, and capable, of ripping a shot if given the opportunity. Midfielders William Wallace and Billy Looney demonstrated their cannons often. Looney only got 4 of his 10 shots on cage, while Wallace got 6 of his 11 on cage, putting in 4 of those.

Overall, outside of cutting it to 6-3 midway through the 2nd quarter, Navy never left it in doubt. The Colgate offense of the second half hardly resembled the one that came out in the first half. Part of the credit can go to the Navy longpoles as they were pressuring the Colgate offense all over the field and putting a lot of balls on the ground. In the second half with some of the pressure off, the Colgate offense looked calm and started to dictate their style of play, rather than the panicked, rushed feel they had early.

A bright spot for Colgate was the return of face-off specialist Chris Eck. Eck is returning from a Lisfranc injury and saw his first extensive game time today. Having established himself as one of the major face-off threats in the Patriot League, he got off to a slow start today. As the Colgate team as a whole settled down, Eck started to get into a rhythm at the face-off circle. William Wallace did well early against Eck, and then stepped aside in the 2nd quarter. He was busy with is many other duties, which today included scoring four goals. Against Navy’s other face-off men, Eck started to dominate. It wasn’t until Colgate had started to climb back in did Navy go back to Wallace, but not before trying Thomas Zimmerman, a longpole, to tie Eck up. When Wallace returned in the second half to the face-off circle, he limited Eck’s effectiveness. While Eck was still controlling the draw, Wallace, being quicker on his feet than Eck, was able to box him out or beat him to the looseballs. The Navy wingmen Terence Higgins and Victor Barger also did a good job shutting Colgate down and grabbed 7 groundballs between them. Ultimately Wallace went 13-of-19, while Eck won 12-of-23. The controlling of the draw was heavily in Eck’s favor, but that’s not how possessions or face-offs are scored and Wallace earned most of his 10 groundballs fighting Eck.

Colgate still doesn’t seem to be set on a goalie as sophomore Brian Cain has started three games and appeared in five for the Raiders, while freshman Tim Harrington has started four and appeared in five. Today was Harrington’s day and he played well, despite giving up 13 goals. The Navy offense was on today, crisply moving the ball and attacking from all angles for their 2nd highest total of the year. Cain also made a couple of nice saves in relief of Harrington, but wasn’t tested much in his 16:25 of play. By the time he entered the game, Navy had a comfortable lead and was effectively playing stall ball.

Undefeated Navy travels up to Pennsylvania on Sunday to take on the surging Bison of Bucknell. While Bucknell’s 7-1 record isn’t representative of the toughest strength of schedule, they have still beaten quality opponents and will be looking to make some noise in the Patriot League starting Sunday. Navy doesn’t have an easy game left on their schedule and will certainly come out firing for this one, as the easiest way into the tournament is to win your league. A win will put them in great position for the top seed in the league and put the onus on Army to beat Bucknell again before they play Navy on the 14th.

Don’t count Colgate out just yet. They showed that they do have the potential up-and-down the field at times today. Navy’s athleticism at the midfield and attack really overmatched them today, but a smart game plan and more controlled possessions early could have made this a very competitive game. They will have to learn how to get that going from the opening whistle. A good chance to make some noise and give their season some momentum is a trip to #2 Albany next Tuesday for a non-league game. From there, they still have a lot of Patriot League lacrosse left to play. If one of their goalies steps up and they get going sooner rather than later, they have the potential to make a run.