Navy Men's Lacrosse - Mids head to UNC for NCAA Tournament Saturday (Part I)
2007 Navy Men's Lacrosse
Gm 15: #8 Navy (11-3, 6-0) at #9 North Carolina (9-5) - NCAA Tournament; First Round
Saturday, May 12 • 5:00 pm • Chapel Hill, N.C. • Fetzer Field (5,700)
Media Information
Television: ESPNU - Dave Cohen (play by play), Mark Dixon (analyst)
Radio/Internet: 1430 WNAV, Navy All-Access on
www.NavySports.com (Pete Medhurst)
Live Stats: Gametracker on NavySports.com
Game Preview
• Eighth-ranked Navy (11-3 overall, 6-0 Patriot League) will make its fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance on Saturday when it travels to Chapel Hill, N.C. to battle eighth-seeded North Carolina (9-5, 0-3 ACC) ... Game time is set for 5:00 pm at UNC's Fetzer Field.
• The Mids put together back-to-back wins over Army and Colgate two weeks ago to capture their fourth-consecutive Patriot League Tournament title and earn the Patriot League's automatic bid to play in the NCAA Tournament.
• Navy battered Army in a 12-1 victory, while five different players pitched in two or more goals in Navy's title victory (15-9) over Colgate, including a career-high four markers for tournament MVP Nick Mirabito.
• Like Navy, Carolina has been off since the weekend of April 28&29 ... the Tar Heels dropped their opening-round contest in the ACC Tournament to Duke, 13-9, in Durham on April 27 ... four of UNC's five losses have come against members of the ACC, while its other loss was at the hands of the Midshipmen.
• Saturday's NCAA Tournament contest will be televised live on ESPNU with Dave Cohen (play by play) and Mark Dixon (analyst) calling the action.
• The Voice of Navy Lacrosse Pete Medhurst will handle the play by play on 1430 WNAV and Navy All-Access via the Mids' web site at
www.NavySports.com(.)
Countdown to Face-Off
10 • Navy has scored 10 or more goals in eight of its 14 contests this spring ... the Mids own an 8-0 record in those games.
9 • Senior Ian Dingman has turned in a team-best nine goals in his five NCAA Tournament appearances.
8 • Navy keeper Colin Finnegan has played just eight minutes in goal in NCAA Tournament action, the final eight minutes against Syracuse in the 2004 National Championship game as a freshman.
7 • Seven different players have accounted for Navy's 11 game-winning goals (Ian Dingman, Tommy Wallin with 3 each).
6 • Six different players on the Navy roster produced two or more goals in the Mids' 19-8 victory over North Carolina earlier this season.
5 • The Mids are riding a five-game winning streak against North Carolina.
4 • Freshmen Basil Daratsos (16G, 2A) and Tim Paul (12G, 7A) have each scored just four points in games played on the road.
3 • Navy's three losses in '07 are by a combined three goals.
2 • Navy's man-down defense has given up just two goals in the last 20 opportunities (7 games).
1 • All-American midfielder Billy Looney needs one point to become the second player this year and the 28th overall to score 100-career points in school history.
Navy vs. North Carolina - The Series
• Navy took an 11-10 series lead after producing the most lop-sided win in series history, a 19-8 victory in Annapolis earlier this season.
• Carolina owns a 3-1 advantage over the Midshipmen in NCAA Tournament action, though the last time the two met in postseason play was 25 years ago ... UNC defeated Navy, 16-2, in Chapel Hill in the quarterfinals of the 1982 NCAA Tournament.
• The two teams have squared off against one another during the regular season in each of the last 12 years ... the inaugural meeting was in 1975 when the Mids earned an 11-4 win in Annapolis.
• The Midshipmen have won five in a row against the Tar Heels, the longest winning streak in the series by the Mids ... the longest winning streak by either team is six by UNC (1980-81-82-84-85-96).
• North Carolina owns a 7-3 advantage in games played on its home field, though Navy has won two in a row in Chapel Hill ... three of the last four games played in Chapel Hill have not only been decided by one goal, but have gone into overtime, including the 2002 game that was won by North Carolina in the sixth overtime period.
• Five of the last eight games in the series have been decided by one goal.
Recapping This Year's Regular-Season Game - Complete Box Score on Pg. 20 of Notes
• Seventeen different players produced a goal or an assist to lead 12th-ranked Navy to a 19-8 route over No. 5 North Carolina at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on March 2.
• It's the most goals scored by Navy against a nationally-ranked team since handing 18th-ranked Army a 19-9 setback on April 7, 1990 ... it's the most they have scored in the 21-game series, improving upon the previous record of 16 set in 1978.
• The 11-goal win is Navy's largest margin of victory in the series, bettering last year's eight-goal decision in Chapel Hill.
• Attackmen Ian Dingman and Nick Mirabito paced the Mids with hat tricks of the season, while Mirabito tacked on an assist to lead the team with four points ... rookies Basil Daratsos, Patrick Moran and Tim Paul, along with senior middie Tommy Wallin each pitched in a pair of goals.
• The Mids scored back-to-back goals just 47 seconds apart to take an early 2-0 lead 5:08 into the contest and never looked back as Navy never trailed in the game.
• The Tar Heels closed to within one on three different occasions, including a goal by junior midfielder Brian Connors with just 11 ticks remaining in the opening period.
• Navy dashed any momentum UNC had gained, as a Wallin fired in his second goal of the game off an assist from junior Matt Guido with just one second left in the period.
• The teams traded goals early in the second period, but Daratsos' unassisted marker at 7:54 sparked a 5-0 run for the Mids.
• One of the reasons Navy was put in goal-scoring position was because of the play of its face-off team ... six different Midshipmen took draws, including Mikelis Visgauss who won 11 of the 15 face-offs he took, while William Wallace won four.
• Senior Colin Finnegan played a fantastic game in goal for the Midshipmen, making a career-high 14 saves, while giving up seven of the eight goals.
Tourney Talk
• Navy is making its fourth-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 24th overall ... Navy has played in the fifth-most NCAA Tournaments behind Johns Hopkins (36), Maryland (29), Virginia (29) and Syracuse (26) ... UNC is making its 22nd appearance.
• The last time Navy qualified for four-consecutive NCAA Tournaments was 1986-89 ... the Mids received a bye in the '86 tournament, while winning their first-round games in 1987-88-89.
• Navy owns a 5-5 record in first-round contests ... Navy has won two of its last three.
• Navy has been unseeded in each of the last two years and will face the No. 8 seed for the second year in a row.
• Navy is 1-4 as an unseeded team and 1-1 against the eighth seed all-time.
• Navy is 4-4 in tournament action under head coach Richie Meade.
• Navy came into the NCAA Tournament a year ago with the exact same record as this year, 11-3 ... the Mids, however, had their championship dreams shattered after eighth-seeded Georgetown earned a come-from-behind victory, 9-7.
• UNC owns a 3-1 advantage over Navy in NCAA Tournament action, though the last time the two met in postseason play was 25 years ago ... Carolina defeated Navy, 16-2, in Chapel Hill in the quarterfinals of the 1982 NCAA Tournament.
• Senior Ian Dingman has scored a goal in four of the five NCAA Tournament games in which he has played ... in those four games he has scored two or more goals in all of them, including two in the National Championship Game against Syracuse in '04 ... he did not score a goal, but did produce an assist in Navy's win over Princeton in the '04 semis.
• Senior Billy Looney has scored a goal in six of the seven NCAA Tournament games he has played in, including a hat trick against Virginia in the 2005 quarterfinals ... the only game he did not score a goal in was the 2004 first-round game against Penn at home.
• Junior Nick Mirabito has scored five goals and added an assist in the three NCAA Tournament games in which he has played, including his hat trick against Delaware in the first round of the 2005 tournament ... it was his first-collegiate NCAA Tournament contest.
• Senior keeper Colin Finnegan played the final eight minutes of the '04 National Championship Game as a freshman after starting keeper Matt Russell had to come out of the game with a broken collarbone.
• Seniors Billy Looney and Tommy Wallin are the only players on the roster to play in all seven of Navy's NCAA Tournament contests over the last four seasons.
Just the Facts
• Since the start of the 2004 season, Navy has put together a 49-14 record ... the 49 wins are the most by any team in the country and the .778 winning percentage is third behind Johns Hopkins (47-11, .810) and Cornell (44-11, .800).
• Behind a 12-1 win over Army in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, the Mids picked up their 10th win of the season, marking the fourth-consecutive year that Navy has registered 10-plus wins ... it's only the second time in program history and the first time since 1975-78, the Mids have strung together double-figure wins in four-straight years (15 in 2004, 12 in 2005, 11 in 2006).
