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The Navy Midshipmen are the seventh Division I team to unveil their 2018 schedule and the first Patriot League team to do so. After a 6-8 season due to injuries from Casey Rees and others, the Mids hope to bounce back and be a contender in the Patriot League.
Here’s the entire 2018 schedule:
Navy’s 2018 Schedule
| Date | Road Team | Home Team | Special Notes | Last Year's Meeting(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Road Team | Home Team | Special Notes | Last Year's Meeting(s) |
| 1/20 | Navy | Penn State | Scrimmage | |
| 1/27 | Navy | Richmond | Scrimmage | |
| 2/4 | Navy | Jacksonville | First meeting since 2012 (second overall) | |
| 2/10 | Navy | Maryland | 15-12 L | |
| 2/17 | UMBC | Navy | First meeting since 2003 | |
| 2/24 | Navy | Boston University | Patriot League | 8-7 L |
| 3/3 | Navy | Bucknell | Patriot League | 13-7 W |
| 3/6 | Navy | Penn | in Sparks, Maryland | 11-9 L |
| 3/10 | Lafayette | Navy | Patriot League | 9-8 L |
| 3/17 | Loyola | Navy | Patriot League | 18-7 L |
| 3/24 | Navy | Lehigh | Patriot League | 14-9 W |
| 3/31 | Holy Cross | Navy | Patriot League | 11-4 W, 11-7 L |
| 4/7 | Colgate | Navy | Patriot League | 10-4 L |
| 4/14 | Navy | Army West Point | Patriot League | 10-6 W |
| 4/21 | Navy | Syracuse | First meeting since 2004 National Championship |
As mentioned with Johns Hopkins, Navy won’t play the Blue Jays for the first time since 1949 due to scheduling conflicts, according to Blue Jays head coach Dave Pietramala and Midshipmen head coach Rick Sowell. It sounds like it won’t happen in 2019 as well, according to Bill Wagner of the Capital Gazette since Navy and Syracuse have scheduled a home-and-home series.
Let’s check out some notable games on this schedule:
Best Non Conference Game: @ Maryland
How good will Maryland be in 2018? Even as the national champions last year, the Terps beat the Mids by three goals. With a team with plenty of fresh faces after a remarkable year, could the Mids put pressure on the Terps early on in the season?
Best Conference Game: @ Army West Point
A pure “throw out the records” type of game. Army had a chance to be a possible at-large team back in April, but then lost to Navy on the road by four goals. Brady Dove played a big part in Navy’s upset win, going 11-of-18 on face-offs for the game, but he’s now gone. Dan Grabher is also gone for the Black Knights.
Under The Radar Game: @ Bucknell
Along with many others, I thought Bucknell would be a darkhorse team in 2017. That was not the case. But with a league as large as the Patriot League and every game mattering for a spot in the conference tournament, this one will definitely be big in terms of seeding. It could even mean a quarterfinal bye for the winner.
Possible Upset: vs. Lafayette
They lost to the Leopards surprisingly last year. How that happened I’m not so sure. But Lafayette is usually at the bottom of the Patriot League. No team should lose to them. But Navy didn’t play their best and ended up catching a really bad loss last year. The Mids trailed 9-5 at the end of the third quarter before shutting out the Leopards in the entire fourth. There’ll be definite reminders of last year’s meeting when it’s time to play Ed Williams’ team.