2019 Men’s College Lacrosse Year In Review: #48 Navy Midshipmen

With the 2019 college lacrosse season complete, it’s time to look back at how all 73 teams did during the season, along with an early look at each squad for 2020.

Note: These are not end of season rankings.

Here’s our last five Year In Review posts we’ve done:

• #53 Hofstra
• #52 Harvard
• #51 Manhattan
• #50 Marquette
• #49 Siena

To see all of our posts, check out the 2019 Year In Review section on the site.

Let’s continue our 2019 Year In Review!

#48 Navy Midshipmen

Conference: Patriot League
2019 Record: 6-7 (4-4 in Patriot League)
Head coach: Rick Sowell (8th Season)

Statistical Leaders

Goals: Christian Daniel (31)
Assists: Ryan Wade (28)
Points: Ryan Wade (48)
Faceoffs: Nick Barry (134-of-264; 50.8%)
Ground balls: Nick Barry (58)
Caused turnovers: Jacob Mandish (10)
Goals against average: Ryan Kern (12.00 GAA)
Save percentage: Ryan Kern (53.2%)

Personnel Losses

Key seniors departing: M Greyson Torain (24 Gs, 13 As, 44 GBs, 7 CTs), M Ryan Wade (20 Gs, 28 As, 11 GBs, 2 CTs), M Ian Burgoyne (1 G, 3 As, 1 GB, 1 CT), M Drew Smiley (1 G, 1 A, 7 GBs, 2 CTs), A Patrick Walsh (6 Gs, 4 GBs, 2 CTs)
Senior scoring departing: 97 of 230 points (42.2%)
Senior starts lost: 29 of 130 (22.3%)

Season Summary

After a 2018 season that saw Navy just fall short of being a bubble team in the NCAA Tournament, there were expectations the Midshipmen would at least be back in the Patriot League Tournament despite losing over half of their total starts from the season.

Entering the Lehigh game, the Mids were 4-3 overall, about where most would have thought they would be. Despite taking a 6-4 lead early in the third quarter, the Mountain Hawks exploded on offense, scoring 11 of the game’s final 13 goals for the win. But the biggest surprise came a week later, when Navy fell to Holy Cross by three goals and putting their Patriot League Tournament hopes at risk. They defeated Colgate the next week to set up the rivalry showdown against Army West Point.

The Mids tied the game up at eight with 1:26 left to force overtime. But Army won the faceoff in the extra session and kept the ball the entire time, resulting in a Matt Manown game-winner. Not only was it very difficult to use to your archrival, but it put the team in a very tough situation to qualify for the conference tournament after a Syracuse loss.

Out of the 16 possible situations to end the Patriot League season, 10 of them had Navy in the conference tournament. And things looked good with the Mids edging Boston University by a goal. Navy also got help with wins from Bucknell and Loyola. All they needed was Lehigh to beat Holy Cross and the Mids were in. But the Crusaders defeated the Mountain Hawks by five, ending Navy’s season as the third team in a group of three with a 4-4 record and in seventh place in the Patriot League.

The attack was young with Christian Daniel leading the way along with Nick Cole and Jack Sweeney. Ryan Wade and Greyson Torain were the senior leaders on the team, as well as the offense up top. Michael Foster was a sophomore and was the third starting midfielder for most of the season. With Ryan Kern back in goal, Andrew McKenna was the lone returning starter at close defense and was flanked for most of the season with Tom Evans, while Nick Franchuk and Jacob Mandish split time as the third close defenseman. Nick Barry slowly improved throughout the season at the faceoff X and finished with a 50.8% win percentage.

Looking Ahead

The departures of Torain and Wade will be very difficult for Navy’s offense. But those two were the most impactful players leaving out of a fairly small senior class.

For starters, Navy has a brand new coaching staff with Joe Amplo as head coach, who comes over from starting Marquette’s program. Brad Ross and John Orsen will be his assistants entering the fall.

Outside of the midfield, Navy brings back plenty of their key contributors. The starting attack should remain the same with Daniel being one of the more underrated attackmen in the Patriot League. Expect the offense to be more organized and more efficient than in the past with more growth from Cole and Sweeney. Foster will now be the team’s top offensive midfielder after a 20-point campaign in his sophomore season. Joe deLyra, Augie Fratt, and Logan Spiker are others worth watching to see if the can take the next step forward.

As the season went on, the defense developed better chemistry with each other and will all be back as a group. They should continue to improve with Amplo and Orsen coaching them together. The defensive midfield includes Jeff Durden and Dan Jordon at LSM, along with Brad Alexander, Tim Griffin, and Colin Meehan as short stick midfielders. Barry should also keep improving as a sophomore. Prior to arriving at Navy, Orsen helped groom Trevor Baptiste as one of the best faceoff men of all time. Barry won over 50% of his draws in six of Navy’s final seven games last season, which included the team’s final five contests.

Some of the team’s best leaders have departed Annapolis, but like any other military academy, Navy breeds not only athletes, but other leaders for what’s to come outside of athletics. With a new coaching staff and most of the roster returning, it would not be surprising to see Navy back in the Patriot League mix, especially with the conference a little more wide open with Loyola’s losses.