Dartmouth Drops Night Game to Navy

Tuesday, March 21

Annapolis, Md.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

1-5

Navy

3-6

Dartmouth

Navy

3/21/2017 9:08:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Dartmouth men's lacrosse fought hard and put a lot of pressure on its opponent, falling to Navy by a score of 11-6 at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Tuesday evening. The Big Green dipped to 1-5, while the Midshipmen got out of a three-game slump and improved to 3-6.

For the second game in a row, junior Richie Loftus led the team, scoring two goals and tacking on three assists for five points. Freshman Ben Martin was right behind with his hat trick. In net, classmate George Christopher had seven saves.

"Tonight was one of our more complete efforts," head coach Brendan Callahan said. "Navy is a good team and was able to capitalize on some of our weaknesses. We struggled to stop some of their players from getting to the net and, despite our pressure, they were able to make plays. I was impressed with our fight on the ground, as we won the ground ball battle against a tough group. We will learn from this one as we continue to move forward in preparation for Harvard on Saturday."

Halfway through the first quarter, Navy had a 2-0 lead. Dartmouth soon turned things around and, by the three-minute mark, had tied the score at 2-2. Both goals were scored in the same way: Loftus had the ball behind the net, passed to Martin in front and the rookie outsmarted goalkeeper Ryan Kern with a quick flick into the corner. The Midshipmen scored one more 40 seconds later, making it a 3-2 game heading into the second.

Six goals were netted in the second quarter, with Navy outscoring Dartmouth, 4-2. The teams traded tallies, starting with a Midshipmen marker just 10 seconds in. Three minutes later, senior Wiley Osborne got the Big Green back within one (4-3) following a pass from classmate Dylan Key, who got his first point of his senior year. Loftus picked up his third point and first goal of the game 30 seconds after another Navy goal to keep the score close (5-4), but two in a row gave the Midshipmen a 7-4 advantage.

It took 11 minutes and 10 shots for the first goal of the third quarter to be scored, netted by Loftus and assisted on by Osborne. Apart from a pair of faceoffs, the next two plays were Navy goals scored less than 30 seconds, making it 9-5 in the home team's favor.

Martin completed his hat trick at the start of the fourth quarter, with the assist going to Loftus, giving the latter his fifth point of the evening and getting Dartmouth within three (9-6). The Midshipmen went on to score two more to end the game.

After three weeks away from home, the Big Green will return to Scully-Fahey Field on Saturday, March 25 to host Harvard in the Ivy League opener.