Men's Lax Hosts Navy Saturday in Patriot League Opener

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The calendar still reads February and the Bucknell men's lacrosse team has only two official games under its belt, but the Patriot League portion of the schedule is here already as Navy visits Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the first of three consecutive important conference tilts. Saturday's game against the 1-1 Midshipmen will be webcast free of charge on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network.

After opening with a 6-4 home win over Delaware two weeks ago, the Bison dropped a 12-9 decision at Bryant last week. Bucknell had been ranked in the top 15 in both major national polls prior to the loss, and now the Bison are listed 20th in the Warrior Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and are receiving votes in the USILA Coaches' Poll.

David Dickson and Thomas Flibotte both recorded hat tricks against Bryant, but the Bison were battling from behind almost the whole way after an early four-goal run by the Bulldogs. Bucknell had a 43-31 shot advantage, but Bryant goalie Gunnar Waldt made 16 saves.

Flibotte leads the Bison with four goals through two games, while Dickson has three goals and an assist. Kyle Shanahan (2-1-3), Sean Doyle (1-2-3) and Todd Heritage (2-0-2) are also multi-point scorers for the Bison. Heritage, who scored an overtime winner against Navy during his freshman year, needs just two more goals for 100 in his career.

Junior Sam Grinberg was named the Patriot League Goalie of the Week after tallying 12 saves with only four goals against in his first career start in the season-opener against Delaware. Grinberg logged six saves against Bryant last week, and now he will try to bounce back against a Navy team that has already posted 26 goals in two games.

Sam Jones had a 10-point performance with four goals and six assists in Navy's season-opening 18-5 rout of VMI. Jones then had three goals and an assist in a 9-8 overtime loss to Georgetown last Saturday, giving him seven goals and seven assists already.

Tucker Hull (3-3-6) and T.J. Handzsche (4-0-4) are also off to fast starts. Navy has done well at the faceoff spot, winning 61.7 percent as a team, led by Brady Dove at 60.0 percent (24-40). Goalie John Connors has a .667 save percentage and a 6.32 goals-against average.

Bucknell has beaten Navy three straight times, narrowing the Midshipmen's all-time series lead to 7-6. The two teams had played five straight one goals games until two years ago in Annapolis, when the Bison rolled to a 14-9 verdict. That was Bucknell's first win over Navy by more than one goal, and the Bison topped that with a dominant 11-2 win last year at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

Doyle scored three goals in last year's game to lead the Bison, who finished with a whopping 57-14 shot advantage while holding Navy scoreless for the final 51 minutes of the game.

Bucknell and Navy have played some wild games in recent history, and the 2011 contest in Lewisburg was no exception. In that game the Bison had a 9-5 lead early in the second half, but the Midshipmen stormed back within 10-9 with two minutes to go. Chase Bailey restored some order with a man-up goal with 1:15 left to put Bucknell up 11-9, but stunningly Nikk Davis scored two goals in the final 18 seconds of regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime. But then-freshman Heritage got the Bison off the hook with the game-winner 1:20 into the second overtime period.

All told, seven of the 13 Bucknell-Navy games have been decided by one goal, including three overtime contests. Bucknell's overtime win in 2011 avenged an 8-7 sudden-death loss in Annapolis the previous season. In 2009, Bucknell won the regular-season matchup on then-freshman Charlie Streep's dramatic last-second goal, but then the Mids returned to Lewisburg later that spring and edged the Bison 9-8 in the Patriot League championship game.

Following the Navy game Bucknell will take on Patriot League rivals Colgate and Lehigh on the next two Saturdays.