Thursday's entry is the fourth of a series taking a look at each of the seven Division I programs in this state according to their order of finish from last season. The Sun's men's lacrosse preview is slated to be published on Friday, Feb. 6. This is Navy's turn.
Overview: The 2014 season was a mixed bag for the Midshipmen. They went 1-4 against non-conference opponents and finished 4-10, marking their fifth straight season without a winning record. But the team did go 3-5 in the Patriot League, which was good enough to sew up the sixth and final berth in the conference tournament. Navy's postseason ended with a 10-6 loss at Lehigh in the opening round of the tournament, but there is optimism that the team is on the cusp of making a leap this spring. That path will be littered with obstacles, including reigning Patriot League tournament champion Loyola Maryland, Lehigh and Army.
Reason for optimism: The defense took a nice step forward, lowering its goals-per-game average from 10.2 in 2013 to 9.4 last season.
Can the Midshipmen maintain that downward trend? The unit did graduate starting close defenseman Nik Mullen (16 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers) and its top two long-stick midfielders in Pat Kiernan (48 GB, 23 CT) and Ben Sampson (21 GB, 3 CT).
But the defense welcomes back two starting defensemen in sophomores Matt Rees (26 GB, 9 CT) and Chris Fennell (17 GB, 13 CT), fourth defenseman Jules Godino (5 GB, 5 CT) and its top three short-stick defensive midfielders in seniors Alex Heyward (17 GB, 11 CT) and Brendan Gaine (5 GB, 3 CT) and sophomore John Trainor (20 GB, 8 CT). Coach Rick Sowell said the defensive players are more adept at turning stops into offensive chances.
"We feel good about that group," he said. "I talked about us being more athletic in the midfield. I feel that down on the defensive end and especially with those long sticks, we're more versatile. … They can get out in transition, and we hope that will help us this year. They're pretty good at getting up the field."
Reason for pessimism: The number 10 was a key number for last year's offense.
When Navy scored at least 10 goals in a game last spring, the team went 4-0. But the squad lost all 10 contests in which the offense scored nine goals or less and finished ranked 51st out of 67 Division I programs in scoring.
The offense graduated four starters in attackmen Sam Jones (23 goals and 19 assists) and Tucker Hull (23, 6) and midfielders Austin Heneveld (11, 2) and Pat Durkin (8, 5). So can the Midshipmen rev up the offense with two new starters on attack and four new midfielders in the top two lines?
Sowell doesn't just hope so. He knows that the team needs to be more active on the scoreboard to fare well in the Patriot League.
"I feel that if we're going to have success, we've got to have a balanced attack," Sowell said. "We can't count on our defense to always hold top teams to five or six goals. That's just very hard to do. Yeah, we were able to do it a couple times, but we still didn't win those games. So we know that offensively, we've got to put up a few more goals, and then we're right there."
Keep an eye on: Last season, Navy gave substantial playing time to four freshmen. This year's rookie class could contribute even more.
Jack Ray and David Little are competing for a starting attackman role. Spencer Coyle, Casey Rees and D.J. Plumer could fill the second midfield line. Noah Pounds is pushing junior John Connors for the starting goalkeeping position, Joe Varello is vying with sophomore Brady Dove to be the primary faceoff specialist, and Plumer is also in the running to start at short-stick defensive midfielder.
Sowell said despite their youth, the freshmen will be expected to meet their teammates' and coaches' standards.
"It's going to be a lot of new faces in the lineup," he said. "We're certainly still trying to sort that out. There's competition all over the field – one way or another, whether it's a plebe or someone who's been in the program and has now put himself in position for playing time. … I think you would say it's a new-look Navy team, and hopefully, we'll get some different results from the last couple of years."
What he said: The Midshipmen came away with a few insights from their participation in a scrimmage Sunday against Richmond.
Although no score was kept, Sowell was pleased that the team's top six midfielders each scored a goal, the players did a fair job of protecting the ball, and the squad showed improved decision-making.
"With the first scrimmage, if you end the day healthy and feeling as though you some good things knowing that you're not going to play perfect, I think you would take that," he said. "It went about as well as we could have expected in those terms. We did escape healthy, and we felt like we did do some good things. But we've got a lot of work to do in just a week and a half before we open up against VMI [on Feb. 8]."