Friday's print edition included a Q&A with Navy sophomore faceoff specialist Brady Dove, who leads Division I in faceoff percentage at 71.4 percent (90-for-126). Here are some answers that didn't make it into the paper.
You finished last season ranked 20th in the country at 56.4 percent (163-for-289). So this wasn't unexpected, right?
I think all that freshman stuff is out. We have six faceoff guys in practice this year, and every single person is doing a different move in practice. Really, the hardest faceoffs I take are in practice. I get beat in practice more than anywhere else. I think that just helps me so much to have that depth on faceoffs.
Who on the team gives you the most trouble?
[Freshman] Joe Varello and [junior] Sean Reilly, all three of us just go at it. We rotate winning-losing, winning-losing. They're just quality faceoff guys as well. I feel like if they were on other teams, they could easily have starting roles and be doing well for those teams.
Can you describe the feeling of winning a faceoff, picking up the ground ball, and scoring a goal like you did in the first quarter of Saturday's win against Lehigh?
It's just a good feeling. It's a great momentum swing, and especially for that one on Saturday, that was right after we had scored, and we went on a four-goal run. I think it was huge for the team and just morale all around.
Can you describe the feeling of winning a faceoff, scoring a goal, and then having the goal voided because your stick was ruled illegal as it was in the fourth quarter of an 8-7 loss to Bucknell on Feb. 21?
The score was great. It put us up by one [6-5] at that point, and the game was definitely in the right direction. We had all the momentum in the world and then to get that penalty took all of our momentum away. It definitely was not a good situation. It's not necessarily typical for a faceoff guy to have his stick checked throughout the game just because of the way it gets torqued and everything during a game. It's a different head from the one that you use at the start of the game.
How did the rule changes on faceoffs impact your strategies and techniques?
I think if anything, it helps me. The rule that doesn't help me is that I can't pick up the ball in the back of my stick anymore. Last year, I was more of a set, power guy and then you had the type to go down and roll right into it at the whistle. The longer sets this year have taken those guys totally out of the game. You can see that the guys who do that, their numbers have just dropped so far just because they can't roll into it, and it's taken a lot of the cheating out of the game. I like the new faceoff rules a lot this year.
Who is usually on the wings with you?
[Sophomore long-stick midfielder] Matt Rees and [sophomore short-stick defensive midfielder] John Trainor.
What's it like playing with them on the wings?
It's definitely nice having them on the wings, knowing that I can pull it out and they'll get tough ground balls for me. If I don't win it, their guys are definitely getting hounded by our wings. More often than not, they come up with the ground ball even when the other guys wins the draw.
How did you end up at Navy?
I was actually going to prep school [Kent School in Kent, Conn.] and planning to attend the Air Force Academy. Right before the last game of my high school career, I emailed Coach [Rick] Sowell and asked him to please come to my game and that I was extremely interested in Navy. I think they sent Coach [J.L.] Reppert [the former Midshipmen offensive coordinator who now coaches at Maryland], and he watched me play and contacted me shortly thereafter. It was all Navy from there.
Do you ever look back on that decision?
I haven't looked back on it too much because Navy was where I always wanted to go. I knew lacrosse was going to be a means to get me to go to where I wanted to go to school, and once they finally pulled the trigger to recruit me, it was all Navy, and Air Force was out the window.
Did any other Division I schools try to recruit you?
I took a visit to Holy Cross and VMI. I know I wanted to go military. VMI was absolutely a last resort just for the military aspect.