A series that had been relatively even has begun shifting to one side. No. 4 North Carolina (3-0) has won four of the past five meetings, including an 11-4 win on Feb. 25, 2010 that was Navy’s worst loss to the Tar Heels since 1998. The Midshipmen (1-1) are looking to rebound from Sunday’s 13-7 setback to Jacksonville. Here are a few factors that could influence the outcome at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

1) Taking advantage of extra-man advantages. Navy is averaged 10.5 goals per game thus far, but that number was inflated by the team’s 14-goal outburst against VMI. The offense mustered just seven goals in a seven-goal loss to Jacksonville, and the unit’s futility was aided by going 0-for-3 on man-up opportunities. The Midshipmen have yet to score a goal in seven extra-man advantages, and coach Rick Sowell said the coaching staff has been reviewing everything from personnel to reps to jump-start that facet of the offense. “We’re certainly searching for the right combination of players, and we’re putting an awful lot of time into it,” he said. “So we’re hoping that repetition and finding that right mix will be the answer.”

2) Using offense to contain North Carolina’s offense. The Tar Heels are averaging 17.3 goals in three contests thus far and haven’t scored fewer than 14 goals in a game this season. While noting that the defense will have to slide early and help out senior goalkeeper R.J. Wickham, Sowell said one way of limiting North Carolina’s offense is having Navy’s own unit be productive. “Down on the other end of the field, we’re going to have to make some smart decisions,” he said. “That didn’t help us out on Sunday against Jacksonville. I thought at times, we forced some shots that created transition opportunities for them to take advantage of. So we’re going to have to be smarter on offense, and we’re going to have to score some goals. It’s not going to be a 5-4 or 6-5 type of ballgame. Carolina certainly has a high-powered offense, and hopefully, we can control it with the tempo, but we have to be productive on offense as well.”

3) Locking up Keenan. The Tar Heels’ offense has been fueled by sophomore R.G. Keenan, who is winning 78.7 percent of his faceoffs (48-of-61) this season. The task of battling Keenan, who won 18-of-22 draws in the team’s 10-8 win against the Midshipmen last year, will fall to senior Logan West, who has won 51 percent (25-of-49). “Logan’s our guy,” Sowell said. “If you look at the stats, I don’t think we’ve had another guy in the first two games face off. We do have a couple guys that maybe have a countermove which can tie up R.G., but we’ll see. We’re certainly going to see what Logan can do and hope that we make groundballs and take our chances with some pretty good wing play. I know that’s a tall order, but with Logan being a senior, I like to think that we can create some groundball situations and come up with our fair share.”