Navy earns berth in title game

ANNAPOLIS — Navy dominated the Patriot League during the regular season, and not much changed on the first day of the conference tournament.

The second-ranked Midshipmen drilled Colgate 15-5 yesterday before 817 at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium to advance to tomorrow’s title game against No.19 Hobart.

Chris David’s goal with 2:50 left lifted Hobart (8-5) over Bucknell (6-8) 10-9 in the other semifinal.

Joe Bossi scored four goals and Ben Bailey added three as Navy (11-2) shook off a plodding first half to bounce back from its emotional overtime loss to Johns Hopkins last week.

“I thought we were playing pretty well. We just weren’t playing inspired,” said Navy coach Richie Meade, whose team is a victory away from locking up its first NCAA tournament bid since 1999. “We weren’t playing with the same emotion we were playing with the last couple weeks. I don’t think you can do it all the time, so today we took care of business and we won.”

Navy, which defeated Colgate 21-6 in the regular season, quickly positioned itself to bury the Raiders (8-7) again. Billy Looney and Steve Looney both scored in the first three minutes, and the Mids were poised for another rout.

Colgate, though, followed with two goals in an 11-second span to tie it. The Raiders then combined a deliberate offense with the Mids’ shaky shooting to keep it close for the rest of the half. Graham Gill scored late in the first quarter to put the Mids ahead, but Navy took only a 6-2 lead into the break.

“I thought we were very lethargic,” Meade said. “I thought their tempo offensively made us play that way offensively ourselves.”

That changed right after halftime. The Mids efficiently skipped passes through Colgate’s zone and ripped off four goals in the first four minutes of the third quarter, effectively ending the Raiders’ upset hopes.

Navy’s defense took it from there. Sophomore goalie Matt Russell made 12 saves and anchored a unit that held the Raiders scoreless for more than 40 minutes, including the entire second and third quarters.

The Raiders neutralized attackman Ian Dingman, limiting the sophomore to a goal and an assist. However, that decision opened up outside shots for Bailey, who recorded his second consecutive hat trick.

“They were trying to shut down Ian and not slide off him,” Bailey said. “When they do that, it takes away one more guy to slide. You have to guard all six guys we’ve got out there.”

The Mids played without faceoff specialist Chris Pieczonka, who has a slightly torn hamstring. Freshman William Wallace took most of the draws against the Raiders, winning 14 of 18. Meade said Pieczonka’s availability will be a game-time decision tomorrow but added he would prefer not to use the junior.