Army Set Tone Early to Smother Navy in Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Nothing — not a pending downpour and most certainly not Navy — was going to stop Army from singing second Saturday.

The Black Knights smothered their academy rivals 11-6 before 7,014 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, earning their first victory in the series since 2019 and clinching at least a share of the Patriot League regular season title.

Reese Burek had four goals and one assist, AJ Pilate caused three turnovers and Knox Dent stopped 10 shots for Army (10-2, 7-0 Patriot), which has remained a postseason contender even after a significant graduation hit after last season that included Tewaaraton Award finalist Brendan Nichtern.

“It’s definitely special, especially getting it here at their place,” Burek said. “Coming off last year’s overtime loss, it definitely hurt. My heart was out for that senior class, and we knew we had a job to finish here.”

Xavier Arline scored twice for the Midshipmen (7-7, 4-3), whose four-game winning streak ended. Navy had won six of the last seven regular-season games between the teams.

It didn’t take long for it to become clear this game would be different.

Army opened the game, which was moved up six hours because of a dour forecast, with three goals in a little more than four minutes. And while Navy got one back in the middle of the quarter on Dane Swanson’s score late in the shot clock, this hardly felt like a typical Army-Navy game.

Usually, the first five minutes or so are a complete free-for-all, a borderline melee that Army coach Joe Alberici half-jokingly described as “catching the ball is optional and swinging your stick isn’t.” There was none of that from the Black Knights, who played composed throughout.

“We wanted to not make the game bigger than it was,” Dent said. “Coach and the captains just focused on the process and the little things that are going to take us to success. And obviously we tried showcasing that today, staying composed and relying on our fundamentals. Every Army-Navy game is going to be hectic.”

Except this one really wasn’t, in part because Navy sputtered to find answers. The Mids trailed 9-2 at halftime, and even though they had only six turnovers before the break, their offense was largely overwhelmed by a physical Army defense led by Pilate, who didn’t just strip the ball from Navy but also his opponents’ sticks more than once.

The tone wasn’t any different when Army had the ball. The Black Knights shot 37.5 percent in the first 30 minutes, carving up a Mids defense that seemed a step slow when the game was still close.

“It was like there was no juice to the game,” Navy coach Joe Amplo said. “I just thought they out-executed us. There was just something missing today. They played better lacrosse than we did. I didn’t feel this overwhelming sense of intensity from the event, and that’s on us, because we needed to bring that to the game field early on.”

It might not have altered the outcome even if Navy was sharper, if only because Army turned in what has become a typical performance in what has become a steady-as-she-goes season.

Yes, the Black Knights opened with a 10-8 loss at UMass amid dealing with a spate of injuries that cost them three projected starters. And they were coming off an 11-10 loss to Cornell, though that result arguably validated the nine-game winning streak Army stitched together more than any single victory in that run.

Yet the striking thing about Army is how complete a team it fields, perhaps short on brand-name stars (though Pilate belongs in any conversation about All-American defensemen) but long on capable players who fit together.

There isn’t a Nichtern, who uncorked a 101-point season as a senior. But Burek (26 goals, 20 assists) is a crafty lead option who can dazzle from behind the cage or out of the midfield. Army features three other 30-point scorers, including attackmen Paul Johnson and Evan Plunkett and midfielder Jacob Morin.

Will Coletti has won 61.4 percent of his faceoffs and had a 12-for-21 day against Navy. Dent has stepped in for the graduated Wyatt Schupler to provide steady work in the cage. And Army’s defense is what it usually is, a reliably stingy group that has allowed only one opponent to score more than 11 goals (Rutgers with 13).

This has happened for a team that began the season unranked and was picked fourth in the Patriot League in the preseason — tidbits not lost on the Black Knights then or now. Army can earn conference tournament hosting rights with a defeat of Boston University on Friday.

“I think there was a good feeling in the fall from a coach’s perspective that our guys had the right blend of belief and, ‘I want to show you,’ a little chip on our shoulders,” Alberici said. “It was a good blend. If you get too much of one or the other, it’s not good. They were just like, ‘Hey, I think we’re pretty good,’ so I didn’t find myself having to pump them up.”

An infusion of talent helped, too, to offset the graduation of 18 players. Plunkett scored twice in the first half and shares the team lead in assists with Burek. Gunnar Fellows made a tone-setting play in the opening minute, grabbing a ground ball after a Navy save to extend a possession that eventually led to a goal.

“We know what we lost, and we knew what we brought in,” Burek said. “The goal was to get them acclimated with our culture and up to speed. Obviously, it showed out there — Evan Plunkett and Gunnar Fellows, they’re tremendous players. It goes to show how talented our freshman class is and how cohesive our team is after what we lost last year.”

Navy never cut the margin to less than four in the second half, and the clock ran almost continuously in a fourth quarter that saw both teams only score once. It ensured the game would end — and that Army would hear its alma mater played second — just before a line of thunderstorms rolled in.

Just chalk it up as another triumph for the Black Knights, something they’ve enjoyed plenty of this spring.