Division I Men's Notebook: Navy, Penn Still Proving Themselves

Make no mistake, it’s an important week for Penn. It visits Villanova on Saturday in a renewal of a local rivalry.

It just isn’t quite as hectic as what the Quakers experienced the week before.

Penn (3-2) is coming off a split in the Research Triangle, beating Duke 14-12 on Friday and falling 13-9 two days later at North Carolina. And that was the tail end of a five-games-in-16-days stretch to open the season.

“It’s a noticeable difference having one game in a week instead of two,” Penn coach Mike Murphy said. “It’s a little shorter prep from Sunday to Saturday, but still much better than what we’ve been doing.”

The benefit of an early burst of games — especially for an Ivy League program not permitted to play until mid-February — is quickly getting a grasp on a team’s strengths and weaknesses. And for Penn, which annually faces a daunting non-conference schedule, the lessons come especially fast.

The Quakers lost their opener to a desperate Georgetown team, then handled Albany and edged Delaware at home before their trip south. Once there, Penn frustrated Duke on a rainy night, as defenseman Brendan Lavelle did fine work as the primary cover guy on reigning Tewaaraton Award winner Brennan O’Neill, who had a goal on eight shots.

Murphy called it “one of the better defensive performances that we’ve had in my 15 years here at Penn” and was quick to credit the rest of the unit and goalie Emmet Carroll for their part as well. He also pointed out Duke still got 12 goals, as other able players capitalized on the attention allocated to O’Neill.

Nonetheless, Penn is holding opponents to 25 percent, with Carroll posting a .575 save percentage.

“I would say our defense has been consistent and our goalie has been very good,” Murphy said. “Hopefully we can continue that. It’s a pretty low number, 25 percent. I wouldn’t count on doing that every game, but for right now, it’s nice and we’ll take it.”

The victory over Duke also made it abundantly clear just how valuable junior attackman Tynan Walsh will be. The San Diego product had 11 goals and 13 assists while making nine starts last season and has already posted four multi-goal games this season.

Walsh shares the Penn lead in goals (10) with Ben Smith and has the outright lead in assists (nine).

“He’s not an overpowering dodger who just picks the ball up off the end line and runs by his guy,” Murphy said. “He’s a point guard and plays within the flow of the offense. Very, very situationally aware. For us to score 14, he had [four] points in that. He has a lot to do with the productivity but also the play. He’s a quarterback, point guard, leader of the offense, very vocal. When we’re playing well, Tynan’s playing well, and when Tynan plays well, our offense is usually clicking.”

The victory over Duke also provided some encouragement on faceoffs, where Chris Arceri won 10 of 17 against Blue Devils star Jake Naso. But the trip also delivered some less enjoyable lessons about dealing with a quick turnaround it hopes it can apply in another Friday-Sunday setup: May’s Ivy League tournament.

“That’s what happens when you play a good schedule,” Murphy said. “You’re going to play teams and you’re going to lose games, and you have to respond and grow from that. Hopefully, that’s what we’re doing this week, and we learn some things and play better against Villanova than we did against North Carolina.”

NAVY PLAYING WITH A CHIP

There was plenty for Navy to be pleased with about its 16-9 victory over Boston University in its Patriot League opener on Saturday.

One way the Midshipmen bounced back from two blowout losses was unleashing a two-way threat.

Perhaps the most intriguing development under offensive coordinator Dave Cottle is the emergence of senior Jackson Peters, who scored twice against the Terriers. He has five goals on 20 shots for Navy (3-2) after scoring four goals on 21 shots over 22 games in his first three seasons.

Here’s the catch: Peters is also one of the country’s top short-stick midfielders.

“Cottle told me the first day that [Peters] could be our best middie,’ and I said, ‘Get out of my office,’” coach Joe Amplo said. “I didn’t want to hear it because he’s our best short stick. But I think the kid’s going to be a Marine. He’s in unbelievable shape. He’s worked so hard in the weight room on his conditioning with our strength coach Tim Murray. He’s an elite athlete, and I said, ‘Let’s see what he can do, let’s see how the game flows.’”

Amplo evoked a star of two decades ago, Steven Looney, whose multifaceted play made him a vital figure on the Mids’ 2004 team that reached the national title game. And Navy’s willingness to push transition has already allowed defenseman Jackson Bonitz to pile up three goals and two assists, including one of each last week.

While Navy isn’t about to transform itself into a team intent on generating chaos, it does plan to be opportunistic. And that’s where a player like Peters, with all-around skills that allow him to play stingy defense, effectively on faceoff wings and with comfort on offense, can thrive.

“I think a lot of it is the game flowed our way. If the game doesn’t flow our way where we don’t win some faceoffs and we’re not able to possess the ball a little bit, then you probably won’t see him on the offensive end,” Amplo said. “Saturday was the perfect storm in that sense where we could use him on both ends of the field.”

The best reason to think it’s a formula Navy can repeat is the emergence of freshman faceoff man Zach Hayashi. The Mids didn’t have a tested answer at the position after Anthony Ghobriel transferred to Virginia after last spring.

It turns out a strong option was already on the way. Hayashi has won 62.1 percent of his draws, including a 19 of 27 day against Boston U.

“The kid plays with an elite toughness and competitive spirit,” Amplo said. “It’s almost indescribable how competitive the kid is, almost to a fault. There’s time in practice where we have to tell him enough is enough because he’s so damn competitive. If you asked any one of our guys who the toughest player on our team is, I would be shocked if they didn’t say Zack Hayashi. For a freshman, that’s a pretty high bar.”

Saturday’s showing was much-needed after an uncompetitive 17-5 loss at Towson and a turnover-filled 13-3 setback against Penn State. Next up is Saturday’s trip to Lehigh, which has won seven in a row against Navy. The Mountain Hawks are the only Patriot League team the Mids have not defeated in Amplo’s five-season tenure.

“We’re still trying to prove and fight for everything,” Amplo said. “Nobody thinks we’re any good and we take that personal, and when our guys take that personal, then we can put together a competitive game. That’s OK for us, as long as we get better every week, and that’s how we looked at it. We played better than we did the week before and we’re going to have to do that again this week.”