Pat Ryan's 23 Saves Silence Loyola in 11-10 Navy Win

BALTIMORE — Navy was on the precipice of squandering a four-goal lead in the fourth quarter with about a dozen minutes to spare at Loyola. Coach Joe Amplo insisted later he wasn’t sweating the situation.

After all, things were worse for the Midshipmen a few weeks ago. A lot worse.

Navy’s wild season-long oscillation — from a preseason curiosity off to a 3-0 start to a team mired in a six-game skid — continued Friday night with an 11-10 victory over the Greyhounds.

“I just knew we were going to be OK because when you lose six games in a row, you find out who you are as a team and you find out what you have inside your chest,” Amplo said. “I knew we had something. I don’t think it showed itself during that six-game stretch, but it showed itself every day in practice. I knew our guys were going to find it at some point. I was hoping they would, and they have.”

Henry Tolker scored a career-high six goals and Pat Ryan made 23 saves — the most for any Navy goalie since Mickey Jarboe stopped 25 shots against North Carolina in 1999 — as the Mids (6-6, 3-2 Patriot) won their third in a row.

Davis Lindsey scored three goals for the Greyhounds (6-4, 3-2), who were without leading scorer Matthew Minicus. The freshman, who has 23 goals, sat out with an upper-body injury.

Coach Charley Toomey wasn’t interested in chalking up the loss to the absence of a starting attackman, instead pointing to advantages in shots (54-45) and ground balls (42-31). Loyola was especially sloppy early, committing 12 of its 16 turnovers in the first half. Meanwhile, Ryan made at least five saves in each quarter.

“Especially early in this game, we had our chances,” Toomey said. “In my opinion, yes, he made a lot of saves, but we missed the cage. We just missed on some really good step-down opportunities that we just didn’t challenge the goaltender. You credit them with good defense, but I thought those were chances we’re used to settling in and hitting.”

Loyola has alternated wins and losses for the last month, not the most welcome trend as it delves deeper into the second half of its schedule. But for Navy, things have finally started to make sense after going more than a month between victories.

The Midshipmen probably won’t be an offensive juggernaut this season as attackman Xavier Arline (missed three of four games) and midfielders Patrick Skalniak (missed six games in a row) and Dane Swanson (missed seven consecutive) remain absent from the lineup.

But they have developed some depth to go with the likes of Tolker and Max Hewitt, who had three goals and an assist against the Greyhounds. Freshman midfielder Paul Garza registered his first three career assists Friday, while senior Sam Dracobly had two assists a week after delivering three against Boston U.

That game — a 10-8 triumph in Annapolis — was a hint Navy might be finding itself in time to make something of its season. Knocking off Loyola for only the third time in 11 tries since the Greyhounds entered the Patriot League solidified that sentiment.

“We’re about the team, the whole team and nothing but the team,” Ryan said. “It got rocky there for a couple weeks, but we stayed together and we knew the results would come.”

While player availability played a part (particularly in a 17-6 loss at Villanova on March 21 that five starters missed), so did overall cohesion. The team offense wasn’t great. Neither was a defense that has largely been a strength in Amplo’s four seasons with the program.

“We just kept pushing and pushing, and these guys believed in it, regardless of how bad a thing it was during that stretch,” Amplo said. “We still just stuck with it, and we’ve gotten better. We know there’s a lot left to try and accomplish. It’s not going to be easy. We don’t play an easy brand of lacrosse, unfortunately.”

Yet that can also bog things down for opponents as well. Loyola closed within 8-7 with 12:11 to go after scoring twice during Navy defenseman Jackson Bonitz’s two-minute, non-releaseable illegal body check penalty. The Mids regrouped and rattled off three goals in a row, and Loyola didn’t score until it deployed a 10-man ride to turn the final minutes into a scramble.

“They’re connected,” Toomey said. “I think they really slide, and when they slide, they get ball pressure into your hands right away. You have beat them with some passing. You have to stick your step-down opportunities, and I thought we were a little hesitant where we had opportunities from 16, 17 yards to really step into it. It’s going to be a tough team to penetrate and score on the inside.”

While Toomey and his staff have plenty to puzzle over with games against Boston U and Georgetown looming, Navy has played its way back toward the top half of the Patriot League. Some help would be required to snare a share of the conference regular season title, but a spot in the league tournament and bragging rights over rival Army can still be attained this month.

It’s a much better view than the ones the Mids had after piling up a half-dozen losses in a row just a few weeks ago.

“We control our destiny, and that’s a beautiful place to be in the month of April,” Amplo said.