New helmet decals were produced by Pro Athletics with a St. Paddy's day theme.
FLUSHING, N.Y. – Sophomore Terry McKenna (Summit, N.J.) scored a career-best four goals and posted an assist for a career-best five points as the Holy Cross men's lacrosse team defeated Navy, 7-5, at Citi Field as part of the 2013 Metropolitan Lacrosse Classic on Sunday afternoon in Patriot League action. With the win, the Crusaders improve to 4-3 overall (1-1 PL), while the Midshipmen fall to 3-5 overall (1-2 PL). This is the Crusaders' first ever win versus Navy as the Midshipmen had won the previous nine meetings.
Each team scored one goal in the first quarter as McKenna gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead and T.J. Hanzsche tied the game at 1-1 for the Mids. After Gabe Voumard found the back of the net for Navy, McKenna netted two straight goals giving him his first career hat-trick as Holy Cross moved out to a 3-2 advantage in the second quarter. Senior captain James Kennedy (Summit, N.J.) assisted on McKenna's third goal of the contest. Pat Durkin then tied the game at 3-3, but with 5:00 left in the second quarter, senior captain Myles Gillespie (Rye, N.Y.) scored an extra-man goal off a pass from Kennedy as the Crusaders took a 4-3 lead to the half.
The Crusaders increased their lead to 5-3 with 11:29 in the third quarter when sophomore Chris Smith (Rye, N.Y.) netted his first goal of the season off a pass by junior Kyle Kadlick (West Roxbury, Mass.). After Durkin scored his second goal of the game, sophomore Clay Haarmann (Mendham, N.J.) tallied his first game-winning goal of the season and the third of his career when he scored an extra-man goal off a pass from McKenna to give the Crusaders a 6-4 lead with 1:47 remaining in the third. The Mids made it a one-goal game when Sam Jones found the back of the net with 11:51 left in the fourth quarter, but McKenna's fourth goal of the contest with 5:16 left clinched the victory for the Crusaders. Haarmann assisted on the goal. Sophomore Reed Kennedy (Marblehead, Mass.) led the team with six ground balls. Senior Matt Ward (Massapequa, N.Y.) posted a team-best six caused turnovers.
Freshman goalie Michael Ortlieb (Newport Beach, Calif.) was outstanding in net as he made 12 saves and allowed five goals for a .706 save percentage. Nolan Hickey posted 10 saves for the Mids. Holy Cross outshot Navy, 29-23, while the Crusaders secured 33 ground balls and the Mids picked up 28. Navy won 10 of 16 face-offs, while the Crusaders went 2-4 on extra-man opportunities and the Mids went 0-3.
The Crusaders return to action on Tuesday, March 19, when they travel to Burlington, Vt., to take on Vermont at 4:00 p.m.