Little scores nine times in crucial win for Mids
Goal barrage breaks 74-year-old school record
It was a Saturday full of milestones at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Navy attackman David Little broke a single-game school record that had stood for 74 years while faceoff specialist Brady Dove and defenseman Matt Rees established career marks.
Little put forth an impressive shooting performance, scoring nine goals on nine attempts to spark Navy’s 14-9 victory over Lehigh in an important Patriot League matchup. Little did most of his damage on 8- to 12-yard overhand crank shots in surpassing the previous mark of eight goals, set by Robert Booze in 1943.
“Nine-for-nine? That’s tough to do. Just a great performance by David,” Navy coach Rick Sowell said.
Little recently returned from a hamstring injury that forced him to miss a couple of games. Sowell said the junior from Vienna, Va., is beginning to round into top form.
“David is a guy who hasn’t been 100 percent until this week. If you had seen him shoot on Thursday, you probably wouldn’t be surprised by the way he shot today. Jaws were dropped on Thursday,” Sowell said. “He’s starting to feel very good, and we’ve got to find ways to get him the ball.”
Little scored five goals on overhand or sidearm crank shots from the left wing. He shifted to directly in front of the cage to get two more goals and also finished fast breaks with point-blank shots from the crease.
“Sometimes you just get open for shots. Today was one of those days when they didn’t press out too far and I was able to get my hands free and I wasn’t afraid to let it rip,” said Little, who came into the game with eight goals this season.
“My teammates were the ones putting me in position. Everything was assisted. It was just catch and shoot. Greyson [Torain], Colin [Flounlacker], Ryan [Wade] — those guys did the hard job of dodging and beating people. It makes it easy for me. I do one job: catch and shoot.”
It was a somewhat unexpected performance by Little, who began his career by scoring four goals against Virginia Military Institute in 2015 and had not scored more than two in a game since. Little repeatedly beat goalie Chris Kiernan with bounce shots or liners into the bottom corners.
“I just look where he’s giving me net, and today it was low,” he said.
Torain served as dodger and distributor, with a career-high five assists as Navy improved to 4-6 overall, 2-3 in the Patriot League. Midfielder Ray Wardell had a hat trick while Wade totaled a goal and three assists for the Midshipmen, who improved their chances of securing one of six spots in the Patriot League tournament.
“This was the biggest game of the year. We really needed this one,” Sowell said. “Let’s be honest, this was a must-win, just where we were mentally, and knowing we have to go on the road for the next two games. This is a huge win.”
Navy travels to Holy Cross on Saturday and Colgate the following weekend before closing the regular season against archrival Army West Point on April 15 in Annapolis.
Dove tied the single-game school record for faceoff wins with 21, repeatedly giving Navy possession. The Kent Island graduate gobbled up 17 ground balls and became the first player in program history to surpass 300 in that category.
“Today, we completely executed as a faceoff unit. I was able to figure out their guy and the wings were doing exactly what we told them,” said Dove, who holds the Navy career records with 590 faceoff wins and 315 ground balls.
Rees was credited with two caused turnovers to become Navy’s all-time leader in that category. The senior long-stick midfielder out of Boys’ Latin now has 75 caused turnovers, surpassing former teammate Pat Kiernan (2011-2014).
Sophomore attackman Tristan Rai totaled three goals and two assists to lead Lehigh (4-4, 2-3), which was beaten 42-25 on ground balls. Sophomore defenseman Craig Chick, a South River graduate, had a superb all-around game with five ground balls, four caused turnovers and two assists.
“It was more important to get a good Patriot League win,” Little said. “This team’s had a lot of ups and downs this season.” Lehigh Navy Goals: L—Rai 3, Pettit 2, Spence 2, Kent, Strain; N—Little 9, Wardell 3, Torain, Wade. Assists: L—Chick 2, Rai 2, Triolo 2, Raposo; N—Torain 5, Wade 3, Flounlacker 2, Hill. Smiley. Saves: L—Kiernan 9; N—Kern 5.