No. 20 Army Falls to No. 9 Navy in OT
WEST POINT, N.Y. – In a game with six ties and six lead changes, ninth-ranked Navy came out with the 11-10 win in overtime against 20th-ranked Army at Michie Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Casey Rees scored with 2:22 left in the extra period to give the Mids the victory. Navy ran a fake-flip play behind the net and Rees got open and beat AJ Barretto for the winner.
Army (8-4, 5-2 PL) is alive for a bye in the Patriot League Tournament heading into Friday night’s game against Loyola on CBS Sports Network. With a win, the Black Knights will get the second seed and head to the semifinals at Navy.
“I wasn’t upset with our intensity or our fire today,” head coach Joe Alberici said. “I would have liked a little bit more execution in a couple of spots, but we played a top 10 team right there. Congratulations to them on the victory. We just came up a couple of plays short.”
The Black Knights got four points from Cole Johnson on a goal and three assists, while John Glesener had his best day in an Army uniform with a hat trick. Nate Jones was his normal self with another hat trick. He has at least three goals in seven of the 12 games this season. Dan Grabher finished with two goals and Shea Mullins got on the board on Senior Day.
AJ Barretto made nine saves for the Black Knights with four in the first quarter and five in the second half.
Navy (9-2, 7-1 PL) clinched the top seed in the league tournament with the win. Patrick Keena ended up with five points on three goals and two assists, while Casey Rees and Kevin Wendel had hat tricks. Jack Ray finished with two goals and John Connors had 14 stops in the cage.
The teams traded goals out of the gate with Army leading at 1-0 and 2-1, but the Mids answered with three-straight to give them a two-goal advantage at 4-2. Army responded in the second quarter with two man-up goals from Jones and Glesener and four in a row and took a 6-4 lead into the break. Glesener and Jones led the way with two goals each in the first 30 minutes, while Grabher and Johnson were also on the scoresheet.
The Mids answered in the third quarter with five goals to Army’s two and Navy had a 9-8 lead after 45 minutes. Wendel and Keena recorded two goals apiece in the third frame and Rees added his 23rd of the year with a tally during a 30-second warning. Jones scored the first goal of the quarter to give Army a 7-4 lead and Grabher’s goal gave the Black Knights a two-goal advantage with 12:33 left in the stanza. Navy finished the third on a three-goal run to take the lead.
The fourth quarter was limited on the scoreboard, but not in emotion and determination. Glesener scored his third of the day and second during a man-up situation to tie the game at 9-9. Mullins gave Army the lead back at 10-9 with an assist to Johnson. However, the Mids returned the favor and tied it with 5:40 remaining in the quarter.
The Black Knights had a chance with less than 30 seconds remaining after causing a turnover in the final minute. Army came out of a timeout and set up a play, but Navy was able to get the stop to setup overtime.
Navy won the opening draw and never gave it back and went onto win with Rees scoring the gamewinner.
Game Notes: This was the 96th all-time meeting between Army and Navy … the Black Knights played on television for the third time this season and first on CBS Sports Network … the game went to overtime for the first time since 1991 … Navy won in OT against Army for the first time since 1987 … the overtime game was the first for Army and third this season for the Mids … Glesener tallied a career high three goals … Grabher tied a career high with two goals.
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