Underneath the gleaming sun and mild temperatures at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Feb. 22, the men’s lacrosse team boosted past .500 with a 9-6 win over the Navy Midshipmen. Sean Doyle ’16 stole the offensive show, scoring four goals to secure the Orange and Blue’s first victory in Patriot League.

A difficult first quarter put the Bison down two Midshipmen goals, but Thomas Flibotte ’16 found the back of the net minutes into the second quarter to put the Bison on the board. Doyle scored the tying shot to put the score at 2-2 and then capitalized minutes later off a pass by Sam McDonough ’14 to put the Bison ahead.

“We knew they would start to fall. Our goal was to move the ball quickly, and always look to make the extra pass,” Doyle said.

Flibotte was able to move the ball quickly with four seconds left before half, dodging past his mark and taking the open shot to give the Orange and Blue a huge momentum boost before the third quarter. Although Navy was able to keep the score tight in the beginning of the second half, the Bison answered with quick counter goals to maintain their lead. Doyle, Kyle Shanahan ’16, Todd Heritage ’14, and Alex Ryan ’15 all contributed to the Bison’s offensive success, continuing to showcase the depth of this athletic team.

“The different combinations at attack and midfield help us so much and allow us to show opposing teams so many different looks, making us difficult to scout and defend,” Ryan said.

The Bison defense, led by Jackson Place ’14, also played a key role in securing the win by stopping Navy star Sam Jones, an attackman with 14 points prior to facing the Bison.

After a tough loss to Bryant last week, the Bison now bear a record of 2-1 and 1-0 in the Patriot League, as both the offensive and defensive efforts improved greatly to put the team in key positioning for its second Patriot League matchup tomorrow. The team will gear up this week in preparation for a tough game in Hamilton, N.Y. against Colgate, where they will look to boost their record to 3-1.