The No. 20 Bison men’s lacrosse team lost 13-8 to Navy on March 3 at the Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, bringing the Bison’s overall record to 3-2, and 1-1 in the Patriot League.

The Bison had a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter with three goals from Sean O’Brien ’18. He finished the game with an impressive five goals, just one short of his career high set in 2017 against Delaware. Tommy Sopko ’21, Reed Malas ’19, and Tom Smith ’19 also added goals for the Bison.

O’Brien’s goal in the second quarter came off of an assist from Will Sands ’18, who fed his teammate from behind the net. O’Brien buried an impressive no-look, behind-the-back shot that received a SportsCenter Top Plays nomination on Twitter from NCAA Lacrosse.

The Orange and Blue struggled defensively in the second quarter as the Midshipmen outscored them by a small 2-1 edge. Although the Bison entered the second half with the 5-4 lead, but the Midshipmen rode a strong second stanza to the win. The third quarter proved to be the most defining of the game, as Navy outscored the Bison 6-2 in the quarter and carried that momentum to a 13-8 League victory.

The Orange and Blue played three goalkeepers in the contest: Ben Clark ’21, Brac McKee ’18, and Christian Klipstein ’19. The three combined to make 11 saves on 37 shots in the game. Bryant Boswell ’21 led the way for the Bison with four ground balls.

In all, Navy won 15 of 25 faceoffs, had a 34-17 lead in ground balls, and outshot the Bison 37-25. The teams were knotted in turnovers with 10 apiece.

“I thought as a team we got off to a great start, [which is] something we stressed importance on during the week following our win over Colgate. Unfortunately, we came out a bit flat in the second half and Navy capitalized on that. Fortunately, all of our goals are still in front of us and we have a great opportunity to get another in-league win versus Holy Cross this coming weekend,” O’Brien said.

The Bison will be on the road next weekend to play Holy Cross on March 10 at 1 p.m.