April 22, 2024 • 46 mins
Welcome to Navy Sports Central - The Official Podcast of the Navy Sports Nation!
The Mids continued their strong month of April by chalking up two big wins over Army and two Patriot League Championships in women's golf and women's tennis. Meanwhile the Men's Rugby team advance to the College Rugby Association National Championship game with victories over Arkansas State and Life University.
But it's our Deep Dive segment that you won't want to miss. We'll be joined by Cynthia Lisa from the Class of 2000, and she will share her expertise as we break down the Navy Women's Lacrosse team's huge win over Army.
Our conversation will cover everything from the key performances to team strategy as we analyze how the Mids took down the Black Knights in such convincing fashion.
Finally, Cynthia talks about how far the program has come in the last 20 plus years and what can be done to keep the popularity of Navy Women's Lacrosse on the rise. Trust me, this is an episode you won't want to miss!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Karl (00:14):
Hi everybody.
My name is Karl Darden and I'dlike to welcome and thank all of
you for joining us today onNavy Sports Central.
I'm your host and this is theofficial podcast of the Navy
Sports Nation where we take adeeper dive into Navy sports.
It has been a fantastic coupleof weeks for Navy sports teams.
Since our last episode, theMids have taken the Star Series
with two solid wins over Armyand won two Patriot League
championships, and at the sametime, the men's rugby team has
(00:37):
punched their ticket to thenational championship game for
the second year in a row.
I'll give you the details onour sports update coming up
shortly.
I'll give you the details onour sports update coming up
shortly.
But you are definitely going towant to be here for our deep
dive segment because my guestsand I are going to give you a
complete breakdown of the Navywomen's lacrosse team's huge win
over Army.
So stick around.
We've got a lot of ground tocover.
All right, great to have youwith us.
(01:05):
Everyone, whether you are aregular listener or this is your
first visit.
Thanks for taking the time Now.
If you happen to be part of theNavy Sports Nation, you may know
that my wife and I just gotback from Annapolis about a week
ago and it turned out to be aterrific visit.
We got there on a Thursdaynight and the weather was a
little bit iffy going intoFriday, but everything cleared
up nicely on Saturday.
By the time the men's rugbygame started, the Mids were
(01:27):
taking on Arkansas State in thequarterfinal of the College
Rugby Association Championshipsand the Mids really didn't
disappoint.
The wind was quite a factor inthe first half, but Navy's
offense got on track early andthey ended up taking a 19-5 lead
at halftime.
But the Red Wolves were playingreally, really well and even
though it was 19-5, it was stillanybody's game to win.
(01:47):
But in the second half the Midsreally got rolling.
They had five different playersscore on tries and Ronan
Krieger was practicallyautomatic on his conversion and
penalty kicks.
Long story short, the finalscore was 57-5.
Ben Howe and William Webb ledthe team with two tries apiece.
And then just this past weekend, which was actually on Saturday
, life University came toAnnapolis with the winner
(02:08):
earning a trip to Houston forthe national championship game.
The two teams did play in thefall, with the mids winning a
very close match 20-14.
This one was just about thesame Navy scratched out a 17-10
lead at the half, and then theirdefense held the running Eagles
pretty much in check the restof the way.
William Webb, jake Corneliusand Ian Bullock each scored
tries to help lead the mids to a27-17 win.
The national championship gamewill take place on May 4th and
(02:31):
it'll be carried by the RugbyNetwork.
Now let's jump over to women'sgolf and talk about their second
Patriot League championship.
The team had a solid spring,performing well in several
invitationals and winning theirlone dual meet against the
University of Delaware.
The league championships wereheld at Bucknell University.
The mids led by three strokesgoing into the third day, and
senior Stephanie Lee was instrong contention for the
individual title.
(02:51):
The team put together a solidfinal round to defeat Boston
University by nine strokes, andLee also held on to take home
the individual medalist honors.
It was the first time in thehistory of the Navy program that
a Navy golfer had finished ontop of the leaderboard, so that
was pretty awesome.
Finally, not only did CoachKylie Sullivan lead the team to
a league championship in herfirst season, but she also took
home Coach of the Year honors.
So congratulations to theentire team and the coaching
(03:13):
staff on a great win for theprogram.
I'm going to go ahead andfinish up with men's and women's
tennis.
The men's team defeated Army 4-1to pick up the star for the
eighth straight year.
The mids broke through first bywinning the doubles point,
taking two of the first threematches.
Then JJ Ederbeek and AnikethAyanila picked up wins in the
number five and number sixsingles matches to take control.
But the number one seed, sashaPanyon, ran into some trouble in
(03:36):
his singles match.
He uncharacteristically lostthe first 10 games of the match
to fall into a pretty deep holeand then, trailing Love 6, love
4, pannon regrouped and foughthis way back into the match.
He won six straight games totake the second set and then
closed out his opponent 6-2 inthe third to clinch the win and
the star for the mids.
And, by the way, this weekendwas a busy day for tennis in
Annapolis.
(03:57):
In addition to the Army match,it also played host to the
Patriot League Championships forthe women.
They took place at theFlugelmoor Tennis Stadium, which
is right across the river, nextto the rugby facility and the
golf course.
The mids were 21-6 and seatedsecond behind Boston University
heading into the weekend.
They got things started rightby knocking off Bucknell and
Army to get to the final againstthe favored Terriers.
(04:18):
Bu had just defeated the mids4-2 two weeks ago up in Boston,
but in the final things trackedjust a little bit differently.
Navy got off to a great start bywinning the doubles point, and
after that the mids did pick upa win at the number five singles
, with Michaela Cheng gettingthe job done.
But then they came up short inthe number one, number two and
number six matches and foundthemselves down three to two
(04:38):
with two matches to go.
But then Sia Chaudhry ralliedto win the second and third sets
in the number three match afterdropping the first set six love
.
And that squared things atthree all.
So now it was all up to KateLee.
In the number four match, leecame out strong, winning the
first set six two.
But then she lost the advantagewhen she dropped the second set
six one.
And then the third set was backand forth from the start.
(04:59):
It ended up going to atiebreaker, which brought even
more drama.
Lee fell behind 5-2, then wonthe next two points before her
opponent, emily Zhao, held serveto go up 6-4.
And now Li was facing not justone, but two championship points
.
She won the next point onZhao's second serve and then
took both of her service pointsto go up 7-6.
And now Li herself was lookingat championship point, which
(05:20):
tells you how quickly thingsturned around.
And she did not waste theopportunity.
Lee stayed consistent on thenext rally and when Zhao's
ground stroke landed long, themids had their first league
championship in the program'shistory.
You know, I watched thehighlight video of this match
and I've got to tell you thatwhen Kate Lee realized she'd won
, the wave of emotion you sawflowing through that entire team
and the coaching staff was justpriceless.
Congratulations to the athletes, the coaches and anyone else
(05:43):
connected with the Navy Women'sTennis Program.
It was great to see the teamtake home the hardware after
fighting so hard all year.
Okay, we are done with thesports update for this episode
Coming up.
Next we have our deep divesegment, where we will be joined
by a returning guest who willshare her perspective on that
terrific win by the Navy Women'sLacrosse Team over Army.
Stay with us.
You know, one of the things Ireally enjoy about this podcast
(06:19):
is having the opportunity tomeet people who are associated
with the different Navy sports,and it's even better when they
come on the show to share theirexpertise and bring some true
value to the show.
One such person is Cynthia Lisafrom the class of 2000.
Cynthia joined me last year topreview the women's lacrosse
team and I had such a great timeI immediately made a note to
invite her back at some pointthis season.
The Mids win over Army gave methe perfect opportunity to get
(06:42):
her back, so I'm very happy thatshe could carve out the time to
join me today.
Cynthia, it is so great to haveyou on the show with us again.
Welcome back.
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited about this one.
Yeah, it's always fun to breakdown a Navy Wynn over Army.
So before we get into thatitself, I wanted to get your
assessment of the team goinginto the season.
(07:02):
Okay, so what did you see astheir strengths?
You know they're coming off a13 and six year six and three in
the conference and they got allthe way to the semifinals in
the Patriot League tournament,losing that real tough double OT
game against Army.
So what did you see going inand what gaps did you think
needed to be kind of tightenedup?
Cynthia (07:20):
So I think you know, one of the biggest things is the
youth of the team.
Last year and we talked aboutthis last year and when you're
returning, you know a youthcadre, kind of successful
athletes that's alwaysbeneficial because they've got
another year under their belts.
They're much more confident,you know, and Navy just always
(07:42):
seems to bring in these youngerplayers who they can rely on,
which is huge, you know.
I will say I went to the Dukegame and they came out super
strong and we actually left, youknow, after the third quarter
it was freezing and stuff, andthen Duke started mounting a
rally and that's kind of whenyou sometimes see the youth come
into play because they're notused to being put in that
(08:05):
position and they've got tofight to maintain their lead.
So I think that you know it's ablessing and a curse, right,
they have a lot of talent in theteam, but it's the chemistry
building the experience, youknow, and working as a unit
together that they really kindof just needed to tighten up
after the first couple of games.
Karl (08:27):
Yeah, that makes sense, and we can talk a little bit
about that late as the seasonwore on too.
Now, one of the things thatthat caught my attention early
and it was, you know, prettydisappointing.
As a fan, I couldn't help butbe a little bit worried when I
saw that Ava Yovino was lost forthe year Knee injury I presume,
(08:48):
and it was before the firstgame, probably within a couple
of days before the season evenstarted, in that game against
Duke.
And she wasn't the only oneeither.
I don't know exactly whenLeelee Denton and Isabel
Thornburg went down, but theydid.
And all of a sudden you got gotthree significant, you know,
weapons on offense that are nolonger available.
So when you're dealing withthat kind of loss as a coach,
(09:12):
what are some of the things thatyou do to kind of help them
focus, put the setbacks behindthem in the rear view mirror and
just move forward?
Cynthia (09:19):
I mean, the nice thing about a team like Navy is
they're never really you knowdown.
They're always just reloading.
If you look, they've got one ofthe biggest sidelines in the
sport, so they always seem tohave these weapons kind of ready
to go.
I think what it takes is thenjust building confidence in the
players that you now have torely on.
But also you might have toadjust some of your plays and
(09:40):
some of your style of play.
You know, depending on whoyou're losing and what they are
good at, you have to findsomeone to either fill that role
or you have to adjust the rolesthat are on the field.
Injuries are just so hard todeal with as a team, especially
if you're just days from yourfirst game, you know.
But the benefit for Ava Jovino,who you know there's no great
(10:03):
thing when you lose a season toan injury, but she's only a
sophomore.
So you know, having a stellarfreshman campaign.
She's going to come back as ajunior and just want it even
more.
She's still been a part ofeverything you know, as far as
being in the huddle, learningthe plays, being on the sideline
and things like that.
When I've had injured playersin the past, I almost make them
(10:23):
kind of like a coach you know,like, hey, you're gonna be on
the sideline with me, you'regonna be another voice for me.
So now she has that big pictureview and I bet she's just gonna
have a killer second class year.
It's unfortunate about LeeleeDenton.
You know, a captain, that'sjust really tough.
I don't know if we talked aboutthis at all, but she was a walk
on to the team, you know, andthen progressed her way up and
(10:44):
made captain, and that's justjust such a devastating way to
go out.
But, um, I think Navy does whatthey do you know so well they
adjust, they adapt, theyovercome, and they have such
incredible athletes, um, who youknow, even if lacks IQ or you
know, which isn't usually thecase, but if it would be the
case, they can just get them upto speed very quickly.
Karl (11:05):
Right, right, okay.
So now let's go ahead and getto the game itself.
Both teams played a fairlychallenging non-conference
schedule.
I think Navy fared a little bitbetter, but both of them were
4-1 in league play.
Coming into this game, in fact,army had won four in a row,
thanks to Allison Riley andBridget Duffy two very strong
(11:29):
players who are having excellentseasons.
So I was wondering if you couldpoint to maybe one thing on
offense and one thing on defensethat the mids absolutely had to
do if they wanted to come outon top in this one.
Cynthia (11:35):
Yeah.
So I think defensively,matchups were huge.
You know you talked aboutAllison Riley, but Bridget Duffy
is really their huge star andshe's just had a killer.
She had a killer freshman year.
She's a dual sport athlete atarmy, so I think matching her up
um you know was was huge andthat, and then also matching up
(11:55):
allison riley, so that wasreally important to know.
Um, that definitely had comeinto play.
I think, attacking wise, youhave to attack as a unit.
You can't rely on one star orone, one player.
You really love these gameswhere it's like a couple of
athletes have three goals orinstead of having one athlete
(12:15):
have nine goals.
I mean, don't get me wrong, ifthat's how you won, that's
fantastic also.
But if you have that, everyplayer is a threat and they're
working well as a unit, lookingout for each other and playing
as a team.
You can't beat that and clearlyArmy could.
Karl (12:29):
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean just reviewing thestats.
What do we have?
Three players with hat tricks,right, and then just a slew of
them with two goals apiece, andyeah, so I think they I think
they said like seven differentplayers scored in that game, so
that was pretty cool.
Cynthia (12:44):
That's awesome.
That's what you want as a coach.
You want every attacker to be athreat because they can't stop
them, all you know if you haveone or two stars.
It's easy to plan yourdefensive strategy around that,
but it's much harder.
It's like whack-a-mole, youknow, you don't know who to hit
first.
So I think Navy really did.
That's what their strategy andyou know.
(13:05):
Everything was great.
Karl (13:11):
Right, right, no-transcript.
Did you see a specific turningpoint in the game?
Or was this one of those gameswhere there was just pressure,
pressure, pressure building allthroughout the game and then at
some point, you know, the goaldifferential versus time
(13:31):
remaining just became too greatfor the Black Knights to
overcome?
What did you see there?
Cynthia (13:36):
So I'll be honest, I really thought I know Army had
the first goal, but I reallythought Navy just looks so much
stronger from the start.
They had a lot of shots earlyon and if you look at the stats,
I mean it was six to four afterthe first quarter and then it
was 11 to six at the half.
Going down five goals in anarmy Navy game into the half is
just so, so tough.
(13:57):
And the second half of the gamewas really balanced.
I mean there were it was fourto four in the third quarter and
then 2-1 Navy in the lastquarter.
So if Navy hadn't had that leadgoing into the half, it could
have been a different game.
So I really think that they cameout.
It's so much better to be athome.
I think they came out on fireand I think just continually
(14:18):
pushing the pace and gettingthose shots off is just
demoralizing.
Getting those shots off is justit's just demoralizing.
Yeah, I do think that by theend of the third quarter you
know, yes, they were that evenin the third quarter he scored
four goals.
But I think at that point youknow you were thinking we're
still down.
You know you got a lot to comeback and in an Army Navy game
(14:39):
with two teams at her, you knowit's usually similar type of
athletes.
You know they've had a similarschedule throughout the year.
It's just it's hard to comeback from that.
Karl (14:49):
Yeah, yeah, I would, I would agree.
I think for me, when I wasseeing that I, I I kind of felt
like it was just, you know, kindof like what you're saying they
, they started out strong,they're getting a lot more shots
, and it just felt like Army'sdefense was just under heels the
whole time and eventuallythey're just going to get tipped
over.
And that's basically whathappened, you know, starting
(15:09):
really in the second quarter.
And then, you know, like yousaid, they played even through
the third, but at that pointArmy couldn't afford to play
even they needed to really makeup that differential and it just
didn't happen.
Cynthia (15:27):
Yeah, it's really like I said, it's really hard with
teams like this, like if you godown it's a bigger mountain to
climb than if you know it was aneasier team or something that
uh, and maybe not the end.
Karl (15:31):
Star Right Right yeah.
Cynthia (15:32):
Clearly, you know all of those factors and you're, and
you're away, you're army,you're away, you're you know the
, the um not the home crowd andeverything.
Uh, so they just.
Karl (15:47):
I think that they came out on fire, like people usually do
in an army navy game, and theywere not taking the the foot off
the gas pedal and and that wasvery clear, right, right, yeah,
and I have to believe that I sawa game earlier against I mean,
it's army navy, so the.
So the players know what's atstake here, obviously, but I
just remember watching, um, thegame against St Joseph's and you
know it was an on-conferencegame, so that was good.
But they were up 12-7.
(16:08):
And I said, okay, it looks likethey're in control here.
And then, darn it, you know,the game just kind of got away
from them.
So I said I wonder, I'd like tobe in the locker room right now
when Coach Tim Chull is talkingwith them, just to kind of see,
because I got to believe thatwhatever she was telling them
then were things that were intheir mind, you know, against
the Black Knights, because atone point the score was 12 to 7.
(16:29):
And that's when, maybe just fora minute, I felt a little
uneasy thinking back to that StJoseph's game.
Obviously that didn't happenand the Mids kept up the
pressure, actually outscoringArmy the rest of the way.
Cynthia (16:40):
Yeah, that's so funny because I never felt that way.
I felt even when they scoredthat first goal, army scored
that first goal.
I'd have to look specificallyat the stats, but I think we
already had a couple shots offand I was like, if you can get
those shots off, they're goingto go in eventually.
You just got to keep attacking,attacking, because now their
defense is tired, the pressurereally is on them, and you'll
(17:03):
get the goals eventually.
That was a little bit of theyouth coming out, you know, just
not getting those goals rightaway, but yeah, right, right,
yeah, you're right.
Karl (17:12):
I mean they just look so much sharper.
The shots were crisp andeverything, and sooner or later
they're going to land on cageand start finding the back of it
, so that's cool, all right.
Before we get into some of thekey players on offense, I wanted
(17:34):
to take a look and see what theMids did defensively.
We brought up Allison Rileyearlier Last year in the Star
Game.
She had nine goals and threeassists and they scored 15 goals
, so she accounted for 80% oftheir scoring.
So on Saturday, riley only hadone goal on two shots.
So clearly they figured out away to adjust for her and the
main thing I just saw was thatwhenever, wherever she was,
there was always somebody withina stick length of her, you know
(17:56):
, and whether they're playingzone or man to man or whatever,
I mean, there's somebody alwaysaccounting for her.
When you're coaching yourplayers and you have an opponent
with a player that just had anexcellent, excellent game
against you previously, you comeup against them again.
What are some of the thingsthat you discuss with your
defense?
Cynthia (18:13):
So I think in this case they, you know and I apologize,
I don't know who the defenderwas that was on her, you know,
or if it was a couple, you putyour top defender on someone
like that you know andinterestingly, she had a huge
game in the end start game lastyear.
(18:34):
Alison Riley did, but then sheonly had.
Karl (18:36):
I think three goals um in their double overtime game.
Cynthia (18:37):
So they had already started to make some of the
adjustments, because and youknow, I was looking at her stats
specifically and she had fivegoals against Loyola and Loyola
Loyola only beat Army by onegoal this year.
So she's definitely a hugethreat, and I think Bridget
Duffy is a huge threat as well.
So I'm looking at matchups, I'mlooking at who my top defenders
are that I can put on her.
I mean, there's a couple otherthings you can do defensively.
(18:59):
Obviously, you can throw a faceguard in there, which is
something we saw, probably thatif you're not familiar with that
a lot of people saw that in thewomen's basketball tournament.
Karl (19:11):
The face guard on on Caitlin Clark you know she did
phenomenal.
Cynthia (19:12):
If you can prevent that um top score, it's defeating
for a team, is defeating forthat person.
Um, you can also just, you know, send her double early.
Uh, if you're going to doubleher, you can send that double
early.
Uh, maybe take that double froma weaker attacker that you
think isn't as much of a threat.
Um, you know.
So those are some some goodoptions that you have
(19:33):
defensively.
But I think clearly, uh, navyput a top defender on her and
said you know, we don't want heranywhere, you know, far away
from you and everything.
So, like a pseudo face guard,but maybe not as intense.
Karl (19:46):
Right, right, Okay.
So then we had our goalkeeper,Felicia Giglio.
She came up really big too,especially in the first half
when the game was still kind ofat least in terms of the score
it was really tight.
The one thing I liked was thatthe Black Knights never scored
more than two consecutive goals,and you know how that can be.
(20:09):
Obviously, if a team kind ofgets on a run, all of a sudden
the floodgates open and it'sjust like, oh my God, what's
going to happen next?
So that was really good to see.
A couple of those shots werestopped at point blank range,
whether it was on a freeposition or just an enclosed
shot.
When there's a lot of actiongoing on in front of the cage,
say from eight meters in, what'shappening there, what are you
(20:30):
telling your goalkeeper to doand what should her expectation
be of her defenders when allthat's going on?
Cynthia (20:37):
Yeah, so interestingly she's a plebe which is fantastic
.
I was looking at her bio and shewas like a 55 meter hurdle, you
know.
So she's got the speed clearly,which is what you want out of a
goalie.
I think what Navy did reallywell was force the bad shots.
Defensively, you have to kindof give up the fact that they
(21:02):
are going to get shots right,like shots are going to come off
, but you want to force them inthe best position for your
goalie as possible.
So you know that she's notgetting necessarily point blank.
But if they are point blank,maybe there's other sticks in
the air and uh, navy does areally good job of that.
So force them into really badangles, maybe force them to a
weaker hand.
If they don't, they're not asgreat.
Uh with both their hands, butalso just have defenders there.
(21:22):
It's hard to shoot throughpeople if they're especially if
they don't they're not as great,uh with both their hands, but
also just have defenders there.
It's hard to shoot throughpeople if they're especially if
they're on your hands.
So I think navy, defensively,did a lot of that and she's
communicating with her defenselike hey, force her here, go
this way.
Um, you know, because we allknow goalies are good in some
areas and they're weaker inother areas so she's saying get
(21:44):
them here where I know I'mstronger, um, and things like
that.
So if you look at the stats forarmy I think it was they had a
42% shooting percentage but 65%shots on goals.
So if they're if they'regetting there.
You know if they're getting ongoal, they're getting the goals
in.
So Navy did a really good jobof forcing them um them outside,
(22:04):
where they weren't comfortableshooting.
Karl (22:07):
Right, right, okay, we're going to go ahead and take a
short break now, but before wedo that, I did want to give you
all a couple of ways to stay upto date on Navy sports.
The first is to join the NavySports Nation group Facebook
page.
I've got a link to that in theshow notes.
Just click on it, answer acouple of questions and you'll
be good to go.
The second way takes even lesstime.
Just hit the follow button onwhichever platform you're
(22:28):
listening to this podcast rightnow.
It can be Apple Podcasts,spotify, iheartradio, it doesn't
matter.
Once you do that, every episodewill be downloaded to your
directory when it's released andyou can listen to it whenever
you're ready.
So please consider becoming amember of our group and you can
actually tap that follow buttonright now to show your support
for the podcast.
I'm looking forward to havingyou join us.
We'll be right back.
(23:00):
Welcome back to Navy SportsCentral, Karl Darden.
Here with you Joining me todayis Cynthia Lisa, from the Class
of 2000, and we have beenbreaking down the Navy women's
lacrosse team's big win overArmy.
So, Cynthia, now let's look atsome of the standout
performances on offense.
We all know that you can'tscore unless you have the ball
(23:22):
right.
And when it comes to that, theperformance Alyssa Daly turned
in against Army controlling thedraw was just terrific.
Up until then I'd never reallyfocused on her technique and
while watching her I wasthinking, man, she's just
popping up that ball in the airand taking it herself.
You know, two years ago theyhad Reagan Roloffs who was
basically, I just thought, adraw control savant, you know.
(23:42):
But what I saw Alyssa Daly doon Saturday was something else.
I mean just blew me away.
So I was wondering if you couldspeak to that a little bit.
How much of winning that drawis technique and just having a
ridiculous sense of timing forthe rest, whistle, you know,
because I think that a couple oftimes Navy got the draw because
Army went early, because theyknew that they were probably
(24:05):
going to lose it anyway, youknow.
So what are your thoughts onthat?
Cynthia (24:09):
She is incredible, I mean, and she's listed as a
defender.
So, really interesting thatshe's become this draw
specialist.
She didn't even, I think,compete her freshman year.
I don't think she saw the field.
So all of these factors, thiswas her moment, she was ready to
go and she was out there.
Wrist strength, wrist speed andthen IQ on the draw are the
(24:33):
three top things you look for ina draw specialist.
Obviously the technique.
Ideally it is popping it toyourself every time, because you
don't want to necessarily sendit out to the circle unless you
know for sure someone's going toget it.
So, we really kind of preachthat and then that wrist
strength, you know, or wristspeed.
First of all, we practice a lotof times just whistle reactions
(24:55):
, so knowing that and be able toreact really, really quickly.
It's kind of similar with whatwe look for in a goalie, right,
that speed, that reaction time,um.
And then it's all risk strength, um, a lot of it, not
necessarily um the risk strengthto like get it where you want
but to be able to handle thatball, you know, with sticks are
flying at you and things likethat.
You know it's great that yougot it up in the air, but you
(25:16):
have to one-handed grab itprotect it get it, you know, out
to space before you can reallyprogress into the offensive end.
So she was just a stud.
It's really hard.
Obviously, as you said, youcan't score without the ball,
but it is so demoralizing whenyour team does not win the draw,
(25:37):
because even if you score agoal and then they get the ball,
it really sets a team back.
So I think, that was a huge,huge piece of the game on
Saturday as far as their mental,you know status and I don't
know if you saw her on thesideline, but she was just fired
up, you know, so excited afterthe game and you know she knew
(25:58):
what she had done for her team.
Karl (26:00):
Right, right.
And I tell you what the the.
The point in the game where Ifelt like, okay, this looks like
it could be the mids day wasthey were down 3-2, but then
they scored three goals in a rowto make it 5-3, right, and then
they go to the circle.
Daly wins the draw, it pops upin the air, it goes to herself,
(26:24):
then she scoops up the groundball and as soon as she scooped
it up, you saw Anna got her up,just sprinting down the left
side and it was not the bestangle for Alyssa to make the
pass, but she just threw just abeautiful pass just over the top
and Anna caught it and justdrilled the shot, you know, to
(26:44):
put him up and it happenedbasically in like six or seven
seconds.
So it was boom just right away.
And when that happened I justlike jumped up and I said, all
right, this is, I could get usedto this.
You know what I mean.
Cynthia (26:57):
So it was great.
I'm sure that's what Tim Shawsaid too.
Karl (27:01):
So it was just a great.
I mean I was thinking, okay,yeah, she's winning these draws,
but when she gets them, sheknows exactly what to do with
them too.
So it was that other'stendencies they have to know.
Cynthia (27:11):
Um, you know, you have to know every draw taker is
(27:31):
going to take the draw and youhave to know what each girl on
the circle, what their strengthsare.
You know, are they fast?
Are they quicker?
You know grabbing it out ofthere?
Are they tall?
Karl (27:41):
Um can.
Cynthia (27:41):
I put it behind her and she's going to be the first to
spread to there.
Um, there's just so much.
So I, you know, and and Imentioned the IQ piece of it you
have to have smart draw takers.
Um, you know, they can't justbe machines who don't know how
to adjust or anything like that,cause that'll very quickly, um,
go downhill If you have anotherteam who figures you out.
(28:02):
Uh, it's just a game of chess.
Every time you get up to thedraw of where am I putting,
where am I going to try and drawto?
Where am I putting my draw team?
You know, it's just.
I mean, the draws are reallyexciting.
Part of the game that everybodyalways asks, like, why don't
you go back?
and you know if they are abasketball person or any other
sport.
Why do you go back to thecenter circle every single time
(28:24):
and like, oh, they can't.
You know, it's just such a keypart of the game and I love that
you have the opportunity to getthe ball back, no matter what
just happened, Right?
But girls nowadays, athletesnowadays, are just, they're
specializing in a draw youngerand younger, and you know, I
think it's been around in themales, the men's game, for
(28:44):
longer.
But, uh, women, really, we havea lot of draw specialists
nowadays, which is just it's,it's fascinating to watch.
Um, you know, the ones who's dotheir, like Alyssa did.
She just did her job and did itamazingly.
Karl (28:59):
Yeah, she sure did, Okay.
So now I'm just going to giveyou some names here and I just
want you to share your thoughtson how they played throughout
the game.
First one Tori DiCarlo.
Cynthia (29:12):
Obviously she had such a great day.
She's consistent.
I think she's upper class onthe team.
She was their go-to and shereally had a fantastic game.
And she really had a fantasticgame.
You know, when you know, in agame like Army, that's important
and lots of pressure and thingslike that, that's what you're
looking for Someone just to comestep up and make it happen.
(29:35):
And she did that for Navy todayor that day.
Karl (29:39):
Right right Michaela Williams.
Cynthia (29:42):
So I'm going to tell you she is probably my favorite
player on Navy to watch.
She is so scrappy, she's fromOhio, so not a hotbed of
lacrosse, and Cindy really founda diamond in the rough watching
her play.
She's only a plead.
She can handle that stick.
She handled it under pressure.
I think she's going to do hugethings for Navy.
(30:05):
I just I love watching her play.
We saw her, you know, in theDuke game.
I couldn't get over it.
I was like this is, you know,like her first game and she's
out there as a player.
Karl (30:13):
Yeah, just was unfazed.
Cynthia (30:15):
Unfazed, completely with all that confidence and
just excited with her teammatesand to step into that role.
You know, I know Eva Jovino wassimilar last year, but it's
just incredible watching herplay.
I really, really am excited towatch her for the next few years
.
Karl (30:33):
Yeah, I'm going to be even more excited to watch the two
of them play for the next twoyears.
Yeah, eva and Michaela, that'dbe pretty cool.
Cynthia (30:42):
All right, and I know some of the girls they've got
coming in um as plebes next yearare.
Karl (30:47):
it's just going to be amazing to watch man I don't
know how, I don't know how coachtimshaw keeps doing it.
It's, it's amazing.
It's just a recruiting machine.
Um, all right, uh, emilymessonese can we talk about?
Cynthia (31:01):
you know?
Um, she defined what armyieNeve is about to me, you know,
for those who weren't there orweren't watching.
She got smacked in the face,blood everywhere, oh, my God.
We were down, you know, on thatend and there's just, her hand
was covered in blood, wascovered in blood, but the
(31:29):
highlight, the highlight wasMichaela Williams running out
there and finding what ended upto be half of her tooth that had
cracked in that sequence.
She is just such a stud If youwatch her go to goal.
She is strong, she's powerful.
She gets her hips pointed rightat the goal and does not let
anything stop her.
So you know, other than beingobviously an incredibly tough
athlete, she just she knows whatshe needs to do to get it done.
(31:54):
She's a junior on the team.
She's stepping into thatleadership role.
You know, I wouldn't besurprised if she's a captain
next year.
She just she embodied what ArmyNavy was that day.
Yeah.
Karl (32:04):
She embodied what Army Navy was that day.
Yeah, did you happen to watchthe highlight reel by any chance
?
Or it was one of the YouTubevideos that kind of did the
highlights of the game, and thevery last scene on this one was
her smiling in the camera,pointing to her tooth.
Cynthia (32:21):
Well, what's so funny is, you know, I was there with
my family and my middle daughterwanted to meet her and take a
picture, and so I told her.
I said this is what Army-Navyis about.
My youngster year we were up atArmy for the game.
You know, back then, when weplayed on like a grass field and
it was, you know, your familyand friends were the Army true
(32:43):
fans there, but we played in anarea.
You know, we family and friendswere the true fans there.
But we played in an era, youknow, we didn't play with
goggles and I was coming throughtwo defenders and get smacked
in the face and just keptplaying and they whistled you
know whistle stop everything.
And I was gushing blood.
So, you know, I got pulled offthe field and they basically,
you know, said hey, what day isit and who's the president?
(33:07):
And they stuck a bandaid on meand sent me back out Um and that
kind of defines army Navy.
After our, after the game, theysent me to the army hospital.
I think I got five or sixstitches in my um, in my
forehead, right above my eyebrow, but it was like nothing's
going to say.
You know, I told her that story.
I said nothing stops you inArmy Navy.
You're losing blood.
(33:27):
She's got stitches in her mouth.
She's got hepatitis.
She's like put me in coach.
And that is what every singleplayer, whether it's Army or
Navy, every single player outthere would have done the same
thing.
It was amazing to watch.
Karl (33:42):
No doubt, no doubt, amazing to watch, no doubt, no
doubt.
Now, you know, sticking withthat theme there in terms of the
physicality of the game,obviously not just talking about
this game, but there's just somuch more athleticism in women's
lacrosse now and because ofthat it is going to get more
physical Now, basically, youknow, when I saw how
(34:02):
Messonnier's got hit, I don'tknow that a helmet would have
helped in that particular case,obviously one of those clear
face shields would have.
So my question is you know Isaw some other headshots being
taken.
You know, kind of like you knowI couldn't tell how strong they
were just from you, justwatching it in real time.
But I wanted to get a sensefrom your perspective as a coach
(34:23):
.
Are most of these shots to thehead, with the exception of the
one where it was just a straighton hit to the mouth?
Are they mostly glancing blows,or do we need to start talking
about guarding against potentialconcussions here?
Cynthia (34:35):
Well, I think this has been an issue you know, a
growing issue in women's sports.
I think the two big issues thatthey're looking at is
concussions and ACL tears.
Um the, the concussion piece ofit isn't necessarily solved, um
, with a helmet, um, there'sother options.
You know, they make the cuecollar.
(34:56):
I'm not, I'm not sponsored bythem, but they're welcome to
send me a few ones.
But uh you know, the athletescan play that, supposed to
reduce the effects of gettinghit, and things like that.
I think that what has happenedtoo is, especially in the
college game.
They're super focused this yearon that.
In between the 30s they put somany green cards and you
(35:17):
basically can't touch each other, but then they're, you know,
down in the attacking end, theirdefensive end.
It's like it's still a littlebit of craziness.
We always say that what's goingto fix that is is officiating
and coming out officiatingimmediately that this is not
tolerated.
We are not going to put up withyou swinging your sticks and
(35:38):
things like.
That is where it needs to go, Ithink, honestly.
I think Army and Navy are bothvery disciplined teams.
I didn't think it was crazy, outof control as far as, like the
swinging of the sticks, I thinkit's just, like you said, so
physical, the amount of playersthat went down One of the army
players who we know is veryinjured, and things like that
(36:01):
and it's just, it's so hard towatch because they are giving it
all with their bodies and Ithink that sports science needs
to keep up with it.
Um, you know, I lost two to ACLinjury tears this year, uh, and
I think that it's gotten to thepoint where they are putting so
much more research into the ACLtear aspect of it.
(36:21):
But either one is is islacrosse ending.
But going back to the pointabout concussions, for what
makes it very hard in this isyou're going on to be a Naval
officer or an army officer andif you have too many concussions
it could start impacting whatyour career looks like.
Um and that happened back in myday as well.
(36:42):
So I think that we just need tocontinue to keep the game safe
at the lower levels and it'llrise up, and also the higher
levels, because what's happeningis the younger levels see the
higher levels much moreaggressive and think they can
get away with it.
But I do think there has been ashift this year that it's a
little bit less physical.
(37:03):
I just think Army Navy isalways going to be the most
physical game that you see yeah,yeah, I would agree with that.
Karl (37:11):
Okay, so we're kind of getting down to the end here,
but this was a big weekend foryou guys, you and all the alums
that came back for the game.
I want you to describe andlet's talk about, like before
the game and then maybe duringthe game and certainly post uh,
just the emotional atmospherethat you were dealing with, um,
as as Saturday progressed, um,this game clinched a star series
(37:31):
for the mid, so that had to bepretty cool having a women's
lacrosse team do that.
Share your thoughts with me alittle on that and what it means
to you.
Cynthia (37:39):
Well, it's just.
I think the shift has been hugethis year.
They've really, uh, navyWomen's Lacrosse has really
tried to um pull the alumni in.
I mean, it's been building fora few years, but this year is
certainly different.
Um, for the first time ever withthe CNO, and the superintendent
are women, and that has been,you know, just incredible as an,
as an alumni, as, um, a mom ofsomeone who wants to go to the
(38:03):
Naval Academy to see.
So they had just it wasunbelievable.
I mean, the crowd was huge.
First of all, as I mentioned,we used to play to our parents
and maybe a couple of companymates, maybe the boys team,
would you know, club team wouldcome, things like that, but the
stadium was packed, packed withNavy fans.
And they really rolled out thered carpet for the alumni.
(38:25):
There was a superintendent'stailgate and an alumni reception
going on during the game.
I've never not sat and watcheda lacrosse game, so I really
just tried to take in theatmosphere for once and not get
so caught up in the game like Iwould want to from a coach and
playing perspective.
But just walking around thesuperintendent's tailgate you've
never seen so many femaleadmirals.
(38:45):
I mean it was unbelievable, andthe superintendent is one of
the most gracious, personablepeople um you know to talk to.
To relate to my uh father isthe deacon at the Naval Academy
and they speaks just so highlyof her.
My daughter has met her um andthen enrolls the CNO and she's
just as equally personable andfriendly and stuff.
And the superintendent did saythat the cno had said to her
(39:09):
let's have a day to celebratewomen's athletics at navy and
you know, they chose the arm anda lacrosse game and we, just
every alumni there was like Ijust can't get over this.
Um, you know, we used to play.
I was joking, we used to play,I was joking, we used to play in
like the outfield in hospitalpoint for some of our practices
you know, here you are withstars and you know which are a
(39:31):
big deal at Navy to bring instars like that for a game.
You know you only see that forfootball games usually, um, but
to treat the alumni with suchrespect and such sight and
things like that.
Uh, one of my good friends isAaron Delaney.
She was Aaron Rollick while shewas there, a phenomenal player.
She was one of the alumnicaptains of the day, you know,
(39:51):
which is something they'vestarted to institute, and even
she played, 10 years after me, adivision one team and she said
we used to joke it was our tensof fans in the stadium, not like
that.
So the atmosphere was just theyhad tailgates, they had the
band, they had performances to.
You know, women's sports ingeneral are having a moment that
they've long waited for anddeserved, and this is just
(40:15):
incredible.
It was so cool.
Karl (40:17):
Yeah, I mean it's.
It's certainly well-earned.
Just seeing the enthusiasmthroughout the game firing off
the manual t-shirt cannon whichwas which was basically someone
with a a strong arm justthrowing a balled up t-shirt
into the crowd, it was prettyawesome and this is how much my
wife was getting into it.
Every time Navy scored she wasstanding up trying to get a
t-shirt, as she should.
Cynthia (40:37):
I mean we had you know, I run a youth league too and we
had members of our youth leagueout on the field in the tunnel
and things like that and whenyou can get.
You know, navy does a great jobof being the hometown team and
everything and you've got thestands are packed with young
girls who wanted to play at navyand the, and what was crazy to
(40:58):
me is the young girls lining upto take pictures with the cno in
the suit.
They don't even know who theyare.
They're like I want a picturetoo.
You know, I took a picture withthem.
It was really really cool andvery special.
Karl (41:11):
That's funny.
Cynthia (41:13):
Yeah, it was awesome.
Karl (41:15):
All right.
So last question for you hereLook back at your time at the
Academy and where the game was,and then compare it to what you
saw on Saturday, which you'vedone a very good job of
describing.
So what are your thoughts onwhat it'll take to keep the
program on this kind oftrajectory?
Cynthia (41:32):
You know, the name of the game is the $26 million
lacrosse building that they'rebringing in.
That's what they're competingwith.
Clemson, who just started aprogram, has the first women's
lacrosse only facility.
You know we were at theMaryland Northwestern game a few
weeks ago and the stadium thenew field hockey lacrosse
(41:54):
stadium that they just renovatedsold out with twenty four
hundred people.
So, to have games played at NavyMarine Corps.
I had friends who are coachesin attendance.
They said why aren't thenational championships here?
Um, you know, so to combine theatmosphere that you saw on
Saturday, if I was coach SimshawI would have had every
potential recruit there in thestands going this is what you're
(42:17):
going to play for.
And then, to you know, combineit with the, the resources that
Navy is providing for lacrosseis just, you know, it's going to
be a game changer, I think, fora lot of these individuals who
are considering Navy.
I also think that Navy theallure of serving, and you know
(42:40):
the opportunities that Navyprovides I believe this class is
very like Navy pilot heavy,which it shows that they're
willing to serve long-term Navypilots, one of the biggest
commitment that you can sign upfor as far as time-wise.
So they're committed to beingin the Navy and being officers
and serving their country, whichto me, shows the kind of
(43:03):
recruits that she's bringing in.
Not only are they stronglacrosse athletes and obviously
great character and human beings, but they're willing to serve
their country and I think whenyou have that in your program
and you combine all thoseoutside resources, it's just
like a machine.
It just keeps turning becausethat attracts the same caliber
and type of people.
Karl (43:24):
Yeah, yeah, it's kind of self-perpetuating.
Cynthia (43:26):
So yeah, pretty cool yeah, yeah, it's kind of
self-perpetuating.
So yeah, pretty cool yeahexactly All right.
Karl (43:29):
Okay, Cynthia.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
It's been a great conversation.
I hope to have many more ofthese in the future.
By the way, it was great.
I can be your Navy Women's.
Cynthia (43:38):
Lacrosse expert.
I love it, you know.
Like I said, have you evertalked lacrosse?
Or maybe women on there?
Karl (43:43):
Well, you got a standing invitation and I'll be
definitely taking you up on it,so take care, and we'll talk to
you soon.
Cynthia (43:49):
Thanks.
Karl (43:51):
Okay, I'm going to make a program decision here and put
off the question of the dayuntil the next show, mostly
because I want to release thisepisode ahead of a pretty busy
work week for me.
So we're going to go ahead andpick up with our Midwatch
(44:11):
segment on the other side beforewe close things out.
So you'll recall that the twoathletes we're tracking on the
mid-watch are Emily Messonesefrom the women's lacrosse team
and Brock Murtha from thebaseball team.
We've already discussedMessonese a little bit already
and I'm sure you'll all agreethat she's as tough as they come
(44:32):
, as that Army game clearlyshowed us.
Messonese had a hat trick inthat game and dished out one
assist.
She followed that up with atotal of six goals and two
assists in the wins over Lehighand Lafayette.
Five of those six goals cameagainst Lafayette just a couple
of days ago.
For the year, messonese leadsthe team in goals with 58 and
points with 73.
She's also third on the team inground balls with 18 and second
(44:52):
in draw controls with 55.
Obviously, messonese is a hugeweapon on offense and the way
she and the rest of the team areplaying it could be their
opportunity to challenge Loyolafor the Patriot League title
this year.
Now let's go ahead and check inwith Brock Murtha.
The Navy baseball team sweptLehigh over the weekend to move
to 24-16 on the year.
They are currently in secondplace in the Patriot League and
well positioned for thetournament.
(45:13):
Their remaining games areagainst Mount St Mary's, which
is a non-conference game, andthe three-game series against
Army, which will decide the star.
Murtha is batting a solid .341,which leads the team among
those players with over 75at-bats.
The same is true for his OPSand on-base percentage.
Murtha is reaching base over47% of the time, which is
critical in either gettingthings started or keeping an
inning going.
Murtha hasn't been called on topitch much this season, but he
(45:36):
has appeared in six games andhas a 1-0 record, with one save.
The main goal now is to makesure the team is in good form
when the Patriot Leaguetournament begins, and there is
no doubt that Brock Merthyr willplay a significant role in the
team's success.
That's going to do it for thisedition of Navy Sports
Central.
Thank you all so much forjoining us Now.
If you like what you've heard,please be sure to hit that
follow button wherever you getyour podcasts and remember to
(45:58):
get the word to all the otherNavy fans out there.
Once again, I'd like to thankCynthia Lisa from the class of
2000 for joining me today.
It is always great to get herperspective on women's lacrosse.
By the way, our question of theday will return for our next
episode In the future.
If you'd like to respond tothat, you can sign up to the
Navy Sports Nation groupFacebook page and answer our
pollquestion.
And just a quick reminder theviews expressed on Navy Sports
(46:20):
Central are my own and do notreflect those of the US Naval
Academy or Navy Athletics.
By the way, the music used inNavy Sports Central comes to you
courtesy of Audio Jungle.
This is a great site forpurchasing the rights to use the
music from thousands of artistsaround the world, and those
featured in the podcast will becredited in our show notes.
Talk to you soon, everybody.
Until next time.
This is Karl Darden.
Go Navy Beat Army.
Hi everybody.
My name is Karl Darden and I'dlike to welcome and thank all of
you for joining us today onNavy Sports Central.
I'm your host and this is theofficial podcast of the Navy
Sports Nation where we take adeeper dive into Navy sports.
It has been a fantastic coupleof weeks for Navy sports teams.
Since our last episode, theMids have taken the Star Series
with two solid wins over Armyand won two Patriot League
championships, and at the sametime, the men's rugby team has
(00:37):
punched their ticket to thenational championship game for
the second year in a row.
I'll give you the details onour sports update coming up
shortly.
I'll give you the details onour sports update coming up
shortly.
But you are definitely going towant to be here for our deep
dive segment because my guestsand I are going to give you a
complete breakdown of the Navywomen's lacrosse team's huge win
over Army.
So stick around.
We've got a lot of ground tocover.
All right, great to have youwith us.
(01:05):
Everyone, whether you are aregular listener or this is your
first visit.
Thanks for taking the time Now.
If you happen to be part of theNavy Sports Nation, you may know
that my wife and I just gotback from Annapolis about a week
ago and it turned out to be aterrific visit.
We got there on a Thursdaynight and the weather was a
little bit iffy going intoFriday, but everything cleared
up nicely on Saturday.
By the time the men's rugbygame started, the Mids were
(01:27):
taking on Arkansas State in thequarterfinal of the College
Rugby Association Championshipsand the Mids really didn't
disappoint.
The wind was quite a factor inthe first half, but Navy's
offense got on track early andthey ended up taking a 19-5 lead
at halftime.
But the Red Wolves were playingreally, really well and even
though it was 19-5, it was stillanybody's game to win.
(01:47):
But in the second half the Midsreally got rolling.
They had five different playersscore on tries and Ronan
Krieger was practicallyautomatic on his conversion and
penalty kicks.
Long story short, the finalscore was 57-5.
Ben Howe and William Webb ledthe team with two tries apiece.
And then just this past weekend, which was actually on Saturday
, life University came toAnnapolis with the winner
(02:08):
earning a trip to Houston forthe national championship game.
The two teams did play in thefall, with the mids winning a
very close match 20-14.
This one was just about thesame Navy scratched out a 17-10
lead at the half, and then theirdefense held the running Eagles
pretty much in check the restof the way.
William Webb, jake Corneliusand Ian Bullock each scored
tries to help lead the mids to a27-17 win.
The national championship gamewill take place on May 4th and
(02:31):
it'll be carried by the RugbyNetwork.
Now let's jump over to women'sgolf and talk about their second
Patriot League championship.
The team had a solid spring,performing well in several
invitationals and winning theirlone dual meet against the
University of Delaware.
The league championships wereheld at Bucknell University.
The mids led by three strokesgoing into the third day, and
senior Stephanie Lee was instrong contention for the
individual title.
(02:51):
The team put together a solidfinal round to defeat Boston
University by nine strokes, andLee also held on to take home
the individual medalist honors.
It was the first time in thehistory of the Navy program that
a Navy golfer had finished ontop of the leaderboard, so that
was pretty awesome.
Finally, not only did CoachKylie Sullivan lead the team to
a league championship in herfirst season, but she also took
home Coach of the Year honors.
So congratulations to theentire team and the coaching
(03:13):
staff on a great win for theprogram.
I'm going to go ahead andfinish up with men's and women's
tennis.
The men's team defeated Army 4-1to pick up the star for the
eighth straight year.
The mids broke through first bywinning the doubles point,
taking two of the first threematches.
Then JJ Ederbeek and AnikethAyanila picked up wins in the
number five and number sixsingles matches to take control.
But the number one seed, sashaPanyon, ran into some trouble in
(03:36):
his singles match.
He uncharacteristically lostthe first 10 games of the match
to fall into a pretty deep holeand then, trailing Love 6, love
4, pannon regrouped and foughthis way back into the match.
He won six straight games totake the second set and then
closed out his opponent 6-2 inthe third to clinch the win and
the star for the mids.
And, by the way, this weekendwas a busy day for tennis in
Annapolis.
(03:57):
In addition to the Army match,it also played host to the
Patriot League Championships forthe women.
They took place at theFlugelmoor Tennis Stadium, which
is right across the river, nextto the rugby facility and the
golf course.
The mids were 21-6 and seatedsecond behind Boston University
heading into the weekend.
They got things started rightby knocking off Bucknell and
Army to get to the final againstthe favored Terriers.
(04:18):
Bu had just defeated the mids4-2 two weeks ago up in Boston,
but in the final things trackedjust a little bit differently.
Navy got off to a great start bywinning the doubles point, and
after that the mids did pick upa win at the number five singles
, with Michaela Cheng gettingthe job done.
But then they came up short inthe number one, number two and
number six matches and foundthemselves down three to two
(04:38):
with two matches to go.
But then Sia Chaudhry ralliedto win the second and third sets
in the number three match afterdropping the first set six love
.
And that squared things atthree all.
So now it was all up to KateLee.
In the number four match, leecame out strong, winning the
first set six two.
But then she lost the advantagewhen she dropped the second set
six one.
And then the third set was backand forth from the start.
(04:59):
It ended up going to atiebreaker, which brought even
more drama.
Lee fell behind 5-2, then wonthe next two points before her
opponent, emily Zhao, held serveto go up 6-4.
And now Li was facing not justone, but two championship points
.
She won the next point onZhao's second serve and then
took both of her service pointsto go up 7-6.
And now Li herself was lookingat championship point, which
(05:20):
tells you how quickly thingsturned around.
And she did not waste theopportunity.
Lee stayed consistent on thenext rally and when Zhao's
ground stroke landed long, themids had their first league
championship in the program'shistory.
You know, I watched thehighlight video of this match
and I've got to tell you thatwhen Kate Lee realized she'd won
, the wave of emotion you sawflowing through that entire team
and the coaching staff was justpriceless.
Congratulations to the athletes, the coaches and anyone else
(05:43):
connected with the Navy Women'sTennis Program.
It was great to see the teamtake home the hardware after
fighting so hard all year.
Okay, we are done with thesports update for this episode
Coming up.
Next we have our deep divesegment, where we will be joined
by a returning guest who willshare her perspective on that
terrific win by the Navy Women'sLacrosse Team over Army.
Stay with us.
You know, one of the things Ireally enjoy about this podcast
(06:19):
is having the opportunity tomeet people who are associated
with the different Navy sports,and it's even better when they
come on the show to share theirexpertise and bring some true
value to the show.
One such person is Cynthia Lisafrom the class of 2000.
Cynthia joined me last year topreview the women's lacrosse
team and I had such a great timeI immediately made a note to
invite her back at some pointthis season.
The Mids win over Army gave methe perfect opportunity to get
(06:42):
her back, so I'm very happy thatshe could carve out the time to
join me today.
Cynthia, it is so great to haveyou on the show with us again.
Welcome back.
Thanks for having me.
I'm excited about this one.
Yeah, it's always fun to breakdown a Navy Wynn over Army.
So before we get into thatitself, I wanted to get your
assessment of the team goinginto the season.
(07:02):
Okay, so what did you see astheir strengths?
You know they're coming off a13 and six year six and three in
the conference and they got allthe way to the semifinals in
the Patriot League tournament,losing that real tough double OT
game against Army.
So what did you see going inand what gaps did you think
needed to be kind of tightenedup?
Cynthia (07:20):
So I think you know, one of the biggest things is the
youth of the team.
Last year and we talked aboutthis last year and when you're
returning, you know a youthcadre, kind of successful
athletes that's alwaysbeneficial because they've got
another year under their belts.
They're much more confident,you know, and Navy just always
(07:42):
seems to bring in these youngerplayers who they can rely on,
which is huge, you know.
I will say I went to the Dukegame and they came out super
strong and we actually left, youknow, after the third quarter
it was freezing and stuff, andthen Duke started mounting a
rally and that's kind of whenyou sometimes see the youth come
into play because they're notused to being put in that
(08:05):
position and they've got tofight to maintain their lead.
So I think that you know it's ablessing and a curse, right,
they have a lot of talent in theteam, but it's the chemistry
building the experience, youknow, and working as a unit
together that they really kindof just needed to tighten up
after the first couple of games.
Karl (08:27):
Yeah, that makes sense, and we can talk a little bit
about that late as the seasonwore on too.
Now, one of the things thatthat caught my attention early
and it was, you know, prettydisappointing.
As a fan, I couldn't help butbe a little bit worried when I
saw that Ava Yovino was lost forthe year Knee injury I presume,
(08:48):
and it was before the firstgame, probably within a couple
of days before the season evenstarted, in that game against
Duke.
And she wasn't the only oneeither.
I don't know exactly whenLeelee Denton and Isabel
Thornburg went down, but theydid.
And all of a sudden you got gotthree significant, you know,
weapons on offense that are nolonger available.
So when you're dealing withthat kind of loss as a coach,
(09:12):
what are some of the things thatyou do to kind of help them
focus, put the setbacks behindthem in the rear view mirror and
just move forward?
Cynthia (09:19):
I mean, the nice thing about a team like Navy is
they're never really you knowdown.
They're always just reloading.
If you look, they've got one ofthe biggest sidelines in the
sport, so they always seem tohave these weapons kind of ready
to go.
I think what it takes is thenjust building confidence in the
players that you now have torely on.
But also you might have toadjust some of your plays and
(09:40):
some of your style of play.
You know, depending on whoyou're losing and what they are
good at, you have to findsomeone to either fill that role
or you have to adjust the rolesthat are on the field.
Injuries are just so hard todeal with as a team, especially
if you're just days from yourfirst game, you know.
But the benefit for Ava Jovino,who you know there's no great
(10:03):
thing when you lose a season toan injury, but she's only a
sophomore.
So you know, having a stellarfreshman campaign.
She's going to come back as ajunior and just want it even
more.
She's still been a part ofeverything you know, as far as
being in the huddle, learningthe plays, being on the sideline
and things like that.
When I've had injured playersin the past, I almost make them
(10:23):
kind of like a coach you know,like, hey, you're gonna be on
the sideline with me, you'regonna be another voice for me.
So now she has that big pictureview and I bet she's just gonna
have a killer second class year.
It's unfortunate about LeeleeDenton.
You know, a captain, that'sjust really tough.
I don't know if we talked aboutthis at all, but she was a walk
on to the team, you know, andthen progressed her way up and
(10:44):
made captain, and that's justjust such a devastating way to
go out.
But, um, I think Navy does whatthey do you know so well they
adjust, they adapt, theyovercome, and they have such
incredible athletes, um, who youknow, even if lacks IQ or you
know, which isn't usually thecase, but if it would be the
case, they can just get them upto speed very quickly.
Karl (11:05):
Right, right, okay.
So now let's go ahead and getto the game itself.
Both teams played a fairlychallenging non-conference
schedule.
I think Navy fared a little bitbetter, but both of them were
4-1 in league play.
Coming into this game, in fact,army had won four in a row,
thanks to Allison Riley andBridget Duffy two very strong
(11:29):
players who are having excellentseasons.
So I was wondering if you couldpoint to maybe one thing on
offense and one thing on defensethat the mids absolutely had to
do if they wanted to come outon top in this one.
Cynthia (11:35):
Yeah.
So I think defensively,matchups were huge.
You know you talked aboutAllison Riley, but Bridget Duffy
is really their huge star andshe's just had a killer.
She had a killer freshman year.
She's a dual sport athlete atarmy, so I think matching her up
um you know was was huge andthat, and then also matching up
(11:55):
allison riley, so that wasreally important to know.
Um, that definitely had comeinto play.
I think, attacking wise, youhave to attack as a unit.
You can't rely on one star orone, one player.
You really love these gameswhere it's like a couple of
athletes have three goals orinstead of having one athlete
(12:15):
have nine goals.
I mean, don't get me wrong, ifthat's how you won, that's
fantastic also.
But if you have that, everyplayer is a threat and they're
working well as a unit, lookingout for each other and playing
as a team.
You can't beat that and clearlyArmy could.
Karl (12:29):
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean just reviewing thestats.
What do we have?
Three players with hat tricks,right, and then just a slew of
them with two goals apiece, andyeah, so I think they I think
they said like seven differentplayers scored in that game, so
that was pretty cool.
Cynthia (12:44):
That's awesome.
That's what you want as a coach.
You want every attacker to be athreat because they can't stop
them, all you know if you haveone or two stars.
It's easy to plan yourdefensive strategy around that,
but it's much harder.
It's like whack-a-mole, youknow, you don't know who to hit
first.
So I think Navy really did.
That's what their strategy andyou know.
(13:05):
Everything was great.
Karl (13:11):
Right, right, no-transcript.
Did you see a specific turningpoint in the game?
Or was this one of those gameswhere there was just pressure,
pressure, pressure building allthroughout the game and then at
some point, you know, the goaldifferential versus time
(13:31):
remaining just became too greatfor the Black Knights to
overcome?
What did you see there?
Cynthia (13:36):
So I'll be honest, I really thought I know Army had
the first goal, but I reallythought Navy just looks so much
stronger from the start.
They had a lot of shots earlyon and if you look at the stats,
I mean it was six to four afterthe first quarter and then it
was 11 to six at the half.
Going down five goals in anarmy Navy game into the half is
just so, so tough.
(13:57):
And the second half of the gamewas really balanced.
I mean there were it was fourto four in the third quarter and
then 2-1 Navy in the lastquarter.
So if Navy hadn't had that leadgoing into the half, it could
have been a different game.
So I really think that they cameout.
It's so much better to be athome.
I think they came out on fireand I think just continually
(14:18):
pushing the pace and gettingthose shots off is just
demoralizing.
Getting those shots off is justit's just demoralizing.
Yeah, I do think that by theend of the third quarter you
know, yes, they were that evenin the third quarter he scored
four goals.
But I think at that point youknow you were thinking we're
still down.
You know you got a lot to comeback and in an Army Navy game
(14:39):
with two teams at her, you knowit's usually similar type of
athletes.
You know they've had a similarschedule throughout the year.
It's just it's hard to comeback from that.
Karl (14:49):
Yeah, yeah, I would, I would agree.
I think for me, when I wasseeing that I, I I kind of felt
like it was just, you know, kindof like what you're saying they
, they started out strong,they're getting a lot more shots
, and it just felt like Army'sdefense was just under heels the
whole time and eventuallythey're just going to get tipped
over.
And that's basically whathappened, you know, starting
(15:09):
really in the second quarter.
And then, you know, like yousaid, they played even through
the third, but at that pointArmy couldn't afford to play
even they needed to really makeup that differential and it just
didn't happen.
Cynthia (15:27):
Yeah, it's really like I said, it's really hard with
teams like this, like if you godown it's a bigger mountain to
climb than if you know it was aneasier team or something that
uh, and maybe not the end.
Karl (15:31):
Star Right Right yeah.
Cynthia (15:32):
Clearly, you know all of those factors and you're, and
you're away, you're army,you're away, you're you know the
, the um not the home crowd andeverything.
Uh, so they just.
Karl (15:47):
I think that they came out on fire, like people usually do
in an army navy game, and theywere not taking the the foot off
the gas pedal and and that wasvery clear, right, right, yeah,
and I have to believe that I sawa game earlier against I mean,
it's army navy, so the.
So the players know what's atstake here, obviously, but I
just remember watching, um, thegame against St Joseph's and you
know it was an on-conferencegame, so that was good.
But they were up 12-7.
(16:08):
And I said, okay, it looks likethey're in control here.
And then, darn it, you know,the game just kind of got away
from them.
So I said I wonder, I'd like tobe in the locker room right now
when Coach Tim Chull is talkingwith them, just to kind of see,
because I got to believe thatwhatever she was telling them
then were things that were intheir mind, you know, against
the Black Knights, because atone point the score was 12 to 7.
(16:29):
And that's when, maybe just fora minute, I felt a little
uneasy thinking back to that StJoseph's game.
Obviously that didn't happenand the Mids kept up the
pressure, actually outscoringArmy the rest of the way.
Cynthia (16:40):
Yeah, that's so funny because I never felt that way.
I felt even when they scoredthat first goal, army scored
that first goal.
I'd have to look specificallyat the stats, but I think we
already had a couple shots offand I was like, if you can get
those shots off, they're goingto go in eventually.
You just got to keep attacking,attacking, because now their
defense is tired, the pressurereally is on them, and you'll
(17:03):
get the goals eventually.
That was a little bit of theyouth coming out, you know, just
not getting those goals rightaway, but yeah, right, right,
yeah, you're right.
Karl (17:12):
I mean they just look so much sharper.
The shots were crisp andeverything, and sooner or later
they're going to land on cageand start finding the back of it
, so that's cool, all right.
Before we get into some of thekey players on offense, I wanted
(17:34):
to take a look and see what theMids did defensively.
We brought up Allison Rileyearlier Last year in the Star
Game.
She had nine goals and threeassists and they scored 15 goals
, so she accounted for 80% oftheir scoring.
So on Saturday, riley only hadone goal on two shots.
So clearly they figured out away to adjust for her and the
main thing I just saw was thatwhenever, wherever she was,
there was always somebody withina stick length of her, you know
(17:56):
, and whether they're playingzone or man to man or whatever,
I mean, there's somebody alwaysaccounting for her.
When you're coaching yourplayers and you have an opponent
with a player that just had anexcellent, excellent game
against you previously, you comeup against them again.
What are some of the thingsthat you discuss with your
defense?
Cynthia (18:13):
So I think in this case they, you know and I apologize,
I don't know who the defenderwas that was on her, you know,
or if it was a couple, you putyour top defender on someone
like that you know andinterestingly, she had a huge
game in the end start game lastyear.
(18:34):
Alison Riley did, but then sheonly had.
Karl (18:36):
I think three goals um in their double overtime game.
Cynthia (18:37):
So they had already started to make some of the
adjustments, because and youknow, I was looking at her stats
specifically and she had fivegoals against Loyola and Loyola
Loyola only beat Army by onegoal this year.
So she's definitely a hugethreat, and I think Bridget
Duffy is a huge threat as well.
So I'm looking at matchups, I'mlooking at who my top defenders
are that I can put on her.
I mean, there's a couple otherthings you can do defensively.
(18:59):
Obviously, you can throw a faceguard in there, which is
something we saw, probably thatif you're not familiar with that
a lot of people saw that in thewomen's basketball tournament.
Karl (19:11):
The face guard on on Caitlin Clark you know she did
phenomenal.
Cynthia (19:12):
If you can prevent that um top score, it's defeating
for a team, is defeating forthat person.
Um, you can also just, you know, send her double early.
Uh, if you're going to doubleher, you can send that double
early.
Uh, maybe take that double froma weaker attacker that you
think isn't as much of a threat.
Um, you know.
So those are some some goodoptions that you have
(19:33):
defensively.
But I think clearly, uh, navyput a top defender on her and
said you know, we don't want heranywhere, you know, far away
from you and everything.
So, like a pseudo face guard,but maybe not as intense.
Karl (19:46):
Right, right, Okay.
So then we had our goalkeeper,Felicia Giglio.
She came up really big too,especially in the first half
when the game was still kind ofat least in terms of the score
it was really tight.
The one thing I liked was thatthe Black Knights never scored
more than two consecutive goals,and you know how that can be.
(20:09):
Obviously, if a team kind ofgets on a run, all of a sudden
the floodgates open and it'sjust like, oh my God, what's
going to happen next?
So that was really good to see.
A couple of those shots werestopped at point blank range,
whether it was on a freeposition or just an enclosed
shot.
When there's a lot of actiongoing on in front of the cage,
say from eight meters in, what'shappening there, what are you
(20:30):
telling your goalkeeper to doand what should her expectation
be of her defenders when allthat's going on?
Cynthia (20:37):
Yeah, so interestingly she's a plebe which is fantastic
.
I was looking at her bio and shewas like a 55 meter hurdle, you
know.
So she's got the speed clearly,which is what you want out of a
goalie.
I think what Navy did reallywell was force the bad shots.
Defensively, you have to kindof give up the fact that they
(21:02):
are going to get shots right,like shots are going to come off
, but you want to force them inthe best position for your
goalie as possible.
So you know that she's notgetting necessarily point blank.
But if they are point blank,maybe there's other sticks in
the air and uh, navy does areally good job of that.
So force them into really badangles, maybe force them to a
weaker hand.
If they don't, they're not asgreat.
Uh with both their hands, butalso just have defenders there.
(21:22):
It's hard to shoot throughpeople if they're especially if
they don't they're not as great,uh with both their hands, but
also just have defenders there.
It's hard to shoot throughpeople if they're especially if
they're on your hands.
So I think navy, defensively,did a lot of that and she's
communicating with her defenselike hey, force her here, go
this way.
Um, you know, because we allknow goalies are good in some
areas and they're weaker inother areas so she's saying get
(21:44):
them here where I know I'mstronger, um, and things like
that.
So if you look at the stats forarmy I think it was they had a
42% shooting percentage but 65%shots on goals.
So if they're if they'regetting there.
You know if they're getting ongoal, they're getting the goals
in.
So Navy did a really good jobof forcing them um them outside,
(22:04):
where they weren't comfortableshooting.
Karl (22:07):
Right, right, okay, we're going to go ahead and take a
short break now, but before wedo that, I did want to give you
all a couple of ways to stay upto date on Navy sports.
The first is to join the NavySports Nation group Facebook
page.
I've got a link to that in theshow notes.
Just click on it, answer acouple of questions and you'll
be good to go.
The second way takes even lesstime.
Just hit the follow button onwhichever platform you're
(22:28):
listening to this podcast rightnow.
It can be Apple Podcasts,spotify, iheartradio, it doesn't
matter.
Once you do that, every episodewill be downloaded to your
directory when it's released andyou can listen to it whenever
you're ready.
So please consider becoming amember of our group and you can
actually tap that follow buttonright now to show your support
for the podcast.
I'm looking forward to havingyou join us.
We'll be right back.
(23:00):
Welcome back to Navy SportsCentral, Karl Darden.
Here with you Joining me todayis Cynthia Lisa, from the Class
of 2000, and we have beenbreaking down the Navy women's
lacrosse team's big win overArmy.
So, Cynthia, now let's look atsome of the standout
performances on offense.
We all know that you can'tscore unless you have the ball
(23:22):
right.
And when it comes to that, theperformance Alyssa Daly turned
in against Army controlling thedraw was just terrific.
Up until then I'd never reallyfocused on her technique and
while watching her I wasthinking, man, she's just
popping up that ball in the airand taking it herself.
You know, two years ago theyhad Reagan Roloffs who was
basically, I just thought, adraw control savant, you know.
(23:42):
But what I saw Alyssa Daly doon Saturday was something else.
I mean just blew me away.
So I was wondering if you couldspeak to that a little bit.
How much of winning that drawis technique and just having a
ridiculous sense of timing forthe rest, whistle, you know,
because I think that a couple oftimes Navy got the draw because
Army went early, because theyknew that they were probably
(24:05):
going to lose it anyway, youknow.
So what are your thoughts onthat?
Cynthia (24:09):
She is incredible, I mean, and she's listed as a
defender.
So, really interesting thatshe's become this draw
specialist.
She didn't even, I think,compete her freshman year.
I don't think she saw the field.
So all of these factors, thiswas her moment, she was ready to
go and she was out there.
Wrist strength, wrist speed andthen IQ on the draw are the
(24:33):
three top things you look for ina draw specialist.
Obviously the technique.
Ideally it is popping it toyourself every time, because you
don't want to necessarily sendit out to the circle unless you
know for sure someone's going toget it.
So, we really kind of preachthat and then that wrist
strength, you know, or wristspeed.
First of all, we practice a lotof times just whistle reactions
(24:55):
, so knowing that and be able toreact really, really quickly.
It's kind of similar with whatwe look for in a goalie, right,
that speed, that reaction time,um.
And then it's all risk strength, um, a lot of it, not
necessarily um the risk strengthto like get it where you want
but to be able to handle thatball, you know, with sticks are
flying at you and things likethat.
You know it's great that yougot it up in the air, but you
(25:16):
have to one-handed grab itprotect it get it, you know, out
to space before you can reallyprogress into the offensive end.
So she was just a stud.
It's really hard.
Obviously, as you said, youcan't score without the ball,
but it is so demoralizing whenyour team does not win the draw,
(25:37):
because even if you score agoal and then they get the ball,
it really sets a team back.
So I think, that was a huge,huge piece of the game on
Saturday as far as their mental,you know status and I don't
know if you saw her on thesideline, but she was just fired
up, you know, so excited afterthe game and you know she knew
(25:58):
what she had done for her team.
Karl (26:00):
Right, right.
And I tell you what the the.
The point in the game where Ifelt like, okay, this looks like
it could be the mids day wasthey were down 3-2, but then
they scored three goals in a rowto make it 5-3, right, and then
they go to the circle.
Daly wins the draw, it pops upin the air, it goes to herself,
(26:24):
then she scoops up the groundball and as soon as she scooped
it up, you saw Anna got her up,just sprinting down the left
side and it was not the bestangle for Alyssa to make the
pass, but she just threw just abeautiful pass just over the top
and Anna caught it and justdrilled the shot, you know, to
(26:44):
put him up and it happenedbasically in like six or seven
seconds.
So it was boom just right away.
And when that happened I justlike jumped up and I said, all
right, this is, I could get usedto this.
You know what I mean.
Cynthia (26:57):
So it was great.
I'm sure that's what Tim Shawsaid too.
Karl (27:01):
So it was just a great.
I mean I was thinking, okay,yeah, she's winning these draws,
but when she gets them, sheknows exactly what to do with
them too.
So it was that other'stendencies they have to know.
Cynthia (27:11):
Um, you know, you have to know every draw taker is
(27:31):
going to take the draw and youhave to know what each girl on
the circle, what their strengthsare.
You know, are they fast?
Are they quicker?
You know grabbing it out ofthere?
Are they tall?
Karl (27:41):
Um can.
Cynthia (27:41):
I put it behind her and she's going to be the first to
spread to there.
Um, there's just so much.
So I, you know, and and Imentioned the IQ piece of it you
have to have smart draw takers.
Um, you know, they can't justbe machines who don't know how
to adjust or anything like that,cause that'll very quickly, um,
go downhill If you have anotherteam who figures you out.
(28:02):
Uh, it's just a game of chess.
Every time you get up to thedraw of where am I putting,
where am I going to try and drawto?
Where am I putting my draw team?
You know, it's just.
I mean, the draws are reallyexciting.
Part of the game that everybodyalways asks, like, why don't
you go back?
and you know if they are abasketball person or any other
sport.
Why do you go back to thecenter circle every single time
(28:24):
and like, oh, they can't.
You know, it's just such a keypart of the game and I love that
you have the opportunity to getthe ball back, no matter what
just happened, Right?
But girls nowadays, athletesnowadays, are just, they're
specializing in a draw youngerand younger, and you know, I
think it's been around in themales, the men's game, for
(28:44):
longer.
But, uh, women, really, we havea lot of draw specialists
nowadays, which is just it's,it's fascinating to watch.
Um, you know, the ones who's dotheir, like Alyssa did.
She just did her job and did itamazingly.
Karl (28:59):
Yeah, she sure did, Okay.
So now I'm just going to giveyou some names here and I just
want you to share your thoughtson how they played throughout
the game.
First one Tori DiCarlo.
Cynthia (29:12):
Obviously she had such a great day.
She's consistent.
I think she's upper class onthe team.
She was their go-to and shereally had a fantastic game.
And she really had a fantasticgame.
You know, when you know, in agame like Army, that's important
and lots of pressure and thingslike that, that's what you're
looking for Someone just to comestep up and make it happen.
(29:35):
And she did that for Navy todayor that day.
Karl (29:39):
Right right Michaela Williams.
Cynthia (29:42):
So I'm going to tell you she is probably my favorite
player on Navy to watch.
She is so scrappy, she's fromOhio, so not a hotbed of
lacrosse, and Cindy really founda diamond in the rough watching
her play.
She's only a plead.
She can handle that stick.
She handled it under pressure.
I think she's going to do hugethings for Navy.
(30:05):
I just I love watching her play.
We saw her, you know, in theDuke game.
I couldn't get over it.
I was like this is, you know,like her first game and she's
out there as a player.
Karl (30:13):
Yeah, just was unfazed.
Cynthia (30:15):
Unfazed, completely with all that confidence and
just excited with her teammatesand to step into that role.
You know, I know Eva Jovino wassimilar last year, but it's
just incredible watching herplay.
I really, really am excited towatch her for the next few years
.
Karl (30:33):
Yeah, I'm going to be even more excited to watch the two
of them play for the next twoyears.
Yeah, eva and Michaela, that'dbe pretty cool.
Cynthia (30:42):
All right, and I know some of the girls they've got
coming in um as plebes next yearare.
Karl (30:47):
it's just going to be amazing to watch man I don't
know how, I don't know how coachtimshaw keeps doing it.
It's, it's amazing.
It's just a recruiting machine.
Um, all right, uh, emilymessonese can we talk about?
Cynthia (31:01):
you know?
Um, she defined what armyieNeve is about to me, you know,
for those who weren't there orweren't watching.
She got smacked in the face,blood everywhere, oh, my God.
We were down, you know, on thatend and there's just, her hand
was covered in blood, wascovered in blood, but the
(31:29):
highlight, the highlight wasMichaela Williams running out
there and finding what ended upto be half of her tooth that had
cracked in that sequence.
She is just such a stud If youwatch her go to goal.
She is strong, she's powerful.
She gets her hips pointed rightat the goal and does not let
anything stop her.
So you know, other than beingobviously an incredibly tough
athlete, she just she knows whatshe needs to do to get it done.
(31:54):
She's a junior on the team.
She's stepping into thatleadership role.
You know, I wouldn't besurprised if she's a captain
next year.
She just she embodied what ArmyNavy was that day.
Yeah.
Karl (32:04):
She embodied what Army Navy was that day.
Yeah, did you happen to watchthe highlight reel by any chance
?
Or it was one of the YouTubevideos that kind of did the
highlights of the game, and thevery last scene on this one was
her smiling in the camera,pointing to her tooth.
Cynthia (32:21):
Well, what's so funny is, you know, I was there with
my family and my middle daughterwanted to meet her and take a
picture, and so I told her.
I said this is what Army-Navyis about.
My youngster year we were up atArmy for the game.
You know, back then, when weplayed on like a grass field and
it was, you know, your familyand friends were the Army true
(32:43):
fans there, but we played in anarea.
You know, we family and friendswere the true fans there.
But we played in an era, youknow, we didn't play with
goggles and I was coming throughtwo defenders and get smacked
in the face and just keptplaying and they whistled you
know whistle stop everything.
And I was gushing blood.
So, you know, I got pulled offthe field and they basically,
you know, said hey, what day isit and who's the president?
(33:07):
And they stuck a bandaid on meand sent me back out Um and that
kind of defines army Navy.
After our, after the game, theysent me to the army hospital.
I think I got five or sixstitches in my um, in my
forehead, right above my eyebrow, but it was like nothing's
going to say.
You know, I told her that story.
I said nothing stops you inArmy Navy.
You're losing blood.
(33:27):
She's got stitches in her mouth.
She's got hepatitis.
She's like put me in coach.
And that is what every singleplayer, whether it's Army or
Navy, every single player outthere would have done the same
thing.
It was amazing to watch.
Karl (33:42):
No doubt, no doubt, amazing to watch, no doubt, no
doubt.
Now, you know, sticking withthat theme there in terms of the
physicality of the game,obviously not just talking about
this game, but there's just somuch more athleticism in women's
lacrosse now and because ofthat it is going to get more
physical Now, basically, youknow, when I saw how
(34:02):
Messonnier's got hit, I don'tknow that a helmet would have
helped in that particular case,obviously one of those clear
face shields would have.
So my question is you know Isaw some other headshots being
taken.
You know, kind of like you knowI couldn't tell how strong they
were just from you, justwatching it in real time.
But I wanted to get a sensefrom your perspective as a coach
(34:23):
.
Are most of these shots to thehead, with the exception of the
one where it was just a straighton hit to the mouth?
Are they mostly glancing blows,or do we need to start talking
about guarding against potentialconcussions here?
Cynthia (34:35):
Well, I think this has been an issue you know, a
growing issue in women's sports.
I think the two big issues thatthey're looking at is
concussions and ACL tears.
Um the, the concussion piece ofit isn't necessarily solved, um
, with a helmet, um, there'sother options.
You know, they make the cuecollar.
(34:56):
I'm not, I'm not sponsored bythem, but they're welcome to
send me a few ones.
But uh you know, the athletescan play that, supposed to
reduce the effects of gettinghit, and things like that.
I think that what has happenedtoo is, especially in the
college game.
They're super focused this yearon that.
In between the 30s they put somany green cards and you
(35:17):
basically can't touch each other, but then they're, you know,
down in the attacking end, theirdefensive end.
It's like it's still a littlebit of craziness.
We always say that what's goingto fix that is is officiating
and coming out officiatingimmediately that this is not
tolerated.
We are not going to put up withyou swinging your sticks and
(35:38):
things like.
That is where it needs to go, Ithink, honestly.
I think Army and Navy are bothvery disciplined teams.
I didn't think it was crazy, outof control as far as, like the
swinging of the sticks, I thinkit's just, like you said, so
physical, the amount of playersthat went down One of the army
players who we know is veryinjured, and things like that
(36:01):
and it's just, it's so hard towatch because they are giving it
all with their bodies and Ithink that sports science needs
to keep up with it.
Um, you know, I lost two to ACLinjury tears this year, uh, and
I think that it's gotten to thepoint where they are putting so
much more research into the ACLtear aspect of it.
(36:21):
But either one is is islacrosse ending.
But going back to the pointabout concussions, for what
makes it very hard in this isyou're going on to be a Naval
officer or an army officer andif you have too many concussions
it could start impacting whatyour career looks like.
Um and that happened back in myday as well.
(36:42):
So I think that we just need tocontinue to keep the game safe
at the lower levels and it'llrise up, and also the higher
levels, because what's happeningis the younger levels see the
higher levels much moreaggressive and think they can
get away with it.
But I do think there has been ashift this year that it's a
little bit less physical.
(37:03):
I just think Army Navy isalways going to be the most
physical game that you see yeah,yeah, I would agree with that.
Karl (37:11):
Okay, so we're kind of getting down to the end here,
but this was a big weekend foryou guys, you and all the alums
that came back for the game.
I want you to describe andlet's talk about, like before
the game and then maybe duringthe game and certainly post uh,
just the emotional atmospherethat you were dealing with, um,
as as Saturday progressed, um,this game clinched a star series
(37:31):
for the mid, so that had to bepretty cool having a women's
lacrosse team do that.
Share your thoughts with me alittle on that and what it means
to you.
Cynthia (37:39):
Well, it's just.
I think the shift has been hugethis year.
They've really, uh, navyWomen's Lacrosse has really
tried to um pull the alumni in.
I mean, it's been building fora few years, but this year is
certainly different.
Um, for the first time ever withthe CNO, and the superintendent
are women, and that has been,you know, just incredible as an,
as an alumni, as, um, a mom ofsomeone who wants to go to the
(38:03):
Naval Academy to see.
So they had just it wasunbelievable.
I mean, the crowd was huge.
First of all, as I mentioned,we used to play to our parents
and maybe a couple of companymates, maybe the boys team,
would you know, club team wouldcome, things like that, but the
stadium was packed, packed withNavy fans.
And they really rolled out thered carpet for the alumni.
(38:25):
There was a superintendent'stailgate and an alumni reception
going on during the game.
I've never not sat and watcheda lacrosse game, so I really
just tried to take in theatmosphere for once and not get
so caught up in the game like Iwould want to from a coach and
playing perspective.
But just walking around thesuperintendent's tailgate you've
never seen so many femaleadmirals.
(38:45):
I mean it was unbelievable, andthe superintendent is one of
the most gracious, personablepeople um you know to talk to.
To relate to my uh father isthe deacon at the Naval Academy
and they speaks just so highlyof her.
My daughter has met her um andthen enrolls the CNO and she's
just as equally personable andfriendly and stuff.
And the superintendent did saythat the cno had said to her
(39:09):
let's have a day to celebratewomen's athletics at navy and
you know, they chose the arm anda lacrosse game and we, just
every alumni there was like Ijust can't get over this.
Um, you know, we used to play.
I was joking, we used to play,I was joking, we used to play in
like the outfield in hospitalpoint for some of our practices
you know, here you are withstars and you know which are a
(39:31):
big deal at Navy to bring instars like that for a game.
You know you only see that forfootball games usually, um, but
to treat the alumni with suchrespect and such sight and
things like that.
Uh, one of my good friends isAaron Delaney.
She was Aaron Rollick while shewas there, a phenomenal player.
She was one of the alumnicaptains of the day, you know,
(39:51):
which is something they'vestarted to institute, and even
she played, 10 years after me, adivision one team and she said
we used to joke it was our tensof fans in the stadium, not like
that.
So the atmosphere was just theyhad tailgates, they had the
band, they had performances to.
You know, women's sports ingeneral are having a moment that
they've long waited for anddeserved, and this is just
(40:15):
incredible.
It was so cool.
Karl (40:17):
Yeah, I mean it's.
It's certainly well-earned.
Just seeing the enthusiasmthroughout the game firing off
the manual t-shirt cannon whichwas which was basically someone
with a a strong arm justthrowing a balled up t-shirt
into the crowd, it was prettyawesome and this is how much my
wife was getting into it.
Every time Navy scored she wasstanding up trying to get a
t-shirt, as she should.
Cynthia (40:37):
I mean we had you know, I run a youth league too and we
had members of our youth leagueout on the field in the tunnel
and things like that and whenyou can get.
You know, navy does a great jobof being the hometown team and
everything and you've got thestands are packed with young
girls who wanted to play at navyand the, and what was crazy to
(40:58):
me is the young girls lining upto take pictures with the cno in
the suit.
They don't even know who theyare.
They're like I want a picturetoo.
You know, I took a picture withthem.
It was really really cool andvery special.
Karl (41:11):
That's funny.
Cynthia (41:13):
Yeah, it was awesome.
Karl (41:15):
All right.
So last question for you hereLook back at your time at the
Academy and where the game was,and then compare it to what you
saw on Saturday, which you'vedone a very good job of
describing.
So what are your thoughts onwhat it'll take to keep the
program on this kind oftrajectory?
Cynthia (41:32):
You know, the name of the game is the $26 million
lacrosse building that they'rebringing in.
That's what they're competingwith.
Clemson, who just started aprogram, has the first women's
lacrosse only facility.
You know we were at theMaryland Northwestern game a few
weeks ago and the stadium thenew field hockey lacrosse
(41:54):
stadium that they just renovatedsold out with twenty four
hundred people.
So, to have games played at NavyMarine Corps.
I had friends who are coachesin attendance.
They said why aren't thenational championships here?
Um, you know, so to combine theatmosphere that you saw on
Saturday, if I was coach SimshawI would have had every
potential recruit there in thestands going this is what you're
(42:17):
going to play for.
And then, to you know, combineit with the, the resources that
Navy is providing for lacrosseis just, you know, it's going to
be a game changer, I think, fora lot of these individuals who
are considering Navy.
I also think that Navy theallure of serving, and you know
(42:40):
the opportunities that Navyprovides I believe this class is
very like Navy pilot heavy,which it shows that they're
willing to serve long-term Navypilots, one of the biggest
commitment that you can sign upfor as far as time-wise.
So they're committed to beingin the Navy and being officers
and serving their country, whichto me, shows the kind of
(43:03):
recruits that she's bringing in.
Not only are they stronglacrosse athletes and obviously
great character and human beings, but they're willing to serve
their country and I think whenyou have that in your program
and you combine all thoseoutside resources, it's just
like a machine.
It just keeps turning becausethat attracts the same caliber
and type of people.
Karl (43:24):
Yeah, yeah, it's kind of self-perpetuating.
Cynthia (43:26):
So yeah, pretty cool yeah, yeah, it's kind of
self-perpetuating.
So yeah, pretty cool yeahexactly All right.
Karl (43:29):
Okay, Cynthia.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
It's been a great conversation.
I hope to have many more ofthese in the future.
By the way, it was great.
I can be your Navy Women's.
Cynthia (43:38):
Lacrosse expert.
I love it, you know.
Like I said, have you evertalked lacrosse?
Or maybe women on there?
Karl (43:43):
Well, you got a standing invitation and I'll be
definitely taking you up on it,so take care, and we'll talk to
you soon.
Cynthia (43:49):
Thanks.
Karl (43:51):
Okay, I'm going to make a program decision here and put
off the question of the dayuntil the next show, mostly
because I want to release thisepisode ahead of a pretty busy
work week for me.
So we're going to go ahead andpick up with our Midwatch
(44:11):
segment on the other side beforewe close things out.
So you'll recall that the twoathletes we're tracking on the
mid-watch are Emily Messonesefrom the women's lacrosse team
and Brock Murtha from thebaseball team.
We've already discussedMessonese a little bit already
and I'm sure you'll all agreethat she's as tough as they come
(44:32):
, as that Army game clearlyshowed us.
Messonese had a hat trick inthat game and dished out one
assist.
She followed that up with atotal of six goals and two
assists in the wins over Lehighand Lafayette.
Five of those six goals cameagainst Lafayette just a couple
of days ago.
For the year, messonese leadsthe team in goals with 58 and
points with 73.
She's also third on the team inground balls with 18 and second
(44:52):
in draw controls with 55.
Obviously, messonese is a hugeweapon on offense and the way
she and the rest of the team areplaying it could be their
opportunity to challenge Loyolafor the Patriot League title
this year.
Now let's go ahead and check inwith Brock Murtha.
The Navy baseball team sweptLehigh over the weekend to move
to 24-16 on the year.
They are currently in secondplace in the Patriot League and
well positioned for thetournament.
(45:13):
Their remaining games areagainst Mount St Mary's, which
is a non-conference game, andthe three-game series against
Army, which will decide the star.
Murtha is batting a solid .341,which leads the team among
those players with over 75at-bats.
The same is true for his OPSand on-base percentage.
Murtha is reaching base over47% of the time, which is
critical in either gettingthings started or keeping an
inning going.
Murtha hasn't been called on topitch much this season, but he
(45:36):
has appeared in six games andhas a 1-0 record, with one save.
The main goal now is to makesure the team is in good form
when the Patriot Leaguetournament begins, and there is
no doubt that Brock Merthyr willplay a significant role in the
team's success.
That's going to do it for thisedition of Navy Sports
Central.
Thank you all so much forjoining us Now.
If you like what you've heard,please be sure to hit that
follow button wherever you getyour podcasts and remember to
(45:58):
get the word to all the otherNavy fans out there.
Once again, I'd like to thankCynthia Lisa from the class of
2000 for joining me today.
It is always great to get herperspective on women's lacrosse.
By the way, our question of theday will return for our next
episode In the future.
If you'd like to respond tothat, you can sign up to the
Navy Sports Nation groupFacebook page and answer our
pollquestion.
And just a quick reminder theviews expressed on Navy Sports
(46:20):
Central are my own and do notreflect those of the US Naval
Academy or Navy Athletics.
By the way, the music used inNavy Sports Central comes to you
courtesy of Audio Jungle.
This is a great site forpurchasing the rights to use the
music from thousands of artistsaround the world, and those
featured in the podcast will becredited in our show notes.
Talk to you soon, everybody.
Until next time.
This is Karl Darden.
Go Navy Beat Army.
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