EASTON, Pa. - On a night when Lafayette welcomed back alumni for Alumni Day and a centennial celebration for the men's lacrosse program, the Leopards dropped a 15-9 decision on Friday night at Fisher Stadium.

Senior Aidan Kopen tallied his first career contest with three goals, while classmate Nick Muller added in three assists to lead the Leopard offense.

The two teams traded goals in the first quarter. Benjamin DiBattista kicked the scoring off at 9:58, collecting his 26th goal of the season for a 1-0 lead. At the 8:35 mark, Navy countered with a score, courtesy of Race Ripley, to knot the score. A minute later, Charlie Foley regained a 2-1 advantage for the Maroon and White after firing a shot past the Mids' goalie. The score held for the next five minutes before the visitors' Alex Ponchock tied the game once again. With 15 seconds on the clock, rookie Jett Klassen scored a goal, assisted by Foley. Navy won the faceoff following the goal, and raced down the field to collect its third score of the period. After 15 minutes, the Leopards and the Midshipmen were tied at 3-3.

Navy took charge in the second stanza, outscoring Lafayette 5-2. The visitors tallied three goals in the first four minutes of quarter two to capture their first lead of the game (6-3). With 7:35 remaining in the first half, Kopen notched his first score after a pass from Foley. After another stretch of five minutes without a goal, Navy's Alec Gregorek sneaked a shot past senior goalie Joe Doherty for a 7-4 lead. Kopen collected his second goal just 43 seconds later, this time on an assist from Joshua Heaney (7-5). Gregorek and the Midshipmen scored with seven seconds left in the quarter, taking an 8-5 advantage into the break.

The visitors scored four goals in the third to lead 12-7 after 45 minutes of action. In the third quarter, Navy converted six of its seven clear attempts to Lafayette's three of seven. The Midshipmen also held the advantage in turnovers, with four to Lafayette's six. Ripley scored twice in the period, followed by A.J. Marsh (1) and Mac Haley (1). For the Leopards, Kopen tallied his third goal for his first career hat trick, while Joseph Duggan added a goal.

A second stretch of three consecutive goals by the Midshipmen built their fourth-quarter lead to 15-7. Heaney and Foley chipped in goals at 8:40 and 7:25, respectively, to finalize the score at 15-9. In the contest, Navy tallied 11 assists to six for the Leopards while outshooting Lafayette, 48 to 28.

Doherty was dealt the loss, moving to 5-3 on the season. The Malvern, Pa. native faced 30 shots in the game and stopped 15 of them. Navy's Dan Daly tallied a 43.8 save percentage after allowing nine goals on 16 shots.

Junior Nick Faccone collected seven ground balls while winning 12 of his 20 battles at the X.

The game served as Lafayette Men's Lacrosse's 100-year anniversary and alumni day game. Former members of the program traveled back to College Hill where they were treated with a open house at Wallach Sports Performance and Lacrosse Center before watching the matchup with fellow alums and teammates.

The Maroon and White are back in action on March 28, traveling to Bucknell for a 12 p.m. matchup.


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