Navy Sports Central
What if I told you about a group of elite college athletes who compete in 36 different sports at one of the toughest institutions in the nation. For them, it’s not about name, image, and likeness or any other kind of major endorsement deal. Because at the end of the day, their ultimate goal is to serve their country. These young men and women represent the best our country has to offer. They compete at a high level on both the national and world stage, and their stories have mostly gone untold. I’m here to change all of that.
With Navy Sports Central, you'll get the latest news on the athletes, and their teams, gain some unique insights in our Deep Dive segment and hear from some great guests along the way.
So please join me, Karl Darden, and check out Navy Sports Central wherever you get your podcasts to learn more about these incredible athletes and our nation’s future leaders.
Navy Sports Central
Countdown 2025: Knocking Out the Bully (and Much, Much More)
Welcome to Navy Sports Central, the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation!
Have you ever thought about what defines a truly unforgettable sports moment? Is it the stakes, the rivalry, the upset, or the individual brilliance that creates memories lasting a lifetime? In this special year-end edition of Navy Sports Central, we tackle this question by counting down the top 10 most memorable moments from the 2024-2025 Navy athletics season.
The countdown features remarkable achievements across multiple sports, from squash and gymnastics to the ones that typically take center stage like football and lacrosse.
We celebrate the dominance of men's cross country as they secured their fourth straight Patriot League title, while men's track & field picked up their eleventh consecutive championship. Equally impressive was the women's swimming team winning their 13th straight conference title through extraordinary depth, despite not having a single individual swimming champion.
But rising above all these accomplishments is our #1 moment: the Navy women's lacrosse team shocking resident Patriot League bully and top seeded Loyola in overtime to capture their first conference championship since 2018.
To explore this historic victory in depth, we're joined by special guest Cynthia Lisa ('00), who provides expert analysis on how the Mids managed to overcome a five-goal third quarter deficit against a Greyhound program that had never lost a regular season Patriot League game in their history (93-0). We spotlight freshman sensation Alyssa Chung's five-goal performance and Mikayla Williams' championship-winning shot in overtime, while paying tribute to legendary coach Cindy Timchal's sustained excellence over 43 seasons.
Whether you're a die-hard Navy sports fan or simply appreciate stories of athletic achievement against the odds, this episode captures what makes following these remarkable student-athletes so rewarding. Subscribe to Navy Sports Central and join our Facebook community to stay connected as the Mids prepare for another exciting sports season beginning this fall.
If you like what you hear, support the Mids and the show at the same time! Navy Sports Central is a proud affiliate partner of Fanatics.com, the Ultimate Fan Gear Store! Click on the link to start shopping now!
Hi everybody, my name is Karl Darden and I'd like to welcome and thank all of you for joining us today. On Navy Sports Central. I'm your host, and this is the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation, where we take a deeper dive into Navy sports. To the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation where we take a deeper dive into Navy sports. Commissioning week has come and gone, so congratulations to the class of 2025.
Karl:And now that the sports season is over, it is time to take a look at the top 10 most memorable moments in Navy athletics. The Mids experienced their share of ups and downs across all sports this year, but there were plenty of times to celebrate and that's what we're going to be doing today. So stick around. The countdown starts with number 10 when we come back. All right, it's great to have you guys with us. Thanks so much for dropping in. I really appreciate you taking the time. As you heard in the introduction, it is time for us to count down the top 10 most memorable moments in Navy athletics this year.
Karl:This is the fourth edition since we started the podcast back in 2021, and I will say that it is a purely subjective list. I make the selections based on a certain set of criteria I came up with, so I will quickly review those right now. First off, what was at stake at the time that the outstanding individual or team performance occurred? In other words, what kind of significance did the contest have? Was it during the regular season or was there a league or even national championship on the line? Second, was there a new personal best or top 10 best program record established? And third, did that outstanding performance come against Army or was it an upset? Or, even better, was it against Army and an upset? So that's the lens that I used to evaluate my choices. And if you happen to put together a list also, I'd be curious to know how closely it matched up with mine. And, by the way, one last thing before we get started. I'm going to be trying something slightly different this year. My plan is to give selections 10 through 2. They're just due, for sure. But the majority of this episode will be focused on the number one, most memorable moment, and I'll be able to go into quite a bit of detail too, because I'll have a special guest with me to help break it down.
Karl:So now that we've covered all that, let's go ahead and kick things off, coming in at number 10 in this year's countdown. We've got Navy football knocking off the 23rd ranked Memphis Tigers 56 to 44. I almost didn't include this game but ultimately decided that it did belong for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was a win against a ranked opponent, and that's always good, and Memphis was also the preseason favorite to win the conference. Besides that, this was the first really big test of the season after two relatively easy wins against Bucknell and Temple, and it was an opportunity to see if this new hybrid wing T installed by first-year offensive coordinator Drew Kronick was the real deal. The previous week the Memphis defense had held an explosive Florida State offense at just 12 points, so it seemed like the Tigers were more than capable of putting the clamps on Navy. Now.
Karl:It was a competitive game from the very start. Memphis led 14-7 after one quarter, but Navy's offense really found its rhythm after that. They ended up outscoring the Tigers 21-3 to take a 28-17 lead. Into the locker room at halftime, quarterback Blake Horvath was running the offense like he'd been doing it for years. He ran for 211 yards on just 12 carries, and that included a 7-yard TD and a monster 90-yard score that put the mids up by 19 with less than nine minutes to go in the game. Horvath also threw 492 yards and two touchdowns. Still, memphis had a chance to win the game after putting up two quick scores to close within five points 49 to 44. But Rayon Lane sealed the win with an 86 yard pick six with less than half a minute to go in the contest. So this win was the first really big indication that 2024 could be a really special season for the mids. Against the Tigers they racked up 566 yards of total offense and averaged nearly 11 yards per play. The team also scored 143 points through their first three games. The previous year they didn't reach that number until the eighth game. So this was very much a statement game for Navy and by knocking off the favorite Tigers they sent a clear message to the rest of the conference. That was good enough to grab the number 10 spot in our countdown.
Karl:Moving on to number nine, we've got the Navy men's cross-country team crushing Army in their star meet and then finishing the year with their fourth straight Patriot League championship. These days the college cross-country schedule is made up of a series of invitationals and actually the mids only have one dual meet each year, which, of course, is against Army. Lately, the men's cross-country team has been absolutely overpowering and on October 19, 2024, army wound up on the wrong side of another beatdown. Led by senior Murphy Smith, the mids placed nine runners among the first ten finishers. In fact, smith set a course record by covering the 4.9-mile distance in 23 minutes 25.8 seconds. That beat the previous record that had stood for nearly 17 years by four seconds and, by the way, that 4.9 miles corresponds to an 8k. The mids crushed the Black Knights 18 to 45. And remember, the lowest number wins in cross country, with the first five finishers for each team in a dual meet. Accounting for the scoring, navy's top five placed first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth, and they also took the next three spots, which pushed Army's last four point producers further down the line. It was a dominating win anywhere you look at it, and the Mids used this momentum to win the Patriot League Championships less than two weeks later. Once again, murphy-smith crossed the finish line first and seven other teammates placed in the top 10, as the Mids brought home their fourth straight title. This program continues to perform at an elite level year in and year out, which is why they landed at number nine on our list.
Karl:Now let's take a look and see who is at number eight. That would be Alexander Orr and Ramsey Killinger winning the US Intercollegiate Squash Doubles Championship. The College Squash Association is this sport's governing body, and each year they sponsor the Intercollegiate Doubles Championships. This past April they were held in Philadelphia, pennsylvania. The Navy Squash team finished 17-11 overall on the year and while they weren't able to advance beyond the division team championships, they did send a couple of teams to compete for the National Doubles title. Orr and Killinger were unstoppable. They won four straight matches on their way to the title, with three of them coming on. Three sets to nothing scores. For those of you who aren't familiar with squash, the games go to 15, and it's the best three out of five sets. This was the first national doubles titles for the mids since 2019, and it's their seventh overall, so Navy's most recent national championship comes in squash. The racket sport that's probably the least familiar to all of us, but Alexander Orr and Ramsey Killinger shined a pretty bright light on it this past spring, and that's why they pulled down the number eight position in this year's top 10 most memorable moments in Navy athletics.
Karl:At number seven, we turn our attention to women's golf, a team that won their second consecutive Patriot League title this year. This is one sport where there's no star match, because Army doesn't have a varsity women's golf team. So the mids' primary goal every year is to win the league championship. They brought back some strong players from last year's squad, so the chances of a repeat look pretty good Now. During the championships, navy was led by sophomore Emma Tang from Chino Hills, california. She posted an even par 216 over the three rounds and that was good enough to win the individual title. Four strokes behind her were teammates Sue Lee and Megan Kirkpatrick, and then Kira Howard placed 10th. The mids won the title by a pretty wide margin, and the good news is that the four who finished in the top 10 will all be returning next year. So congratulations to the women's golf team on a second straight league championship, putting them at number seven on our list.
Karl:Next up at number six, navy gymnast Isaiah Drake earns All-American honors for the second straight year. Following another clutch performance at the NCAA championships, drake became just the seventh ever Navy gymnast to pick up All-American status two years in a row, and the last guy to do it was Eric Swanson. That was way back in 1972 and 1973, so we're talking over 50 years. Drake is a senior from Los Angeles, california, and he competed in the all-around competition. The top eight finishers are recognized as first-team All-Americans. Things were still tight with two rotations left, though Drake had both the parallel bars and the high bar remaining, but he did post a good enough score in both of those events to secure the eighth and final spot. This was his third trip to the NCAA championships, and he closed out his career in style as one of the best ever in the history of Navy gymnastics. That's why Isaiah Drake gets the number six spot on our list of most memorable moments.
Karl:Now the guy coming in at number five is a pitcher on the Navy baseball team. His name is Landon Krewer and he's from Sellersburg, Indiana. Krewer just wrapped up his senior season as one of the best closers ever to come through the program, and he was especially dominant this year, posting an earned run average of just 1.97, while opposing batters only hit .204 against him. Here's another metric that demonstrated Krewer's overall effectiveness this past year His walks and hits per innings pitched, otherwise known as whip, was 1.16. The closer this number is to one, the better, because it means the pitcher doesn't allow a whole lot of base runners. Crewer's whip was the lowest on the team. Finally, this past spring he picked up two saves against Army, the second coming in the deciding third game of the series, which gave the mids the star. What makes this even more remarkable is that Landon Krewer wasn't even recruited to play baseball at Annapolis. He was an outstanding catcher in high school but didn't come up on the coaching staff's radar. But Krewer really wanted a shot at playing Division I baseball, so he walked on in the spring of 2022, looking to make the team as one of the catchers. That's when the coaching staff noticed that he had a pretty good arm and since the team already seemed to be set at catcher, krewer was converted into the mids closer and the rest, as they say, is history. He led the team in saves all four years and is now Navy's career leader in saves with 34. That's also the best mark in the Patriot League, and those two accomplishments are what put Landon Krewer at number five in this year's
Karl:countdown. The number four spot on our list belongs to the Navy women's swimming and diving team. This has been one of Navy Athletics' most consistent programs over the years, and they maintained their usual high standards this season by winning their 13th straight Patriot League Championship and 23rd overall. By the way, no other team in the league has more than four titles. This year the mids came out on top to a real team effort, and here's what I mean by that. Normally at these conference meets, the winning team has, you know, one, two, maybe three swimmers that win a couple of races, and they're supported by solid performances by their teammates. Now Mackenzie Kim did finish first in both the one and three meter diving events, and the team of Ella Habjan, Lauren Walsh, Carolyn Irwin and Catherine Weaverling got to the wall first in the 200-yard medley relay. Habjan, Walsh and Irwin were also joined by Tiffany Shields in the 400 medley relay, and the Navy women took that event as well. Shields in the 400 medley relay and the Navy women took that event as
Karl:well. But the interesting thing here was that the mids did not have a single winner in an individual swimming event at the Patriot League Championships. That is very unusual and it speaks to the team's tremendous depth. So even with no one swimmer taking first, the mids placed enough competitors high enough to grab the points needed in most of the events to win the title. Here's a quick example Army won the 500-yard freestyle event and earned 32 points. They also placed fifth and 12th, which were good for 25 and 15 points. Now I'm not going to go into the details of how points are distributed in a meet like this, but the bottom line is that the Black Knights' three best finishers totaled 72 points. Navy's first three women to touch the wall wound up taking fourth, which was 26 points, sixth, which was worth 24, and seventh place, which was worth 23 points. Some quick math tells you that comes out to 73. And it turns out when you add in the points of the other finishers in the event, the mids totaled 93 points compared to 88 for Army. It was like that for quite a few of the other swimming
Karl:events. So in a meet like this, it wasn't enough for a team to finish first in any given event. They needed to win the most number of points available. Navy leveraged their depth so effectively that they ended up winning the meet by 268 points, even though no individual competitor took the top spot on the podium. That's pretty incredible. So congratulations to the Navy Women's Swimming and Diving team on just an amazing performance. Their 13th straight Patriot League title and the way they won. It places them at number four in our countdown. At number three on the list we have the men's outdoor track and field team winning their 11th straight Patriot League title and sending five athletes to the NCAA championships. It seems like no top 10 list would be complete without this program making an appearance, and this year's men's team was loaded, no question about
Karl:it. At the Patriot League championships, the mids won seven events, those being the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, the 200m, the 400m, the 400m hurdles, the 10,000m and the high jump. They also finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the 5,000m, as well as 2nd and 3rd in the pole vault. But I'd have to say that the competitors that stood out the most for them this year were Murphy Smith in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and the members of the 4x400 meter relay team. The three mainstays in that group were Nathan Kent, Pete DeJong and Jacques Guillaume, and, depending on what was going on in a given meet, the fourth team member was either David Walker or Simon Alexander. All of those guys have been responsible for nine of the 10 best times in the program in the 4x400, including the first seven. Dejong, kent, alexander and Guillaume set a Patriot League record in winning this year with a time of 308.11, and then at the regional qualifier in Jacksonville, florida, kent, walker, dejong and Guillaume ran a program best 304.05 to qualify for nationals. Murphy Smith also made the trip to Eugene and all five athletes earned All-America recognition with top 10 program performances in those events, and Nathan Kent just barely missed out on getting a spot in the finals of the 400 meters by just two one hundredths of a
Karl:second. It was another fantastic year for the men's track and field team, and consistent standout performances from their five All-Americans pushed them all the way up to number three on our list of most memorable sports moments for 2025. Okay, now we're down to our last two spots, and the first thing I'll say is that the top two moments this year were pretty much no-brainers At least they were to me. The only question was what order should they be in? Trust me, this was not easy, but after reviewing my criteria, this is what I decided. Coming in at number two in our countdown, the Navy football team reclaims the Commander-in Chief's trophy and defeats Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl to finish the season at
Karl:10-3. I'd have to say that the Mids definitely exceeded my expectations this year. After the Memphis game. I felt pretty good about them pulling down at least eight wins and, despite the season Army was having, I thought they had a really good chance of knocking off the Black Knights too. So when the Mids took down Air Force in Colorado Springs in a dominant 34-7 win, they put themselves in a position to win the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy outright for the first time since 2019. Two months later, they squared off against an Army team that had just destroyed Tulane the previous week to take the American Conference Championship. But this game wasn't even that close. Blake Horvath thoroughly outplayed the Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daly, and the Navy offense racked up 384 yards, while holding the Black Knights to just 179. They didn't have a single turnover, while the Mids' defense intercepted Daly three times. The Mids put the game away early in the fourth quarter when Landon Robinson took a fake punt and picked up 24 yards. That led to Blake Horvath's second touchdown of the game, which made the score 28-13. Navy closed out the scoring with a Nathan Kirkwood field goal following an
Karl:interception. So with the Commander-in-Chief's trophy in hand, the Mids traveled to Fort Worth, texas, to take on Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl. That game was a lot different. The Sooners jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead. Before Coach Volker got the Navy defense dialed in, they shut down the OU offense in the middle part of the game, while Blake Horvath led the team on a drive that cut the lead in half 14-7 before halftime. Then, with just four minutes to go, in the third, he pulled the ball on an option and ran straight up the middle for a 95-yard touchdown. To tie the score, horvath added another with four and a half minutes to go, after a drive that ate up seven minutes and 32 seconds on the clock that gave the Mids a 21-14 lead. After Oklahoma scored, with six seconds to go to get within one, they decided to go for a two-point conversion and the win. But the Navy defense pressured sooner. Quarterback Michael Hawkins and Justin Reed came up with a big sack allowing the Mids to hang on
Karl:21-20. So that was a perfect ending to a terrific season of Navy football. The Mids had regained their explosiveness on offense to complement an already tough defense, and that combination played a huge role in producing 10 wins, taking back the Commander-in-Chief's trophy and pulling off a great bowl win against a blue chip football program in Oklahoma, and that's what got the team to the number two position in our 2025 countdown. All right, we are finally to number one on our list which Navy sports moments earned our top spot this year. Like I said, I had a tough time with this one, but when I took a look at all the teams involved, the backstory going back about a dozen years and what was at stake, it seemed to be the right choice. So here we go, coming in at number one on our list of most memorable moments in Navy athletics in 2025, the Navy women's lacrosse team crushes number two seed Army and stuns number one seed Loyola University in overtime to win the Patriot League championship, punching their ticket to the NCAA
Karl:tournament. Now, as I mentioned at the top of the show, I've got a really special guest joining me to talk about this moment in great detail, so you have got to stay with us. You'll be glad you did. Thanks for staying with us on Navy Sports Central, Karl Darden, here with you, and it is my pleasure to welcome back our guest for this segment for her third visit. She is Cynthia Lisa, from the class of 2000, who is, hands down, my go-to person for all things related to Navy women's lacrosse. Cynthia, thank you for joining us. Once again, I really appreciate you taking the time.
Cynthia:Thanks, thanks again for having me.
Karl:So what I wanted to do is and I kind of gave everybody a little bit of an idea of my criteria for selecting these top 10 moments and the first one being the significance of the game, meaning what was at stake here. Right, and obviously here we're talking about a chance to go to the NCAA tournament, so that was big in and of itself. The other thing we talked about, too, was you know, was this a rivalry game? And you know, obviously in the situation where you're looking at Navy athletics, there's no rivalry bigger than Army. But I think when you get into women's lacrosse, you can pretty much say that Loyola runs a really close second, and we can talk about that later. And then, finally, was this an upset? I think that we can probably make a pretty good case for that.
Karl:And then the other thing we'll talk about is individual performances. You know, what did we see on the field from the individual players that led to this victory? So that's the criteria, and now let's go ahead and set the stage. I think it's probably best to give everyone a sense of where the mids were heading into that game. So I'd like to start with your assessment of the team going into the season, and I think for that to really tell the story, we've got to backtrack to the championship game last year in 2024. That one for those of you who are listening and not aware, navy took Loyola to overtime in that game and just suffered a crushing defeat after just battling them the whole way. So, cynthia, as a coach and as a former player, how does a game like that affect the team's psyche in terms of getting ready for the next year in your mind?
Cynthia:I mean, you're just fired up, you are angry, you are depressed. I feel all the emotions for that. Whatever you're allotted, I give my players and myself 24 hours to feel it and then you're already looking ahead to the next season. So I imagine that the coaching staff let it go for about 24 hours. I think what compounded probably their frustration and anger and fueled their fire more was missing out on the tournament again last year, because that Patriot League title gives you an automatic bid. So when they didn't get either, I imagine they came back ready to go, ready for Loyola and again they lost in the regular season. So all of these compounding factors now are just motivating your team. That this is it. You know we're not going to let this happen to us again. We're not going to put in this position and if we are put in a position where we're tied again, we're going to be the ones to come out on top. So I mean you clearly you saw that.
Karl:Right, right. So now let's look at your assessment of the team. Coming into the spring Lost some good players, but, as you know, coach Tim Schell just has a knack for developing some depth. So who did you see as some of the key players that were going to be responsible for making sure that the mids were able to get back to that title game?
Cynthia:players that were going to be responsible for making sure that the mids were able to get back to that title game, sure. So Emily Messonese, you know a captain, she's an attacker but she's on the draw circle. She had the infamous lost tooth in the Navy game. You know that goes down in Navy women's lacrosse history. She's a fantastic young woman headed to flight school, but I really think she is a leader and a captain. Just it's 110 with her all the time.
Cynthia:So I think, having that there, um, one of the, you know we, we do talk about her. She gets the accolades and things like that. But one of the most important key factors is alyssa daly and the draw controls and what she has been able to do. You know, surpassing everything last year into this year, that was key, coming back. And then you have mckayla williams, who, weing everything last year into this year, that was key, coming back. And then you have Michaela Williams, who we talked about last year. Now she's a seasoned sophomore, got that youngster excitement with her. And also the goalie, felicia Giglio. So you have all these. Those to me are probably the most. You could probably list about 10 more girls who are, or 10 more sorry, they're not girls, they're young women. You know who who could fit in on that list, but I think those are some of the key players that really were impactful the entire season and you saw that and we knew that coming back into the year.
Karl:All right, very good. And, as I mentioned just a second ago, I continue to be amazed with coach Tim Schell's ability to just find these freshmen and not just freshmen either. They're fearless, ok they. They come in and have an immediate impact. And she's also been able to take players and put them in the system and develop them to the point where they have like a breakout year. Who did you see? That just kind of maybe not came out of nowhere, but you're just like going, wow, they really stepped up this year.
Cynthia:In my opinion, that was Emma Kennedy. She wasn't super on the radar last year, which is kind of where you want to be. You know, a lot of times these players aren't getting accolades, they're not the top goal scorers, things like that, but they're making things happen on the field and they're getting a lot of playing time and just consistently putting in the work to get better. And she had five goals in, you know, against army this year and that was huge, um, and and I don't even think she was a regular starter, so she was coming off the bench to perform like this Uh, she, to me, had a complete breakout year.
Cynthia:She's a junior, so she, you know, she's been working hard for for two years just to get there and then, you know, her time finally came whether it's age or sometimes it's injury or things like that that allow these players like, hey, now's my chance. And she stepped up and made that opportunity what it was worth for her. This year. She really, I felt like, had a, had a huge breakout year and now going into her first year is even you know well better position to stand out on the field.
Karl:And then jumping over to just the impact freshmen, I think anybody's been even remotely connected to, to following the team this year. Alyssa Chung is a no brainer. I mean, what a phenomenal player. So where did she come from and what can you tell us about her?
Cynthia:Where did she come from and what can you tell us about her? So she's a Severna Park native. She's, you know, local. Fantastic that Coach Timshaw was able to recruit her and keep her local and everything you know such a highly touted recruit she just a little short story. My high school team plays up at Severna Park at um over spring break every year and last year she was injured and my assistant coach and I are both Navy grads, navy lacrosse players, and she's over there doing wall ball you know.
Cynthia:So it's a tournament, all the teams are doing stuff and you see her doing well, well, and you know, we introduced ourselves and I said hey, I know you're going to Navy, best of luck If you need anything, something like that. So I think that just speaks to her dedication and work ethic and just an unbelievable player who got put on the stage as a, as a plea. But you know, not only are you a freshman, most people really don't understand that you're. You're not really a freshman, you're a plea. That is a very, very hard position you're still trying to figure out. You know, how do I get my uniform right?
Cynthia:probably well, maybe not by now, but, but let's hope not. But you know, to be able to find that level of success at some place like navy is is unbelievable, um, and those of us who went there can attest to that. But uh, she clearly is a force to be reckoned with and you know, a humble human and just grateful she's playing in in Bloomberg.
Karl:Okay, so season gets off to to a pretty decent start. As usual, coach Tim Shaw has a fairly tough non-conference schedule to get the team ready for Patriot League play, and I'm not going to go into all the details of the records here. But as they progressed through the season I felt like, okay, they've, they're definitely on an upward trajectory. But then, going into the Army game, I was, and first of all it was an away game, so I knew that that was going to be an issue. Secondly, I still felt like if they played up to their potential they were probably going to win, because even though Army's ranked about the same, I just felt pretty good, especially what we saw last year.
Karl:Both you and I saw the game last year live and that was a tremendous game. But unfortunately it was not the outcome we were looking for. It was, you know, army won 17 to 12. And as I looked at that, it was just another case of a team getting out of the gate slowly and then, by the time they were ready to come out there and play, it was a little bit too late to dig themselves out of that hole. So you compare that with what happened in the Patriot League semifinal, where they just rolled them 18 to nine same two teams. They're playing, like I don't know, 18, 19 days apart, completely different result. Now I know we're kind of speculating here, but as a coach, can you kind of maybe throw some thoughts out there on, okay, what possibly could have happened? Was it maybe just making some really good adjustments? Was it just them coming?
Cynthia:out with with more fire, or what do you think? So, you know, I think I must have been on a lacrosse field where I missed, like the first portion of the game. Um, but in my mind this was an easy victory. Um, you know, I've been watching the team. I know what they did last year to army. Army graduated a really good class. They still have some of their, their key stars. But so when I turned the game on, you know, I was like what is going?
Karl:on.
Cynthia:But you know, the stakes are always higher with the army Navy always higher, and you talk about that a lot. I think, um, nerves are a problem, you know. Um, that happened. Like you said, you're away, that is always, always hard because you're in enemy territory and the army navy you saw it last year we, the crowd was like thousands of people it was nuts, yeah it was.
Cynthia:It was one of the best games I've ever been to, um as far as the atmosphere. So now transfer that to the other side. That's very detrimental to your team, but it's hard to beat a team twice. It's hard to win twice in an Army-Native game. I think last year was unbelievable that they were able to beat them twice. So I think that while they made I'm sure they made key adjustments to their game and who they targeted to defend a little harder and where they decided to attack a little more, um, but I I I think they had lost the loyola in the regular season.
Cynthia:Now they've lost army, so they're coming in third so now the uphill battle is just even harder and and you know we've got all that energy from last year we lost the patriot league championship, we didn't make the tournament. Now we we've lost Loyola and Army again, like we're not going to let this happen and that, you know, mindset shift, I'm sure, and they just came out on fire and put Army on their backs right away and that was an unbelievable game.
Karl:Yeah, yeah. They literally just jumped out strong and just never, ever came off the gas. So that was great to see. Okay, now let's move on to the Loyola game and I was kind of reviewing the box score just a second ago and, different from the first Army game, the mids came out ready. They jumped out to a 4-3 lead in the first quarter and then the Greyhounds essentially just took control of the game in quarters numbers two and three. Uh, what do you recall about some of the things that they were doing that allowed them to seize control of the game like that in the middle half?
Cynthia:Georgia Latch she I mean she's their key, their key player. She had, I believe it was four goals. She's their key player. She had, I believe it was four goals, five assists.
Cynthia:So that's nine goals of their 13 that she was involved in and, if you remember, she scored the overtime goal last year against Navy to win. So I think it's a get her the ball and she has that mindset of I'm not going to stop and I'm going to put the team on my back and make it happen. They lost Sydney Black, who is another key scorer for them um. So I think that the weight shifted more to Georgia last, last year and I think she really she was in control of the game for a significant portion of it with Chase Boyle, who's you know a fantastic draw control um person. She's a midfielder. She was a torn finalist last year Between those two. I think they really just said, hey, we're going to make this happen for our team.
Karl:So, yeah, she was unstoppable. I mean, the mids is one of those situations where they didn't have a complete answer for her, but it was just a matter of just trying to disrupt her any way they could to kind of shift things in their direction. So now we kind of paint the picture here. I mean, we're talking about a situation where Loyola has just scored their third straight goal to go up 11 to 6. Now it is just a little over two minutes into the second half and, granted, lacrosse is a fast game and things can happen quickly, but the mids were dealing with a team that and, by the way, for those of you who are not familiar, let's talk about Loyola's record in the Patriot League just for a second. Okay, I mean it is unbelievable.
Karl:Cynthia, I don't know if we talked about this before, but I equate Loyola coming into the Patriot League in 2014 to a bully who has taken over a street corner.
Karl:I mean you know you're walking by the street, you know walking by the corner and they say, hey, give me your lunch money.
Karl:You know that sort of thing. But that's how it felt to me because they came in and they immediately had an impact and, like I said, for those of you who are not familiar, loyola has not lost a regular season game to a Patriot League opponent ever. It's like 93-0 we're looking at right now and on top of that, the only team to ever beat them was in the Patriot League tournament and also in the NCAA tournament has been Navy. So the Mids have been the only team that has been able to figure out how to beat them in the last basically 11 years. So hats off to the coach and their program for being able to establish that kind of dominance a NCAA bid on the line, because they got snubbed last year. So there's nothing to say that the same thing wouldn't happen this year Although it didn't, because Loyola also got in, but we didn't know that at the time, right, I mean. So that's the situation. As a coach, what do you tell your team?
Cynthia:It's hard time, you know? No, I think I think it's no, yes, it is a Titan and yes, it is the schoolyard bully, but you can't treat this too much bigger than it is. You have to just play the lacrosse, that you know how to play. Ground balls matter, draw controls matter, shot placement, shot decision-making defensively, not getting fouls, turnovers, things like that.
Cynthia:You really just have to focus on the game and try to take away that anxiety of we've never beaten them and we're, you know, the more you talk about never having beaten them, or this is our time to beat them, the more it's in a player's head of, hey, we've never beaten them. So you know, you just try to focus on what you can control and that's all the the little pieces of the game that really make the difference. And come down and in tight games like that, you look at some of the stats. You, which we were talking about, navy had 46 shots, loyola had 20.
Cynthia:Um, that we, you know, beat them in ground balls, we beat them in draw controls, we beat them in cause turnovers significantly. Um, they had more turnovers, more failed clears, things like that. That all add up and while it was only a one point game, you can see where Navy was just pounding and grinding and everything like that. And I think that, you know, is what the coaches, I'm guessing, you know, talk to them about. Like, hey, let's just do all the things that we can control, right, we cause that turnover, we go for that ground ball, we get the draw control. Um, you know, don't waste our shots against a fantastic goalie who won goalie of the year, so it's so hard. You know you can't ignore the um enormity of the game, but you also can't focus on it and only dwell on it with your athletes.
Karl:Right, right, and yeah, I did want to touch. I'm glad you mentioned a couple of things with regard to the shots on goal and also the performance of Loyola's goalie. She was seeing the ball really well in the first half, obviously, maybe got off to a quick start, but after that she really kind of got locked in and I noticed something a little bit different in the second half and I'm going to ask if you agree on this. I remember this from when I used to play like club lacrosse. You know, after I got out of the Navy, we had a really good goalie. I mean, he was awesome and he's also the coach of our team and one of the things he always told the offensive players I play defenseman, so I didn't really have to worry about any of this stuff, but he always said I play defenseman, so I didn't really have to worry about his stuff. But he always said hey, if a goalie is seeing something really well, give them a different look.
Karl:Yeah, right, and, and so what I was noticing in the second half is that, um, different from the first half. The Navy shot takers were, everything, was, was, was fairly, you know, high top part of the cage, that sort of thing Second half you started seeing a lot more low stuff. Okay, bounce shots or just in the case of the winning goal, which we'll talk about in a minute, was just a low laser. You know that sort of thing. So I was wondering if you could kind of discuss how changing things up a little bit when it comes to attacking the goal can really make a huge impact and, in fact, get inside of a goalie's head a little bit.
Cynthia:Yeah, I mean, goalies are amazing human beings. I could never get in that goal. And have you know, lacrosse balls fired at me by like Alyssa chunk speed, you know, some 77 miles per hour, um, but they succumb easily to the pressures of their position. Not everybody, you know, it's varying levels, but if you can get in a goalie's head and start to just pick away at it, pick away at it, you are now in control of the game.
Cynthia:I think that there's lots of ways that you can change up what you're doing and shot placement is one of them. Shot placement as far as, like you mentioned, high or low, where the shot is coming from, from the right side, from the elbow, from the crease, um, where, whether you're moving the ball, you know. If she was seeing a lot more of the assists happen and she was ready for that, expecting, you know, maybe she had. They had scouted Navy as an assist team, so Navy said, hey, we're going to go more one V one, so she's not expecting it as much as she's expecting the pass. All of those things are definitely ways that you can change up how you're impacting your shots, and not necessarily just you know, okay, we need to shoot and she was having a good day going high so I said, all right, let's just, let's do this and, um, yeah, and I mean fantastic job with by the coaches and switching it up and the players for adapting to it right, right, yeah, that was uh.
Karl:That was definitely key, and I did want to go talk to um one particular shot again. This is on a. This is towards the end of the game. It was a free position shot that Alyssa Chung took and I remember you describing in our last conversation how much of a difference there is in the athleticism of these young women over, say, the last five years or so, and there's a lot of factors that contribute to that. But Alyssa Chung got fouled and she had a free position opportunity from the left side and I can't remember if she's right or left-handed. I'm pretty sure she's right-handed.
Cynthia:It's hard to tell right.
Karl:Yeah, exactly.
Cynthia:Because I mean she can deliver from both sides, no doubt.
Karl:And the shot that she took. Literally I'm like looking at this and when I saw it go past the goalie, first of all, I didn't even see it go past the goalie number one. Secondly, I rewound the DVR so I could watch it again in real time, because, had I not known that it was a women's lacrosse game, that looked like a guy taking that shot, because of just the force and the power of it all. Yeah, I guess I just want to get your thoughts on that, because that's just something that you did not see a couple of years ago.
Cynthia:No, I mean, women have taken a lot or adapted a lot from the men's game and this is definitely an area where you see it now, which you never saw in my day no one was firing it in from the eight meter. You know, we've played against top recruits where they're firing it in even from the the nine or ten spot and you're like I was not, I didn't think you could shoot out there. Um, whereas in the guys game they're shooting from every distance. Um, I think one thing about alissa chung she's obviously strong, she's got that in innate. You know shot placement and things like that. But what really makes her a special player is her um, lax IQ and her ability to adjust. So you're not every time she gets on the pre-position shot, you don't know what you're going to get.
Cynthia:She might run it in, she might send that lower corner, whip past the goalie, shot Um, and that's what makes her so dangerous. And I think you know when we're talking about attacking and how you can change things up. Sometimes your best shot is getting into the eight meter and drawing a foul, or, you know, getting that shooting space foul and if you put it in Alyssa Chung's stick it's going to go in on the eight meter because of all those options that she has and she, um, she takes. So her shots are just, it's just incredible and it doesn't just happen. She's clearly put in a ton of work and the coaching staff is clearly developed, continue to develop. You know what she already had and made her just that, just a sniper from wherever she is.
Karl:It's incredible so, yeah, I think that, uh and you mentioned, uh, how much of a quality shooter she is In the game she took 10 shots, had five goals, so I mean, from an efficiency perspective, that's not too bad. Also picked up a couple of ground balls. Let's talk about some of the other players that had an excellent game against Loyola that allowed them to pull this out. We've already talked about Alyssa Chung, who are some of the folks that you spotted that made a big difference.
Cynthia:So Alyssa Daly, a hundred percent. You know I mentioned her once already, but going up against Chase Boyle. So Chase Boyle is another. I think she had 200 plus draw controls this season. One of the reasons she was a Torton finalist last year was was her draw controls and her ability. Dan adobe, who's the loyola coach, is one of the best draw control um coaches out there and she always develops her player incredibly. So for alissa daily to come in and maybe to have more draw controls than loyola, I think was a huge difference maker in the game um. Her ability whether it's drawing to herself sometimes it's just so she makes it look incredibly easy, or she's getting it out and the Navy players are picking it up. Either way, it's just, it's just incredible. I think that was a huge, huge factor for Navy. I think you know Alyssa Chung obviously we've talked about her.
Cynthia:I think some of the defenders you're mentioning defenders it's so hard because you know the defenders never get the credit that they deserve, or rarely. Rarely do they get the credit they deserve. If they don't do their job, they get in trouble. If they do their job, no one really notices. You have you have some strong defenders out there and some strong underclass defenders. Jacqueline Johns led the team this year in cost turnovers and she's only a sophomore, and I believe she had two in the Loyola game. Another one Landon Kane had three cost turnovers in the Loyola game and she's only a sophomore.
Cynthia:One of my favorite defenders to watch is Grace Peterson, because she is so incredibly fast on the clear and that is such an underrated um spot right there, like if you can't clear the ball, it's. It's not like men's where you have a certain time limit, but you do have a time limit um, because the shot clock's running. So I think, if you know she's getting the ball and she is busting down to the other end, you know, I think that's. That's really important. But I also think you had um. Obviously Michaela Williams won the tournament um MVP and she only had two goals in the um in the final game. But what doesn't always get recognized and I talked about this a little bit with Emma Kennedy is the.
Cynthia:It's just the work they're doing and the off ball work and the making and Alyssa Chung get open or you know, an Emily Emily Macedese assist or whatever it's happening. Mckayla Williams is almost always a part of it and she's always working. So I think she got recognized for that. She had some earlier games with more goals, but I think she's just one of the people that you want out there on the field on your offense, always working, and she's on the draw circle too a lot of times. So those are kind of some of the highlights for me.
Karl:Yeah, I concur with all those assessments because the players are really special and you're right about the, the defenders too. I mean the one stat you might see that kind of contributes. Besides the cost turnovers which is a big one is is is maybe ground balls, right, I mean just being able to get there and change the possession over by hustling to a ball and getting it up there. But you're right, I mean, a lot of times you just don't know the impact of these players unless you actually watch them play. So thank you for sharing that.
Karl:Oh, one last thing and this has to do with something we talked about offline was unassisted versus assisted goals in a particular game. Whenever I watch lacrosse, I love to see a play develop where the ball works its way around to X and you have an attacker back there looking for cutters and just like the bang-bang nature of the game where pass shot and before the goalie can get their head turned around, it's in the back of the net. We saw not quite that sort of thing in the Loyola game. There's a lot more unassisted goals. What do you attribute that to?
Cynthia:They probably liked their matchups. A lot of times it's a game of can I beat my defender? And that is most likely what they were seeing, whether it was they were getting the right matchups or certain people had the right matchups. So what I say, what I mean by that, is you know if, if I consider you a weaker defender, I'm either going to attack every time that you're defending me or we want to get you to be defending a specific player so she can attack Um, and based on the variety of goals, goal scores in the game, I imagine that they liked a lot of their matchups and the coaches probably said, hey, you've got this, you can beat that girl and let's, as an attack, make space for her to do that.
Cynthia:If the entire attack or the entire unit isn't working together or the 1v1s don't work, the off-ball, whatever's happening, whether it's movement or holding space is, is equally important to that one V one happening. So that is my guess from a standpoint that that's probably what was happening was that they liked their matchups. They felt like they could win the one V one matchup and it's a little less dangerous than moving the ball around. Maybe you know they considered Loyola, uh, to predict what was happening with the assists and things like that, um, and you know I'd have to look at you know you mentioned it and I didn't.
Cynthia:I don't know this stat, but if in their earlier Loyola game that they lost over time, I won, um, if they had more assisted goals. So they were anticipating Loyolaola, maybe scouting that and expecting the assist. So when it wasn't working, they said, hey, we gotta switch to more, more dodges, right, and the dodge is always what you tell players is what starts your offense. Um, you've got to start the offense with the drive and someone's got to get the defense moving and thinking, um, because if you're just moving the ball sometimes, sometimes they aren't moving as much.
Karl:OK. So before we leave this, I want to just kind of set the last play up for everybody. We're looking at first overtime period. We're about, I guess, three minutes and 45 seconds in something like that, and Navy's got the ball on the clear. I guess there's a I don't know if the ball went out of bounds or something like that, I can't remember it was a turnover but Ava Yovino had the ball on her stick and Navy was starting to clear it and I'm thinking, okay, let's just get it on our end.
Karl:And she just took off and started running and the announcer said something that just made me laugh. He goes well, I guess, if, uh, if your Navy, you want to clear the ball, just give the Yovino, because that's like a self-service there. So she was in the offensive end immediately and then she got the ball to Mikayla Williams and I'm wondering if you could kind of take us through what happened from there.
Cynthia:Um, she, she just beat her defense. I mean it almost, it almost looked too easy. You know like she, she beat her. She had so much space which is again a tribute to the entire offensive unit working together. And and she shot, and she scored. I was like it. It couldn't have been that easy you know like easy. Obviously I'm saying that you know they, these are incredible athletes. It's probably a planned play that they had worked on and set up.
Cynthia:But it really. She really did a tribute to m McKillop to make it look so easy She'd be her girl and put the ball where she needed to. And that was it was like did that really just happen?
Karl:I think she even was just like yeah, it was great because I mean the shot was, I mean it was a, like I said it was a low, said it was a low, low shot. At first I thought it was a bounce shot, but when I watched it again it was. It was tracking maybe two, two feet off the ground and just went right past the goalies left side there. And uh, what a tremendous feeling that must have been when she dropped that stick and just everybody just erupted around her.
Cynthia:That was fantastic I know, and to speak to that shot too, I mean, think about the strength it takes to drop your stick. So now you're talking a ton of wrist strength and then to also have that speed, power and accuracy is just, it's uncanny. I mean, it's really, really phenomenal and clearly something she's practiced and worked on and the coaching staff has developed.
Karl:So it was really great, came from the right side.
Cynthia:I mean she came from the correct side. You know what I mean. Like it was just great.
Karl:Yeah, okay, so you know that about does it for the discussion of the game. Really exciting year for women's lacrosse. And, by the way, the one thing I did want to mention was that at the beginning of the year, emily Messonese was featured in an article in Inside Lacrosse magazine and after reading it, that's when I said to myself I think they got a pretty good shot of taking it this year, and luckily they made me look like a prophet, so that was good to see.
Cynthia:We'll take it Right really.
Karl:Okay, we're going to go ahead and take a short break now, but before we do that, I did want to give you all a couple of ways to stay up to date on Navy sports. The first is to join the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page. I've got a link to that in the show notes. Just click on it, answer a couple of questions and you'll be good to go. The second way takes even less time. Just hit the follow button on whichever platform you're listening to this podcast right now. It can be Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheartradio, it doesn't matter. Once you do that, every episode will be downloaded to your directory when it's released and you can listen to it whenever you're ready. So please consider becoming a member of our group and you can actually tap that follow button right now to show your support for the podcast. I'm looking forward to having you join us. We'll be right back. Okay, thanks for staying with us everyone.
Karl:My guest Cynthia Lisa and I have been discussing the most memorable moment in Navy athletics this season, and we are just about finished. I wanted to wrap things up here by asking what your take is on the next couple of seasons. Really exciting year this year, obviously losing some players to graduation, including Messonese, but again we're looking at some pretty good depth here. What do you see moving forward?
Cynthia:Like they say about the big teams, navy doesn't rebuild, they reload. You know they have a very strong junior class. You mentioned Evio, vino, maggie DeFabio back from injury, the goalies of sophomore. I mentioned the three. You know two defenders who were sophomores. Another defender who saw a lot of playing time was Tiana Griffin. She's another freshman. One of the names that I want you to remember who got a lot of playing time was Taylor Miles. You may be familiar with her dad. He's a very famous Navy lacrosse player, hall of Fame type. Both of her sisters had transferred to Northwestern. Her sister was in the national championship game, got a lot, a lot of press, a lot of playing time this year. I think she played. She's a freshman and I think she played in every single game this year. So again, look for her to start. You know, filling in maybe an Emily Messonnier's role or things like that, but I think you'll. You'll see that.
Cynthia:I think, that probably the biggest question mark will be the draw controls. Losing such a dominant BOGO like Alyssa Daly will raise questions in how do we fill that spot? But no doubt this coaching staff has a plan for that as well. But I cannot see this team dropping off at all the recruits they're bringing in. You know I've got two high schoolers right now of my own and I'm a high school coach, so I see a lot of the recruits and who they're pulling in is just incredible and a testament to, clearly, the coaching staff, the program that these young women have built, but also the Naval Academy as an institution. So I can't see anything, you know, really, really being tough for them and I just hope they continue to build. I finished the year, I think 14th or 15th, yeah, ranked you know, so just unbelievable, right, right, okay.
Karl:So the last thing I'm going to bring up here and it's something that's always been kind of lurking in the back of my mind is how long Coach Timchal plans to stick around here. We're talking about a coaching legend, but she just wrapped up her 43rd year. I mean that in and of itself is just truly amazing, and as much as you just want her just to kind of keep on going nothing lasts forever. So I'm just wondering what is going on there. As a fan, I got to tell you I dread the day when she announces that she's going to step away from the game, but she's clearly earned the right to do that on her own terms. What do you think that Coach Timchal has meant to Navy Women's Lacrosse in particular, but even on a larger scale, navy athletics as a whole, up to this point?
Cynthia:Yeah, I mean, I've coached for almost half as long as she has, and the energy and passion that she brings to every game, every talk, every meeting, everything is just unbelievable. Unbelievable um to do that for 43 years and create the legacy and you know legend, you know the the tree of coaches that she has the tree, you know her players. It's just unbelievable and and just so incredible um for navy to have um. You know it's so interesting because with chet gladchuck moving on and retiring and he brought her in. You know best move, best move that he made in my opinion.
Cynthia:Sure, I don't doubt that yeah but I also think she surrounds herself with a just like being a part of a lacrosse team, that's, um, you know, you have to be a part of the team. Her coaching staff, they are a team and they're all just incredible. They have, you know, they've done a really good job of including the alumni, more so recently, um, so I've had a chance to be a part of alumni weekends and things like that, and you can really see that they work as a team and they all support each other and she develops her coaches just as she develops her players. I don't know, you know what that, what that day will look like? I have no idea. I don't know you know what that, what that day will look like? I, I, I have no idea. I don't know that she she will probably know when she knows, but I can't. I mean, she has so much energy and passion and excitement. I don't know, I can't imagine it running. I literally can't imagine it running out you know.
Cynthia:Um. So so you have a program that she has built. She has drawn in this talent both on her coaching staff, her support staff and with the players, and I can't imagine that when she does decide to walk awayathy reese has obviously been an incredible um coach there and continued on the legacy, so she's she's great at that too. Um, it will definitely be, I think, a tough day for for navy women's lacrosse, but she, like I said she will, she will ensure that it's set set up for success for the future yeah, yeah, yeah, well, yeah, well said I.
Karl:Uh, I have nothing but admiration for, for Coach Timchal, I mean, ever since she was brought on, and I was just tremendously pleased with the approach that, uh, the Academy took when it came to hiring a coach, because obviously you're, you're transitioning from club to to the varsity level and it could have been, it would have been really easy, right to just go out there and find a good quality coach, but you know one with like zero head coaching experience that you're just looking to. Okay, just have her cut her teeth on this program. It's, we're going after the best of the best here, and when we landed Coach Timchal, I felt like we'd won the lottery.
Cynthia:Yeah, I mean, and you know there are, there are quite a few coaches in the area you know, um, obviously in the DMV, who could have filled that role and everything, and and even now, um, you see kind of people moving around and programs kind of locally. But just I mean for and for her to leave Maryland I mean Navy obviously is a very prestigious institution and everything but to take a club program to a varsity program after winning you know eight straight national championships. Um, and it could have been like this is my time to enjoy coaching. Take the pack off, I'm going to have some fantastic young women but, I don't need to.
Cynthia:you know, and and no, it was nope, we're going to do this. We are going to be a national competitor, we are going to win the Patriot League. We are going to beat army.
Cynthia:Um you know so. So kudos, obviously for the selection and for her passion and excitement for for Navy. And it's always hard, I think as an alumni you know it's your program, you have a lot of sentimental value and you want it's like your baby. You don't want just anyone to be in charge of it and you can't ask for a better coaching staff than they've had and a better leader who they've had all this time.
Karl:So it's just been been very, very special to be a part of yeah, yeah, and just to finish up, the thought on what the program has meant to Navy athletics. I think historically and by that I mean the last 15 years or so for sure I think that they've probably been one of the standard bearers for Navy athletics across the board because of their consistency, and that is due largely to the impact of Coach Timshaw. I mean, year after year, she always has her teams ready to compete for a title. I have learned so much about the women's game since she took over the program, and a lot of that is because of me wanting to watch the types of players that she puts on the field. So you know, that's my perspective on the kind of impact she's had on the program, and I just can't say enough about her. Okay, cynthia, thank you so much for spending time with me today. It was just awesome having you here to recap what I believe to be the most memorable moment in Navy athletics this year.
Cynthia:Thanks for having me, as always.
Karl:All right, you take care, okay. All right, we are almost to the finish line here on Navy Sports Central. Our question of the day is coming up next. This being the last episode covering this sports season, I decided to hold off on putting out a new question of the day, but I did want to recap the previous one. You may recall that it had to do with navy quarterbacks. Here was the question bl.
Karl:Blake Horvath finished 2024 with over 1,200 rushing and passing yards in the same season. He was the third Navy quarterback to hit those numbers. Another one was Kenan Reynolds. Now, who was the first to accomplish that feat? Was it A Roger Staubach, b Chris McCoy, c Craig Candido or D Ricky Dobbs? Taking a look at the responses, it looks like 50% of you went with Ricky Dobbs. Next was Chris McCoy 26% of you selected him, another 16% went with Roger Staubach and, finally, 8% of you chose Craig Candido. Now, ricky Dobbs is a really good guess. He did have over 1,200 yards rushing and passing, but not in the same season. In 2009, he ran for 1,203 yards and he had 1,031 yards through the air. Then, in 2010, he threw for 1,527 yards and rushed for 967. So definitely some great numbers there. But in each of those two years one of the stats we were looking for fell just short. So it turns out that the correct answer was Chris McCoy. He was the quarterback at Navy from 1995 through 1997, and it was in his senior season that he had 1,370 rushing yards, while passing for 1,203 more. Mccoy is probably one of Navy's more underrated quarterbacks. He did a great job running the option when Paul Johnson was the Mids Offensive Coordinator in 1996. Then Coach Niyamata Lolo took over the job when Johnson left to become the head coach at Georgia Southern in 1997. So nice job to those of you who came up with Chris McCoy. And, by the way, in the 1990s the Mids won a grand total of 41 games. Mccoy was the starter during the only two winning seasons Navy had in 1996 and 1997. The Mids record during those two years was 16-7, and that included a 9-3 campaign in 1996 that finished up with a win in the Aloha Bowl over the University of California.
Karl:That's going to do it for this edition of Navy Sports Central. Thank you all so much for joining us Now. If you like what you've heard, please be sure to hit that follow button wherever you get your podcasts, and remember to get the word to all the other Navy fans out there. Once again, I'd like to give another shout out to Cynthia Lisa from the class of 2000 for sharing some terrific insights on the Navy Women's Lacrosse program. I've got to say that I walk away from every one of our conversations feeling a little bit smarter about the game. So great job, cynthia. I couldn't have done today's deep dive segment without you.
Karl:And just a quick reminder the views expressed on Navy Sports Central are my own and do not reflect those of the US Naval Academy or Navy Athletics. By the way, the music used in Navy Sports Central comes to you courtesy of Audio Jungle. This is a great site for purchasing the rights to use the music from thousands of artists around the world, and those featured in the podcast will be credited in our show notes. Talk to you soon, everybody. Until next time. This is Karl Darden. Go Navy, beat Army.
