BALTIMORE, Md. - Smartlink Player of the Game Tommy Phelan (Towson, Md.) helped stymie the Army attack with a career-high tying 16-save effort, while junior attackman Brendan Connors (Bellmore, N.Y.) scored three goals and added a pair of assists to help lead the Navy men's lacrosse team (9-3, 4-2 Patriot League) to an 8-4 victory over Army (5-7, 1-5 PL) Saturday afternoon in the opening contest of the Day of Rivals event played at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.

Navy has now won 14 of the last 15 contests in the series, including 11 of the last 12 Star Games. With better than 20,000 fans in attendance, Saturday's contest at M&T Bank Stadium marked just the second neutral site meeting between the two programs and the first time the Star Game has been contested on neutral ground.

"I am enormously grateful to have won this game," said Navy's Richie Meade, who owns a 14-3 record against Army since taking over the coaching duties in 1995. "It's been a very long year for us and for me personally after having lost to Army last year. Not a day passed that I did not think about that game. It was a game that Army deserved to win because they were able to accomplish all of the intangibles and we were unable to match them. This year, I think we were that team."

The Mids' defense, ranked No. 4 in the country, surrendered just four goals in the win, holding Army to its lowest goal output since April 4, 2008, when Bucknell defeated the Black Knights, 7-4, in Lewisburg, Pa. Phelan played a huge role in what marked his third straight game of making 15 or more saves.

"Our defense has been in a groove the last few weeks," added Meade. "Inserting Tommy Phelan into the lineup has given us a lot of maturity, as well as stability. He played an outstanding game for us."

"Last year was disappointing for me personally because I?got to thinking that I?was the only Navy goalkeeper to have lost to Army in the last decade," said Phelan, who was named last week's Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week after making a career-high 16 saves against Maryland.

"I got a chance to redeem myself and also help lead my teammates to a victory. While I certainly prepared throughout the week like it was Army, once I got into the game, I?put it out of my head and played like it was any other team. Last year, I think I got a little too excited, too emotional. So I?just wanted to go into the game relaxed."

Army put the first goal of the game on the scoreboard when senior middie Kevin LoRusso took a pass from Tyler Oates, tucking in an extra-man score at 11:10 in the opening quarter for the Black Knights. It was Army's only man-up goal on four opportunities on the day, while it was just the fifth goal Navy's top-ranked man-up defense has surrendered this spring.

The Mids evened the game at one apiece when Connors fed senior defensive midfielder Geoff Leone (Massapequa, N.Y.), who punched in the goal on the crease. The Leone goal helped trigger a 4-0 run by the Mids, including three goals in less than a minute.


Thirty-eight seconds elapsed before junior midfielder Joe Lennon (Westminster, Md.) sent a skip-pass to Navy's go-to player on extra-man, junior Evan Sullivan (Westfield, N.J.), who fired in a seven-yarder to give the Midshipmen a lead they would not relinquish.

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2009-04-11