 |  |
Mulvey & Wertz Notch Hat-Tricks as No. 14 Navy Downs Iona 14-10 in 2008 Eastern Opening Round
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Mike Mulvey (Sr., Carlsbad, Calif.) and Kyle Wertz (Fr., San Diego, Calif.) both recorded hat-tricks as No. 14 ranked the United States Naval Academy handled Iona College 14-10 in the opening round of the 2008 Eastern Championship at Navy.
Navy advances to face No. 12 ranked Saint Francis College at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22 in the second of two semifinal games set for Saturday. Iona will continue the tournament at 4:00 p.m. on the 22nd against Bucknell University in a consolation game which wil determine one of two berths in the fifth place game.
The 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2007 Eastern Champion, Navy is looking to become the first program since the 1993-96 University of Massachusetts' squads to win three or more consecutive Eastern titles. Navy and St. Francis have met three times for the Eastern title since 2000 with the Midshipmen taking the 2000 and 2007 crowns and falling in the 2005 title tilt.
Against Iona, Navy fell behind 1-0 53 seconds into the game on a catch-and-shoot by Joe Przekota (Jr., Park Ridge, Ill.), but the Mids turned broadsides firing in goals by Johnny Meiners (Jr., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Wertz and Alex Kofsky (So., Los Angeles, Calif.) at 6:38, 5:33 and 5:05, respectively, to pull ahead 3-1. The Gaels closed out the first period with another goal to cut the game to a two-score affair as Seth Tasman (So., Orlando, Fla.) beat Navy goalie Brett Rajchel (Jr., Winter Park, Fla.) with 1:16 remaining on the clock for a 3-2 game after eight minutes of play.
The teams traded goals to open the second period as Mulvey drilled a penalty shot at 7:34 before Przekota added another score at 6:57 to keep the game at a goal difference.
Navy quickly pushed the margin to four goals as Luke Baldwin (So., La Grange Park, Ill.) scored on an exclusion at 6:32 before Mulvey completed his hat-trick with markers at 4:31 and 4:01 to give the Mids a 7-3 lead.
Iona came back to slice the margin to three with an advantage goal by Patrick St. Cin (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) at 3:30, but Navy outscored the Gaels 3-1 down the stretch to carry a 10-5 lead into halftime.
Kofsky started the run at 2:16 with an exclusion goal before Chuck Baker (Sr., Greenwich, Conn.) and Jordan Carter (So., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) tallied goals at 1:18 and 11 seconds to sandwich a marker by the Gaels' Emre Erdogan (Jr., Izmir, Turkey), who scored at the 35 seconds mark.
Kevin Bell (Jr., Naperville, Ill.) and Wertz effectively clinched the game with goals at 6:45 and 6:14 of the third period to build the lead to a nearly insurmountable 12-5 margin as Iona outscored the Midshipmen 5-2 in the final period of play but were unable to overcome the seven-goal deficit.
In cage, Rajchel picked up the win for Navy making 14 saves, while Iona's Eric Konzem (So., Humble, Texas) took the loss with four blocks.
The game marked the second meeting of the year between Navy and Iona following a 10-5 win as the Midshipmen improved to 18-9 on the year, 8-4 against the other Eastern programs. Iona fell to 15-18 on the year, including a 2-9 mark against the other Eastern teams.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Iona | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| Navy | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
Navy Goals: Kyle Wertz (3); Mike Mulvey (3); Kevin Bell (2); Alex Kofsky (2); Jordan Carter; Luke Baldwin; Johnny Meiners; Chuck Baker
Iona Goals: Joe Przekota (4); Patrick St. Cin (2); Nick Velasquez; Seth Tasman; Emre Edrogan; Matt Joslyn
Saves: Navy - Brett Rajchel (14) ; Iona - Eric Konzem (4)
Ejections: Navy - 10 ; Iona - 6
Sprints: Navy - 4 (All - Luke Baldwin) ; Iona - 0
