Falcons Hit The Road For Pair Of GWLL Contests (4/18/06)

The Air Force lacrosse team (7-6, 2-0) hits the road for a pair of league contests this week. First, the Falcons will travel to Butler on Friday, April 21, for a 3:00 p.m. (ET) contest. Then, Air Force wraps up the weekend at Ohio State on Sunday, April 16, with a 12:00 p.m. (ET) contest.


Last Time Out...
Air Force hosted non-conference foe Bucknell and league rival Notre Dame in a pair of contests last weekend. The Falcons dropped a close 7-6 decision to the Bison on Friday, their first home loss of the season, but rebounded with a 9-8 upset of then-ninth-ranked Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon.

Against Bucknell, Air Force trailed 2-0 after one period of action, but notched five unanswered goals in the second quarter to take the 5-2 halftime lead. However, the Bison controlled the tempo in the second half, outscoring the Falcons 5-1 en route to the victory.

Junior Will Meister led Air Force with five points, all in the first half, on one goal and four assists.

The Falcons again trailed early against Notre Dame, giving up a 3-0 advantage in the second period. However, three Air Force goals in the final two and a half minutes of the half, included an unassisted score by freshman Griffin Nevitt with just two seconds left on the clock, tied the score 3-3 at intermission.

The two teams continued to trade goals after the break, but junior Conrad Lochocki notched four of his career-high tying goals in the second half to give the Falcons the advantage. A score by senior John Smith at the 12:24 mark in the fourth quarter put Air Force up for good, as the Falcons held on for the 9-8 upset victory.

Goalkeeper Justin Pavoni gave a clutch performance against the Irish, tallying 13 saves, including five in the fourth period, to help secure Air Force’s victory.


Head Coach Fred Acee...
Air Force head coach Fred Acee is in his ninth season at the helm of the Falcons’ program and his 39th season overall as a collegiate lacrosse coach.

A 1963 graduate of Cortland State, Acee coached at SUNY-Farmingdale, a two-year college on Long Island, for 30 years, compiling an overall mark of 312-119-1 and advancing to the NJCAA Final Four 25 times. Since Acee’s arrival at the Academy in the fall of 1997, the Falcons have yearly played top notch Division I schedules, compiling a record of 33-82.


Scouting the Bulldogs...
Butler enters this weekend’s contest with a 3-8 overall mark, and 0-2 record in the GWLL. The Bulldogs are coming off a 14-10 loss to Ohio State last weekend.

Cliff Smith leads Butler’s offense with 24 points (20 goals, four assists) on the season, while Jeremy Sieverts (13 goals, five assists) and Adam Wade (11 goals, six assists) have 18 and 17 points, respectively. Ryan Kaiser has seen the majority of action in goal for the Bulldogs, tallying 85 saves and a GAA of 9.87.

Butler is coached by Stan Ross (Loyola ‘96), who has compiled a 8-15 career mark in his second season at the helm of the Bulldogs’ program.


Scouting the Buckeyes...
Ohio State, which began the season with an 0-4 mark, currently holds a 5-4 overall record, 2-0 mark in the GWLL and will host Denver before playing Air Force on Sunday. The Buckeyes, winners of five straight contests, are coming off a 14-10 victory over league opponent Butler.

Joel Dalgarno leads the Ohio State’s offense with 28 points (18 goals, 10 assists), while Andrew Bender ranks second on the team with 13 goals and 14 assists (27 points). Freshman goalkeeper John Bolen is undefeated in four starts between the pipes for the Buckeyes and holds a .644 save percentage and 7.55 GAA.

Ohio State is coached by Joe Breschi (North Carolina ‘90), who has compiled a 70-50 career ledger in his ninth season at the helm of the Buckeyes’ program.


In the Series...
Butler holds an 8-4 advantage in the all-time series against Air Force, but the Falcons have won three straight, including an 11-8 win at the Academy last season. Meanwhile, in a series dating back to 1967, Air Force trails 11-9 against Ohio State, and has lost eight in a row against the Buckeyes. Ohio State registered an 11-7 victory over the Falcons last season at the Academy.


AF in the Coaches poll...
In the USILA/STX Coaches Poll released April 17, Air Force is one of four teams receiving votes. Two other GWLL teams, Denver (#15) and Notre Dame (#19), are ranked among the top 20 teams, while two other teams that the Falcons have played this season, UMBC (#14) and Army (#18) are also among the ranked teams.


Falcons in the National Rankings...
In the latest national rankings through games of April 16, Air Force found itself ranked in the top-50 in every statistical category. The Falcons are rated 13th in scoring defense (7.69), 23rd in scoring margin (+0.69),24th in man-down defense (.721), 29th in win percentage (.538), 33rd in scoring offense (8.38), 36th in face-off win percentage (.466) and 39th in man-up offense (.235).

In addition, several Air Force players are rated in the individual rankings. Junior Will Meister is currently 12th in the nation in assists per game (1.85) and 47th in points per game (2.77), sophomore Kevin Crumrine is rated 47th in goals per game (1.77), goalkeeper Justin Pavoni is rated 14th, 17th and 23rd in save percentage (.581), goals against average (7.91) and ground balls (4.62), respectively, and face-off specialist Kyle O’Neill ranks 36th (.473) in face-off win percentage.

In the GWLL rankings, Meister leads the league in assists per game and ranks seventh in points per game, while Crumrine is tied for eighth and Conrad Lochocki and Griffin Nevitt are tied for 10th place (1.54) in goals per game. Pavoni is first in saves per game (10.54), second in ground balls per game and third in save percentage and goals against average. Finally, O’Neill and John Smith (.469) rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in face-off win percentage.


How They Rate...
Butler ranks in the top-50 nationally in five statistical categories, including 34th in face-off win percentage (.471). Face-off specialist Phil Brauch leads the way with a .513 win percentage, ranking 26th individually. In the GWLL rankings, Cliff Smith is tied for fourth in goals per game (1.82), Brauch ranks fourth in ground balls per game (4.36) and Ryan Kaiser is fifth in saves per game (8.50), save percentage (.506) and goals against average (9.87).

Ohio State is ranked in the top-25 in the nation in man-down defense (13th, .756), win percentage (21st, .556), and scoring offense (23rd, 9.44). Meanwhile, Andrew Bender ranks 17th in assists per game (1.56) and Joel Dalgarno ranks 23rd in points per game (3.11) and 24th in goals per game (2.0). In the GWLL rankings, Dalgarno leads the league in points per game and is second in goals per game, Craig Nolan is third in goals per game (1.88), Bender is second in points per game (3.0) and third in assists per game, and Nick Carr ranks fifth in face-off win percentage (.511).


Repeating History?...
Air Force’s 9-8 win over ninth-ranked Notre Dame marked just the fifth-ever victory over the Fighting Irish in the 22-game series. In addition, it was the first win over Notre Dame in head coach Fred Acee’s nine-year tenure and the first since 1988.

The year of the Falcons’ last defeat of the Irish was significant for another reason—1988 was the last time (and only the second ever) that Air Force advanced to the NCAA Tournament. That year, the Falcons finished the season with a 13-4 overall record, after falling to Loyola in the NCAA Tournament.


Meister, The Assist Leader...
Junior tri-captain Will Meister, who leads the GWLL with 1.85 assists per contest, needs just six more assists to break into the career top-10 list at the Academy. Currently, Craig Ward (1984-87) and George Mandis (1974-77) are tied for 10th place on the Air Force assist list with 67. The last player to make his way onto the list was Mike Murphy, who played from 1991-94, more than 20 years ago. Murphy ended his career with 68 assists, a figure certainly within Meister’s reach.


Pavoni Moves up In the Record books...
With 137 saves through the first 11 games of the season, senior Justin Pavoni sits in seventh place on the career saves list at the Academy with 443 total saves, and needs 44 more saves to move past Chris Cicere into sixth place.

Most impressive about Pavoni’s feat is not only that he has accomplished it against a rigorous Division I schedule (many of Air Force’s teams in the first 25+ years of the program played Division II and III teams), but he has also made his mark in just over two full years of play, as Pavoni did not see action as a freshman.


Pavoni Earns GWLL Honors...
Senior Justin Pavoni was named the GWLL Player of the Week for the week of April 10-16, as announced on April 18.

The goalkeeper from Park City, Utah, played an integral role in the Falcons’ upset of ninth-ranked Notre Dame, getting 13 saves and six ground balls in the game to lead Air Force to its first win over the Irish since 1988. Pavoni put forth a crucial fourth-period effort, limiting Notre Dame to just one goal on 11 shots to help secure the Falcons’ victory.

This marks the second time this season that Pavoni has been recognized as the league player of the week, as he earned the honor for the week of March 13-21 after leading Air Force to 13-8 win over then-16th-ranked Dartmouth.


Up Next...
The Falcons wrap up the regular season next week with its home finale as they host Denver in a 1:00 p.m. contest on April 29.