The UMBC (1-2) men’s lacrosse team has a challenging week in store with games vs. No. 4 Maryland and No. 2 Johns Hopkins. The Retrievers start the week by hosting the Terrapins on Tuesday evening, March 6, at UMBC Stadium. The opening face-off is set for 7:05 p.m. and the game will be streamed live by www.umbcretrievers.tv.

SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS

UMBC (1-2) rallied from four goals down in the final 13 minutes to send Saturday’s contest with Fairfield to overtime, but the Stags won OT’s opening draw and scored 44 seconds into the extra frame to prevail, 10-9, at UMBC Stadium on March 3.

UMBC junior attackman Scott Jones scored a season-high four goals, including the game-tying goal with 40 seconds left to cap the rally.

UMBC had rallied from an 8-5 fourth quarter deficit to draw even with Robert Morris, but the Colonials prevailed, 10-8, in the opener at home on Feb. 18. Eight days later at Rutgers, the Retrievers never trailed in a 11-7 victory over the Scarlet Knights.

Jones and sophomore midfielder Zach Linkous lead UMBC with seven goals and one assist apiece through three games.

SCOUTING THE TERRAPINS

Maryland (3-0, 1-0 ACC) is coming off of a 10-7 victory over then No. 8 Duke in both team’s conference opener on March 3.  Senior Drew Snider led the Terps by posting his third career hat trick, which included two man-up goals. Junior Billy Gribbin also had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) for Maryland.

Sophomore Niko Amato made nine of his 14 saves in the fourth quarter to secure the victory for the Terrapins.

For the season, the Terps are led offensively by All-Americans Joe Cummings and John Haus, who each have nine points. Overall, 13 different Terrapins have scored goals this season. Defensively, Amato has stopped 63.5 percent of the shots put on goal by opponents and has a 6.49 goals-against average. Junior Curtis Holmes is winning 64.2 percent of his face-offs and is the team leader in groundballs with 19.

Maryland opened with a 12-6 win over America East rival Hartford, then rung up 16 goals in a 16-11 win over host Georgetown.

THE SERIES

Maryland leads the series, 26-7. The teams have met every year since 1982 and had two face-offs in 2007. The Retrievers won three straight contests in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but the Terps have captured the last two games.
Five of UMBC’s seven victories over Maryland have occurred in College Park; the Terrapins are 14-2 at UMBC. Last season,

Last season, Scott Jones scored three goals, but Maryland sprinted out to a 4-0 lead and defeated UMBC, 15-6, in College Park.

UP NEXT: UMBC takes on No. 2 Johns Hopkins at the Konica-Minolta Face-Off Classic on Saturday, March 10. The Retrievers and Blue Jays are the third game of the tripleheader with a 4:00 p.m. start time.

The UMBC (1-2) men’s lacrosse team has a challenging week in store with games vs. No. 4 Maryland and No. 2 Johns Hopkins. The Retrievers start the week by hosting the Terrapins on Tuesday evening, March 6, at UMBC Stadium. The opening face-off is set for 7:05 p.m. and the game will be streamed live by www.umbcretrievers.tv.

SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS

UMBC (1-2) rallied from four goals down in the final 13 minutes to send Saturday’s contest with Fairfield to overtime, but the Stags won OT’s opening draw and scored 44 seconds into the extra frame to prevail, 10-9, at UMBC Stadium on March 3.

UMBC junior attackman Scott Jones scored a season-high four goals, including the game-tying goal with 40 seconds left to cap the rally.

UMBC had rallied from an 8-5 fourth quarter deficit to draw even with Robert Morris, but the Colonials prevailed, 10-8, in the opener at home on Feb. 18. Eight days later at Rutgers, the Retrievers never trailed in a 11-7 victory over the Scarlet Knights.

Jones and sophomore midfielder Zach Linkous lead UMBC with seven goals and one assist apiece through three games.

SCOUTING THE TERRAPINS

Maryland (3-0, 1-0 ACC) is coming off of a 10-7 victory over then No. 8 Duke in both team’s conference opener on March 3.  Senior Drew Snider led the Terps by posting his third career hat trick, which included two man-up goals. Junior Billy Gribbin also had three points (1 goal, 2 assists) for Maryland.

Sophomore Niko Amato made nine of his 14 saves in the fourth quarter to secure the victory for the Terrapins.

For the season, the Terps are led offensively by All-Americans Joe Cummings and John Haus, who each have nine points. Overall, 13 different Terrapins have scored goals this season. Defensively, Amato has stopped 63.5 percent of the shots put on goal by opponents and has a 6.49 goals-against average. Junior Curtis Holmes is winning 64.2 percent of his face-offs and is the team leader in groundballs with 19.

Maryland opened with a 12-6 win over America East rival Hartford, then rung up 16 goals in a 16-11 win over host Georgetown.

THE SERIES

Maryland leads the series, 26-7. The teams have met every year since 1982 and had two face-offs in 2007. The Retrievers won three straight contests in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but the Terps have captured the last two games. Five of UMBC’s seven victories over Maryland have occurred in College
Park; the Terrapins are 14-2 at UMBC.

Last season, Scott Jones scored three goals, but Maryland sprinted out to a 4-0 lead and defeated UMBC, 15-6, in College Park.

UP NEXT: UMBC takes on No. 2 Johns Hopkins at the Konica-Minolta Face-Off Classic on Saturday, March 10. The Retrievers and Blue Jays are the third game of the tripleheader with a 4:00 p.m. start time.

LOUISVILLE – Eric Lusby and Davis Butts each recorded career-highs in goals and points, and J.P. Dalton controlled the face-off ‘X’ as No. 11/14 Loyola University Maryland defeated host Bellarmine University, 11-8, on Saturday afternoon in the ECAC Lacrosse League opener for both teams.

Lusby finished with five goals and six points, all coming in the second half, and Butts scored four times.

Dalton finished the game 15-of-23 on restarts, going 7-of-8 in the third quarter when Loyola (3-0 overall, 1-0 ECAC) came back from a 4-2 halftime deficit to take a 7-6 lead.

Bellarmine (1-2, 0-1) scored the game’s first three goals and after Loyola scored twice to get within one, the Knights scored with three seconds left following a Greyhounds’ turnover before the half.

Dalton then won the second half’s first two face-offs, and Loyola took advantage. Butts used a Chris Layne pass to scored 2:19 into the third quarter, and Pat Byrnes tied the game at 4-4 with a goal 43 seconds later.

The game would not stay tied for long, however, as Bellarmine won the ensuing face-off, and Michael Ward put the Knights up 5-4 with 11:17 on the clock.

That was the only face-off Dalton would lose, however, in the third quarter. Lusby scored his first of three-straight at 4:03, and hethen gave Loyola its first lead of the game at 3:21 with another.

Each of his first two goals came off Justin Ward assists. Ward, who had five assists last week, finished with a game-high three helpers.

Ward then completed the hat trick in at the 2:28 mark when he hit the post with a shot, picked up the ground ball and beat Bellarmine goalkeeper Dillon Ward for his third goal in 1-minute, 35-seconds. The third goal in the stretch put Loyola on top, 7-5.

Bellarmine got back within a goal as Michael Ward scored with 58 ticks left in the frame, but Loyola scored four in a row to start the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach.

Lusby added his fourth of the game 1:16 into the stanza, and Butts scored off a Lusby assist with 10:51 to play. Lusby tallied his career-high fifth goal with 7:40, and Butts added his fourth with 5:41 to play.

Bellarmine added two man-up goals in the final six minutes, but the Greyhounds held off any further Knights advances late.

Jack Runkel came on in goal for the second half, relieving starter Michael Bonitatibus. Runkel made three saves and earned his first collegiate win between the pipes.

Lusby eclipsed his previous career-high of four goals set in the 2012 season-opener on February 18 against Delaware. Butts had just one goal in the Greyhound’s first two wins of the season, and his four goals today doubled his previous high of two.

Dalton logged a career-best in face-off wins with 15, one better than his previous high of 14 from the Delaware game. He also picked up a game- and career-high eight ground balls. He also scored a first-half goal.

Scott Ratliff and Dylan Grimm each had five ground balls, a career-best for Grimm. Lusby and Butts each had four ground balls, as well.

Loyola continues its road trip on Wednesday, March 7, when it takes on the University of Michigan in the Wolverines first-ever home game.

The UMBC (1-1) men’s lacrosse team hosts a red-hot Fairfield squad (3-0) on Saturday, March 3. The opening face-off is set for 3:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed live by www.umbcretrievers.tv.

SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS

Junior goalkeeper Adam Cohen stopped a career-high 14 Rutgers shots as the Retrievers evened their record at 1-1 with by defeating the Scarlet Knights, 11-7, at the RU Stadium Complex on Sun, Feb. 26.

Sophomore midfielder Zach Linkous scored a career-best five goals to lead the Retriever offense vs. Rutgers. Junior midfielder Dave Brown added two goals and two assists for UMBC, while sophomore middie Ryan Johnston also had multiple points with a goal and a helper.

Linkous leads UMBC with seven goals through two games, while Brown is just behind with two goals and a team-best four helpers.

SCOUTING THE STAGS

Fairfield is 3-0 to start a season for only the fifth-time at the varsity level. The Stags last got out to a 3-0 start in 2008, opening with three straight wins before finishing the year at 4-9. The best start in program history came in 2007, 5-0, with a 6-6 final result.

For the first time in program history the Stags have played consecutive multi-overtime games. Fairfield defeated Bryant 9-8 in double-overtime on Saturday and then defeated Hofstra 10-9 in triple-overtime Tuesday night.

Goalkeeper Charlie Cipriano became the second Stag in as many weeks to earn an ECAC honor, as he was named Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The senior earned the honor after stopping 11 shots and picking up four ground balls, in the win over Bryant.

Brent Adams and Cipriano were both named to the 2012 Watch List for the Tewaaraton Award prior to the start of the season. Adams enters play tonight as the Stags second leading scorer with 10 points, on six goals and four assists. He has also picked up a team-leading eight ground balls.

THE SERIES

UMBC and Fairfield played a home-and-home series in 1998 and 1999, with the Retrievers capturing both contests. UMBC triumphed, 13-5, at home in ’98 and won, 10-8, in Connecticut in 1999.

UP NEXT: UMBC has its shortest break between games of the season, as they must regroup and face No. 5 Maryland at UMBC Stadium on Tuesday, March 6. Face-off time is set for 7:00 p.m.

Cambridge, Mass.- UMBC junior goalkeeper Adam Cohen (Arnold, Md./The Severn School) has been named America East Conference Men’s Lacrosse Player of the Week, the league announced today.

Cohen made a career-high 14 saves and scored a goal in the 11-7 win at Rutgers on Feb. 26. He stopped seven shots and allowed two first half goals as the Retrievers (1-1) built a 5-2 halftime edge. UMBC increased the lead to 10-4, but the Scarlet Knights (2-2) took 13 fourth quarter shots and Cohen repelled seven attempts in the final 15 minutes.

On a late clearing attempt, Cohen netted the 11th goal of the game to thwart the Rutgers rally and it is the first score by a Retriever netminder in 32 years of NCAA Division I play.

The victory was Cohen’s first victory since an 8-7 overtime win at Vermont on April 24, 2010.

Cohen’s first career win also occurred at Rutgers, a 6-5 victory on Feb. 28, 2010. He has 24 saves through two games this season and a save percentage of 58.5.

Piscataway, N.J.- UMBC sophomore midfielder Zach Linkous (Jarrettsville, Md./St. Paul’s) scored a career-best five goals and junior goalkeeper Adam Cohen (Arnold, Md./The Severn School) stopped career-high 14 Rutgers shots as the Retrievers defeated the Scarlet Knights, 11-7, at the RU Stadium Complex.

UMBC evened its record at 1-1, while Rutgers fell to 2-2 on the season.

Cohen scored UMBC’s final goal of the day with 1:39 remaining and it is believed to be the first goal scored by a Retriever goalkeeper in 32 years of NCAA Division I competition.

The Retrievers never trailed, as Linkous opened the scoring on an unassisted tally at the 9:03 mark, but Rutgers got the equalizer on a score by Nick DePaolera less than three minutes later.

But the visitors took control in the second quarter and outscored Rutgers, 7-1, over a 15-minute span. Junior midfielder Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa.) started the surge, converting a Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y.) feed exactly three minutes into the quarter. Junior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C., sophomore midfielder Ryan Johnston (Huntingtown, Md.) and Linkous added goals to give UMBC a 5-1 lead at the 5:42 mark of the quarter, before Rutgers’ leading goal-scorer midfielder Will Mangan responded with one minute to play and cut the deficit to 5-2 at halftime.

But UMBC completed the run early in the third quarter with three goals in an 81-second span. Brown scored his second of the game 1:19 into the quarter, and face-off specialist Phil Poe (Harwood, Md./DeMatha) won the ensuing draw and scored unassisted just 16 seconds later. Linkous completed the hat trick on a man-up opportunity just 2:41 into the stanza.

Rutgers responded with two goals in a 55-second span to close the gap to 8-4, but Linkous put away a Brown feed 50 seconds after the fourth Rutgers goal and scored his fifth goal to close out the third quarter scoring with 1:20 to play.

UMBC held the 10-4 lead for the first half of the final quarter, but the Knights peppered Cohen with 13 fourth-quarter shots and cut the gap to 10-7 with ample time (2:43) remaining. But the Retriever netminder made seven fourth quarter saves and turned a late Knight turnover into a one-man clear and goal to punctuate his first victory since a 8-7 overtime win at Vermont on April 24, 2010.

Cohen’s first career win also occurred at Rutgers, a 6-5 victory on Feb. 28, 2010.

“Adam had a terrific day in goal,” head coach Don Zimmerman said. “The defense did a nice job of eliminating high percentage shots and he was all over shots from the outside.”

Linkous, an America East All-Rookie team selection in 2011, scored a season-best two goals on two occasions in his freshman campaign.

“Zach had a big day for us,” Zimmerman said. “He got us started early by scoring a couple of big goals. It was just one of those days that he was putting the ball on target and (really) cashed in on his opportunities.”

Brown added two goals and two assists for UMBC, while Johnston also had multiple points with a goal and a helper. Poe won half of his 22 draws attempted, while junior midfielder Neill Lewnes (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) and sophomore LSM Nathan Klein (Coquitlam, B.C.) each contributed five ground balls and two caused turnovers apiece.

DePaolera led Rutgers with two goals and two assists.

The Retrievers took an 8-7 series lead over the Scarlet Knights and avenged a 12-5 loss to RU at UMBC Stadium a year ago.

UMBC returns home on Saturday, March 3, when they host Fairfield.

The UMBC (0-1) men’s lacrosse team takes to the road, leaving the state of Maryland for the only time until April 7, when they face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-1) at the RU Turf Field in Piscataway, N.J. on Sunday, Feb. 26. The opening face-off is set for noon.

SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS

            UMBC dropped its season opener, falling 10-8 to Robert Morris, at UMBC Stadium on Feb. 18. The Retrievers never led, tying the game at 2-2 early in the second quarter, and 8-8 with a three-goal rally early in the fourth quarter. But the Colonials took a 9-8 lead just 31 seconds after the Retrievers drew even and added an insurance goal to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Junior attackmen Scott Jones and Joe Lustgarten and sophomore midfielder Zach Linkous (Jarrettsville, Md./St. Paul’s) scored two goals each for UMBC. The Retrievers dominated statistically, outshooting RMU, 47-32, winning 15 of 21 face-offs and capturing 38 ground balls to 27 for the Colonials. UMBC sophomore Phil Poe attempted all 21 draws for UMBC and led all players with six ground balls.

SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Rutgers is 2-1 and has won two straight after opening with a 16-8 loss at Duke. The Knights have edged Air Force, 11-10, at Syracuse and, most recently, defeated  Wagner, 9-5, on Staten Island on Feb. 21. Senior midfielder Will Mangan leads RU with 8 goals and 3 assists. He has hat-tricks in back-to-back games and added two assists for a  five-point effort at Wagner.

Rutgers is 7-of-12 on the man-up to date and has cleared successfully 45 of 47 opportunities.

Brian Brecht, who has 16 seasons of collegiate coaching experience and most recently served a highly successful seven-year tenure as head coach at Siena College, enter his first season as the head men’s lacrosse coach at Rutgers University.

*****

TOP DAWG: In 2009, Head Coach Don Zimmerman earned his third America East Coach of the Year honors in the four years.  Zimmerman enters the 2012 season 9th in victories (208) and 14th in winning percentage (61.5%) amongst active Division I coaches. The win over Binghamton on April 10, 2010 was the 200th in the career of UMBC head coach Don Zimmerman. He is now 208-130 in his 26th year as a collegiate mentor. Zimmerman is the 10th active coach to record 200 victories. He coached his 250th game at UMBC vs. Hartford on May 4, 2012.

THE SERIES

The series is tied at 7-7 and each team has won twice since the series resumed in 2008. Two years ago at Rutgers, then-freshman goalkeeper Adam Cohen recorded his first career victory as UMBC carved out a 6-5 victory. He recorded six saves in the game.

Last season, visiting Rutgers outscored five consecutive first half goals and the Scarlet Knights improved to 3-0 by defeating UMBC (1-1), 12-5, in the home opener for the Retrievers.

Junior attackman Kevin Hover led the RU attack with three goals, while Will Mangan added two goals and one assist.

Five different players scored for the Retrievers, but UMBC managed to put only nine of 26 shots on goal. Brian McCullough took the loss, allowing six goals and making two saves in the first half. Cohen allowed six second half goals and made four stops.

Zimmerman’s Records

Career Record:            208-131 (.614) (26th season)

at UMBC:                    135-116 (.538) (19th season)

TEAM CAPTAINS: The UMBC men’s lacrosse team has selected senior attackman Rob Grimm (Black River, N.Y./Carthage), junior attackman Scott Jones (Port Coquitlam, B.C./Terry Fox) and junior long-stick midfielder Ethan Murphy (West Seneca, N.Y./West Seneca East) as its captains for the 2011-12 season.

“We are pleased with the selection of Rob, Scott and Ethan as this year’s captains,” head coach Don Zimmerman said. “They are outstanding individuals in their own right, and this trio will now have the opportunity to work together as leaders, representing the 2012 Retrievers on and off the playing field.”

CONGRATS: Four returning players received their first conference accolades. Junior attackman Scott Jones and junior defender Sam McKelvey earned Second Team All-Conference honors. Sophomore Zach Linkous was named to the league’s All-Rookie Team and sophomore Neill Lewnes earned a spot on the conference’ss All-Academic squad.

Sixty Retrievers have been honored by the America East Conference on all-league teams since 2004.

BEASTS OF AMERICA EAST: UMBC is now 33-9 in eight years of America East competition and 18-3 at UMBC Stadium.

In 2011, The Retrievers (6-7, 3-2 AEC) had a winning league record and earned a spot in the four-team America East Conference Championships for the eighth consecutive year.

WINNING THE TIGHT ONES: UMBC is now 23-13 in games decided by three goals or less since the beginning of the 2007 season. UMBC had won eight straight overtime decisions from 2007-09 until dropping a Feb. 20, 2010 triple overtime decision to Delaware. UMBC’s previous overtime loss was an 11-10 setback at Penn early in the 2006 season. In one-goal decisions, UMBC has now won four in a row (dating back to a 6-5 loss to Princeton in 2009)  and 15 of its last 19.

UMBC is now 15-5 in Don Zimmerman’s 17 seasons in overtime and in his career, Coach Zimmerman is 17-7 in extra time.

HOME, SWEET HOME: After 14 consecutive winning seasons at UMBC Stadium, the Retrievers were 1-6 at home in 2010. However, UMBC bounced back to go 4-1 last year and is 34-12 (.739) at home since 2006.

THE HITS JUST KEEP COMING: UMBC’s 45 wins over a four-year period (2006-09) is the most in the school’s history, surpassing the 42 wins recorded from 1974-1977. For the first time in school history, UMBC won 10 or more games in four consecutive seasons.

Programs With Most Victories, 2006-09

1. Virginia 58

2. Duke 56

3. Cornell 50

4. Syracuse 47

5. UMBC 45

DON’T LOOK BACK: UMBC is now in its 45th season of varsity men’s lacrosse with a record of 333-276 (.547). The Retrievers played their 600th intercollegiate match on March 18, 2012 at Maryland. They are 217-211 (.507) in their 31st year at the Division I level, achieving win No. 200 vs. Ohio State on March 21, 2009. Before the win over Towson on April 1, 2008, the last time the program was last over the .500 mark at the Division I level was when at the end of its third season (1983) when the record was 19-18.

POWERFUL POWER PLAY: UMBC has been nationally ranked in man-up percentage in four of the past six years. In 2009, the Retrievers led the country in man-up situations and set a school record by converting on 51.7% (30 of 57) of its opportunities.

Year    Man-Up Pct. Year-End National Rank

2009    .517                  1st

2007    .464                  5th

2006    .417                  7th

2005    .444                  2nd

2004    .379                  10th

Junior attackman Rob Grimm is UMBC’s active scoring leader with 91 points (44-47-91). He needs 9 points to become the 29th player in school history to hit the 100-point plateau.  Grimm has points in 37 of 44 games played in his career.

Grimm’s Five-Point Games

March 31, 2009            2g, 3a vs. Towson

Feb. 19, 2011              1g, 4a at Presbyterian

March 5, 2011              3g, 2a at North Carolina

April 6, 2011                3g, 2a vs. Towson

May 3, 2012                 4g, 1a at Hartford

HAT TRICKS: Sophomore Scott Jones posted his second career three-goal game by tallying UMBC’s first three of the contest at Maryland. He recorded four goals in the opener at Presbyterian, added five at Albany on April 16 and recorded his fourth of the campaign vs. Vermont. UMBC’s had 11 hat tricks in 2011 -  others have come from Dave Brown (4g at Presbyterian, 3g vs. Binghamton) Rob Grimm (UNC, Hartford), Scott Hopmann (Presbyterian), Joe Lustgarten (Hartford)  and Jamie Kimbles (Albany).

WHAT BROWN CAN DO FOR YOU: Dave Brown posted a six-point game (1 goal, 5 assists) at Albany on April 16. The five assists in a game was tied for sixth in the nation last season and was UMBC’s top-assist game since Drew Westervelt had six vs. Vermont on April 21, 2007. Brown opened the 2012 season with a pair of assists vs. Robert Morris.

CROW ABOUT POE: Sophomore face-off specialist Phil Poe won 15 draws (15-6) vs. RMU in the opener. The last Retriever to capture 15 face-offs in a game was Taylor Marino, who garnered 19 in America East Championship victory over Albany on May 3, 2008.

UP NEXT: UMBC returns home on Sat., March 3 when they host Fairfield at 3:00 p.m.

Navy Announces 2012 Football Schedule

ANNAPOLIS, Md.—Five home games at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, a trip to Dublin, Ireland to face Notre Dame, road games at Penn State and Air Force and the annual Army-Navy game presented by USAA in Philadelphia highlight the 2012 Navy football schedule released today.

CBS Sports Network will televise all five games in Annapolis, while CBS Sports will televise the Notre Dame and Army games.

Navy will kick-off the 2012 season on Sept. 1 in Dublin, Ireland against Notre Dame.  The game will be played at Aviva Stadium, located in the heart of Dublin, and marks the first time the stadium has hosted an American football game.

It will also be the first time in program history that Navy has opened up against Notre Dame and the second time the two teams have met in Dublin.  Navy played the Irish at Croke Park in 1996.

After a week off, the Mids will travel to Happy Valley on Sept. 15 to take on Bill O’Brien’s Penn State Nittany Lions.  It will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1974 when Navy shocked Penn State in State College, 7-6.

VMI comes to town on Sept. 22 for the home opener at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. It will be the ninth meeting between the two schools and the first since 2003 when Navy defeated the Keydets, 37-10, in the season opener.

The Mids will have revenge on their minds when San Jose State comes calling on Sept. 29. Last fall, the Spartans eliminated the Midshipmen from bowl contention with a 27-24 victory in San Jose.

Navy will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. for the first leg of the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy on Oct. 6.  The Falcons won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy last year thanks to a 35-34 overtime victory over Navy in Annapolis.

The Mids will travel to Mount Pleasant, Mich. the following week, as Navy will play at Central Michigan on Oct. 13.  It will be the first time Navy has played at Central Michigan and the first time Navy has played in the state of Michigan since 2006 when the Mids beat Eastern Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit.

The Indiana Hoosiers come to Annapolis the following week (Oct. 20) for Homecoming.  It will be just the third time in school history that the two teams have met and it will be Indiana’s first trip to Annapolis.  The Hoosiers will be the first Big 10 team to play at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium since Northwestern beat Navy in 2002.

East Carolina will play host to Navy on Oct. 27 in Greenville.  The Pirates knocked off Navy last year in a thriller, 38-35.

Navy and Florida Atlantic will meet on the gridiron for the first time the following week as new head coach Carl Pelini brings his Owls North to Annapolis on Nov. 3.

Navy will make its first trip to Troy, Ala. on Nov. 10 when the Mids take on the Troy Trojans. Navy defeated Troy last year, 42-14.

The home finale takes place on Nov. 17, when Dennis Franchione and the Texas State Bobcats come to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Senior Day.

The 2012 Army-Navy Game Presented by USAA will take place at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Dec. 8.  Navy leads the all-time series, 56-49-7, and has won a series-record 10-consecutive games against the Black Knights.

Season tickets, both renewals and new purchases, will go on sale Feb. 1 and are $180.  Those who purchase season tickets will also have an option at that time to buy single-game tickets, as well as tickets for the Navy-Notre Dame game in Dublin.

2012 Navy Football Schedule
Sept. 1              vs. Notre Dame (Dublin, Ireland)
Sept. 15            at Penn State
Sept. 22            VMI
Sept. 29            San Jose State
Oct. 6               at Air Force
Oct. 13             at Central Michigan
Oct. 20             Indiana (Homecoming)
Oct. 27             at East Carolina
Nov. 3              Florida Atlantic
Nov. 10            at Troy
Nov. 17            Texas State
Dec. 8              vs. Army (Philadelphia)