Defense leads Falcons to 11-7 win over Navy

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – A stingy Air Force defense and five goals by Grant Snyder led the Falcons to an 11-7 win over 20^th-ranked Navy, Thursday, Sept. 23, in Annapolis, Md. With the victory, the Falcons won The Vase for the fourth time in the last seven years.

"I am so excited for our guys," head coach Ryan Brown said. "The guys were ready to play from the beginning and played really well. Everything starts with our defense and our defense was really good today. We were very well organized and covered for each other. A.J. (Kuypers) played great in goal, but our defense really helped him out as well."

The Falcons blanked the Mids in the first quarter and two Snyder goals gave Air Force a 2-0 lead. Air Force scored four unanswered goals late in the second quarter for a 7-2 lead at the half. Sam De La Cruz scored a pair and Ian Christie had three assists. The Falcon defense again came up big as Christie forced a shot clock violation, Fuller went high out of the water for a steal and Kuypers made two saves in the final minute.

"Offensively, we made that extra pass and we had some guys that finished their opportunities We needed Grant (Snyder) to play well and he did," Brown said.
Navy came out in the third quarter and scored the first two goals to cut the AF lead to 7-4. The Falcons quickly regained the five-goal advantage as Snyder scored on a penalty shot and then, after a Kuypers save, Gavin Jones scored with 5:24 left in the third. After a lob-shot goal by Snyder, Navy scored twice to the cut the Falcon lead to 10-7 after three quarters.

Snyder scored a much-needed goal for the Falcons with 6:29 left for an 11-7 lead. In the final six minutes, the Falcon defense dominated. Kuypers made a pair of saves and Fuller had a steal in a man-down situation. Fuller then had two field blocks and Christie had one late in the game.

"We knew Navy would make a run and they did in the third quarter," Brown said. "But we answered and when we got the lead back to four, our guys did a good job of using the shot clock and shortening the game. Sam (Fuller) had two big blocks for us late in the game. This was our first big test and really gets the weekend off to a great start."

Air Force improved to 9-1 overall, the best start since 1978. The road trip continues as the Falcons play MIT and Brown in Providence, R.I., on Saturday and at Harvard on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

Ian Christie

Sam De La Cruz

Gavin Jones

Grant Snyder

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