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Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium has emerged as the premier college lacrosse venue in the country and the home to Navy’s men’s and women’s lacrosse programs. Though the 3 million-dollar facility opened its doors on Sept. 26, 1959, when Navy christened the stadium with a 292 win on the gridiron against William & Mary, the Navy lacrosse program would not play its first contest at the stadium until April 29, 1961. Hall of Famer George Tracy and attackman Patrick FitzPatrick scored two goals apiece to lead the Midshipmen to a 9-7 victory over rival Maryland in Navy’s debut at the two-year-old facility.
This spring marks the 50th season in which at least one Navy lacrosse game has been played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Having played a game a year at the stadium for 44-consecutive years, the Midshipmen stepped away from the hallowed ground in 2003 as the stadium underwent a 40 million-dollar face-lift. When Navy returned to the field in 2004, the Midshipmen called the state-of-theart multi-use facility their home for all home lacrosse games. Navy owns a 104-60 (.634) all-time record in games played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Since calling the stadium its permanent home in 2004, the Midshipmen have turned in a 36-13 (.735) record, including a 16-1 mark in Patriot League affairs. Among Navy’s 42 NCAA Tournament contests over the last 40 years, 13 have been played in Annapolis, including 10 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. In those 10 contests, the Mids have won eight, including two of the last three when they claimed victories over Penn (11-5) in 2004 and Delaware (9-7) in 2005.
Additionally, Navy served as a host of the 1996 NCAA Tournament First Round which featured wins by Towson over Loyola (16-11) and Johns Hopkins over Notre Dame (12-7). Along with Princeton, Navy played host to the 2007 NCAA Quarterfinals where top-seeded Duke defeated archrival North Carolina, 19-11, while Delaware earned the program’s first trip to the Final Four by clipping UMBC, 106. Navy also played host to the 2008 NCAA Quarterfinals, giving the Mids a final chance to play on their home field. The game featured the first postseason matchup between Navy and Johns Hopkins in a storied rivalry, though the Blue Jays ended the Mids’ season on a beautiful afternoon that attracted an NCAA Tournament quarterfinals record crowd on 17,017. Fans were also treated to an overtime win by Virginia over Maryland. Navy played host to the NCAA Quarterfinals for a third-straight year when Virginia battled Johns Hopkins and Duke squared off against North Carolina for a third time in ‘09. Navy has also been chosen to serve as one of two hosts for the 2012 NCAA Quarterfinals, along with Drexel.
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