Trunz's Faceoffs a Key as Hoyas Advance

Georgetown junior Christiaan Trunz took all but one faceoff against Navy in an NCAA lacrosse tournament first-round game yesterday. The Midshipmen won the one he didn't take and scored in five seconds.

Trunz was back to take the next one. Overall, his play proved crucial in the Hoyas' 9-7 victory before 2,455 at the Multi-Sport Field.

Eighth-seeded Georgetown (11-2) will play No. 1 Virginia (14-0) in a quarterfinal on Sunday in Towson. The Hoyas have lost in the quarterfinals in each of the last four years.

They advanced this year largely because of Trunz. He won seven of the final nine faceoffs. When that spurt started, the Midshipmen (11-4) had a 5-4 lead.

The score was tied at 7 after an extra-man goal by Navy junior Billy Looney with 13 minutes 24 seconds to play. But a goal by sophomore Andrew Baird gave the Hoyas an 8-7 lead. Trunz won the next faceoff, and sophomore Matt McBride scored on that possession for a 9-7 lead with 4:39 remaining.

Navy had the ball near the Hoyas' goal three times in the final minutes but didn't score.

"Christiaan has done a good job for us all year," Georgetown Coach Dave Urick said. "He's been able to be very consistent for us."

Georgetown used an unusual ploy of having two longstick defenders as wings on the faceoffs; Navy countered with an equally unusual measure of using two shortsticks as wings.

Initially, it worked for the Midshipmen. Junior William Wallace won the first four faceoffs and Navy had a 3-0 lead following a goal by senior Jon Birsner, off an assist from junior Ian Dingman, less than six minutes into the game.

To that point, Wallace and Trunz had used their best moves. After losing the early faceoffs, Trunz said he used defensive tactics to try and slow Wallace -- and get Wallace out of his best move. It worked. Wallace went away from his best move; soon after, Trunz went back to his.

"When you face guys like William Wallace, they're so good it's easy for them to get into a rhythm," Trunz said. "He got into a rhythm in that first quarter."

Navy's seniors entered with 44 wins in their careers -- the most in team history -- and they pulled out all the stops for No. 45. A walk-through on Saturday included a stop at the Iwo Jima memorial; while there, Adm. Michael Mullen, the chief of naval operations, spoke to the team.