Driven Navy Senior Navigates With Gusto

The youth hockey team from Upstate New York was in Toronto for a tournament and wanted to have dinner at Wayne Gretzky's restaurant. The problem was finding the restaurant; the easiest route -- the interstate -- was closed.

So Cande Barger got into the car and her then-10-year-old son, Victor, pulled out a map and started calling out directions.

"We had all the other cars following us. I drove and Victor grabbed the map and plotted our route," Cande Barger said. "Well, Victor got us to the restaurant -- and after that, everyone on the team called him 'Map Boy.' "

Victor Barger currently is a starting senior longstick midfielder for the Navy lacrosse team, and he is still trying to get his teammates where they want to go: In this case, the NCAA tournament.

The Midshipmen (9-3) can clinch an automatic berth by winning the Patriot League tournament at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium this weekend. They face Army (6-6) in a semifinal today at 4 p.m.

The high point of Barger's season was the goal he scored 13 seconds into the fourth quarter against the Black Knights in their regular season meeting on April 14. The score stopped a five-goal Army run, broke an 8-8 tie and provided the impetus for Navy's 12-9 victory.

Navy Coach Richie Meade said Barger's goal probably was the team's most important play thus far this year. It came eight days after Barger's low point. Barger was guarding Maryland sophomore Dan Groot when, in the second overtime, Groot scored the game-winner in an 8-7 victory.

"It was an amazing shot," Barger said. "That was the guy that the coaches had told us all week was left-handed, and I'm left-handed, so I tried to force him that way. I thought I did a good job . . . When the shot went in all I could think was, 'Wow.' He made a great play."

After the game "was the first time I'd seen Victor get loud," senior defenseman Andrew Dow said. "He wasn't negative, but we saw how much he cared. . . . When he scored the goal against Army, it changed the whole game. He really lifted our spirits. I couldn't see his face, but I knew he had a huge smile."

Barger grew up playing football and hockey but did not play lacrosse until his sophomore year at Shenendehowa High, near Albany. In his senior year, the football team made the state title game; the hockey team made the state quarterfinals; and the lacrosse team made the state semifinals.

Barger was captain of all three teams.

He will graduate next month with a degree in aeronautical engineering and has been accepted into the Navy's pilot training program in Pensacola, Fla.

"When he starts talking about planes," said teammate Gregory Clement, a junior attackman, "he gets so excited and he knows so much about it that it sounds like he's speaking in a different language."

Barger was recruited primarily by Brown, Albany and Loyola College, and his busy schedule made for an interesting recruiting process.

"There were times when Victor was never home," Cande Barger said. "He had a whole year of practices and games. . . . [Albany Coach] Scott Marr always seemed to call when Victor wasn't home so I'd get to talk to him. He was very nice so we'd talk for a while. After a few months of this, he called and again Victor wasn't home. So finally he said to me, 'Well, do you want to come play lacrosse for me?' "

Navy's coaches didn't fare much better. Meade and assistant John Tillman had a home visit with Barger in his senior year. They talked for a while before dinner, ate and then talked some more.

"The whole time Victor never said anything about coming to the Naval Academy," Meade said. "So we walked outside and finally I asked him, 'Victor, are you coming to the Naval Academy?' And he said, 'Oh. Yeah, I'm coming.' That was it. It's typical of the way he does things -- very low-key."