In a Battle of Brothers, Hoyas Slip by in OT

Georgetown 11, Navy 10

Navy senior Nick Mirabito did not get to shake hands with his brother, Georgetown redshirt freshman Ricky Mirabito, following Georgetown's 11-10, sudden-death overtime victory before 7,135 yesterday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Each finished with three points -- Nick Mirabito had two goals and an assist and Ricky had three goals. But it was Ricky Mirabito who had the most memorable moment: He scored the winning goal on a breakaway following a pass from senior Brendan Cannon with 1 minute 42 seconds left in overtime.

And that goal landed Ricky Mirabito on a television interview during the traditional postgame handshake between the teams. His brother glanced at him briefly as he passed through the handshake line.

Navy (8-2) had the ball first in overtime, but shots from sophomores Joe Lennon and Patrick Moran went wide. Following an errant pass, Georgetown sophomore Chris Schuville came up with a loose ball near midfield and passed to Cannon.

Cannon went immediately toward the goal and drew two defenders, seniors Jordan DiNola and Brendan Teague. He then passed to Mirabito, who was open near the goal. Junior Andy Tormey, the last defender between Mirabito and the goal, slipped, and Mirabito caught the pass and shot high past junior goalkeeper Tommy Phelan.

"Chris Schuville made a play at midfield. It was kind of a scramble, you know they're going to be sliding all over the place," Mirabito said. "I was just trying to position myself. . . . I just kind of turned and dumped it in."

The Hoyas (5-2) had taken an 8-3 lead following a goal by Mirabito with 7:04 left in the third quarter. To that point, they had outshot the Midshipmen 24-11.

But Navy's offense got going. It scored four consecutive goals, including a behind-the-back goal by senior Greg Clement, assisted by Nick Mirabito, that made the score 8-7 with 1:01 left in the third quarter.

Georgetown led 10-8 following a goal by Cannon with 3:28 left in regulation. Navy scored the final two goals and tied the game at 10 on a goal by sophomore Basil Daratsos with 38 seconds left.

But the dramatics were not over. DiNola intercepted a pass with 15 seconds left and passed to sophomore Tim Paul, whose 12-yard shot was saved by senior goalie Miles Kass. Kass's long outlet pass was caught by senior Andrew Baird, who turned and fired into a seemingly open goal.

Phelan, however, saved the shot with his ankle with 0.02 of a second left. Baird and Phelan had played together at Loyola (Balt.) High.

"I couldn't let my high school teammate get one on me at the buzzer," Phelan said. "I never would have heard the end of it."

Instead, it was left to a pair of brothers to settle the bragging rights.

"Nick played a great game," Ricky Mirabito said. "Glad it's over and we don't have to do it again."

Baird finished with three goals and sophomore Barney Ehrmann had two interceptions and four groundballs for the Hoyas. Moran had three goals and Phelan added 13 saves for Navy.