Navy at North Carolina

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Saturday, May 10, 2008; Page E07

When: Tonight, 7:30

Where: Chapel Hill, N.C.

Records: Midshipmen 9-5; Tar Heels 8-5

TV: ESPNU

Radio: WNAV (1430 AM)

Outlook: Navy Coach Richie Meade said he jokingly calls his second midfield "the crowbar midfield."

"Because you could hit those guys with a crowbar, and it wouldn't faze them," he said.

Junior Shane Durkin (Good Counsel) is a member of that midfield, with classmates Sean Standen and Michael Beggins. And Durkin certainly didn't appear fazed by having the game of his career: He scored four goals in a 12-9 loss to Colgate in the Patriot League semifinals April 25.

The four goals were the most scored by a Navy player this year. Durkin entered the game having scored four goals all year. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Durkin bench-presses nearly 300 pounds. He took advantage of a matchup against a shortstick defender against the Raiders.

"I think Shane had one of those nights when he was in the zone," said Matt Durkin, Shane's older brother and the coach at Good Counsel.

Said teammate Matt Bitter, a reserve attackman: "I wasn't really surprised. He's got some shake. We knew he was going to have a breakout game at some point. It's good that he got some confidence going into the playoffs."

It figures to be a busy summer for Shane Durkin. In June, he will spend a month with SEAL Team 10 in Virginia Beach. He will spend July as a leader for 10 plebes, or freshmen, during Plebe Summer.

Yet he's not ready for lacrosse to end just yet. Durkin is arguably the team's best dodger, meaning he is adept at running at the defense and forcing it to double-team him, thus leaving a teammate open. Durkin said he worked on his dodging one step at a time in the family's back yard in Germantown.

"That's his engineering background," said his father, Ed Durkin. "He tends to be pretty meticulous."

That trait has been with him a long time. In the first week of his freshman year at Good Counsel, an assignment was given to the class: They were to write where they wanted to be upon graduation from the school. The statements then were buried in a capsule and unearthed on graduation day.

Durkin said he had forgotten about the assignment until he was given it back four years later. "I was a little surprised when I got it back," he said. "All it said was, 'I want to go to the Naval Academy and play lacrosse.' "

-- Christian Swezey