Air Force Academy

April 4, 2007

The Air Force lacrosse team opens its 2007 conference slate this weekend, April 7, when it heads to Hamden, Conn., to take on Quinnipiac. The game is slated to face off at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Scouting the Falcons...
Air Force is now 1-5 on the season, after dropping a 7-3 decision to then-eighth ranked Army on the road.

The Falcons are led by senior captain Will Meister, who has 18 points on the season (7g, 11a). Sophomore Griffin Nevitt (8g, 9a) is second on the team with 17 points, while Justin Kuchta (11g, 2a) and Conrad Lochocki (8g, 5a) have recorded 13 points each.

Head Coach Fred Acee...
Air Force head coach Fred Acee is in his 10th season at the helm of the Falcons' program and his 40th season overall as a collegiate lacrosse coach.

A 1963 graduate of Cortland State, Acee coached at SUNY-Farmingdale, a two-year college on Long Island, for 30 years, compiling an overall mark of 312-119-1 and advancing to the NJCAA Final Four 25 times. Since Acee's arrival at the Academy in the fall of 1997, the Falcons have yearly played top notch Division I schedules, compiling a record of 33-90.

Scouting the Bobcats...
Quinnipiac enters this weekend with a 3-4 overall record and 0-2 mark in the GWLL. The Bobcats are coming off a 14-6 road loss to conference foe Ohio State.

Mike Stottler is the team's leading scorer with 27 points (16g, 11a), while Tucker Prudden is second with 19 points (11g, 8a).

Quinnipiac is coached by Eric Fekete (Skidmore College, `89), who has compiled a mark of 23-49 in his sixth season at the helm of the Bobcats' program.

In the Series...
This weekend's meeting between Air Force and Quinnipiac is just the third in the all-time series, which is tied at 1-1. The Falcons captured last season's meeting, an 8-4 contest at the Academy.

Falcons in the National Rankings...
In the latest national rankings through games of April 1, Air Force found itself ranked in the top-50 in every statistical category. The Falcons are rated 24th in man-up offense (.286), 35th in scoring defense (9.33), 43rd in scoring margin (-2.5), 47th in scoring offense (6.83) and face-off win percentage (.422), 48th in man-down defense (.619) and 50th in win percentage (.167).

In addition, several Air Force players are rated in the individual rankings. Senior Will Meister is currently 16th in the nation in assists per game (1.83) and 38th in points per game (3.0), sophomore Griffin Nevitt is ranked 29th in assists per game (1.5), senior Justin Kuchta is rated 47th in goals per game (1.83), goalkeeper Dan Bellissimo is rated 35th and 38th in goals against average (9.52) and save percentage (.522), respectively, and face-off specialists Reilly Smith and Kyle O'Neill rate 44th (.438) and 46th (.431) in face-off win percentage.

In the GWLL rankings, Meister ranks third in the league in assists per game, while Nevitt is rated sixth in assists per game. Kuchta ranks eighth in goals per contest. Meister and Nevitt (2.83) are fifth and sixth in points per game. Bellissimo is fourth in saves per game (9.83) and fifth in goals against average. Finally, Smith and O'Neill rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in face-off win percentage.

How They Rate...
Quinnipiac ranks in the top-30 nationally in man-up offense (22nd, 0.29), scoring margin (27th, +0.29) and scoring defense (29th, 8.57). In addition, Mike Stottler ranks 13th in points per game (3.86), 19th in goals per game (2.29), and 25th in assists per game (1.57), while goalkeeper Roger Fish ranks 20th in save percentage (.568).

In the GWLL rankings, Stottler leads the league in both goals per game and points per game and is fourth in assists per game. Fish ranks second in both save percentage and saves per game, while face-off specialist Ben Mullaney is fifth in face-off win percentage (.471).

A Scoring Streak...
Senior Will Meister and sophomore Griffin Nevitt are both in the midst of a 19-game streak with at least one point. The streak began on March 4, 2006, in a loss to UMBC. Meister has now tallied at least one goal or assist in 42 of his 46 career games, including 34 of the past 35. Meanwhile, Nevitt has scored in all but one of his 22 career games. Neither Meister nor Nevitt was able to get a point in the Falcons' 5-4 loss to Manhattan last season.

Up Next...
The Falcons hit the road for a pair of GWLL contests next week, first visiting Notre Dame on April 13 for a 4:00 p.m.(ET) contest, followed by a game at Bellarmine on April 15 at 12:00 p.m.(ET).

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