Terry McKenna. Photo by: Stacy Podelski / 1495 Sports

FLUSHING, N.Y. – It was a good afternoon for Terry McKenna and his Holy Cross Crusaders as they defeated the Navy Midshipmen 7-5 at Citi Field.

McKenna accounted for four of the Crusaders seven goals and recorded a hat trick two quarters into the game.

“Terry is a stud,” Holy Cross Head Coach Jim Morrissey said after the game.  “He usually draws the opposing defenses top player. He caught free a little bit and he brings it in big games. It was nothing new and something we need more from him continuing on.”

The game was scoreless until the 4:29 mark when McKenna scored his first of the game. Navy would answer back several minutes later off a goal by T.J.  Hanzsche to tie the game at one.

Navy took the lead early in the second quarter courtesy of a goal from Gabe Voumard, but Mckenna would put home two goals in the span of 1:27 to give the Crusaders back the lead, 3-2. Navy would again tie it up minutes later, but Holy Cross would convert on a man up opportunity and once again had the advantage on the scoreboard.

Chris Smith would make it 5-3 Crusaders with 11:29 left in the third quarter, but the Midshipmen’s Pat Durkin would cut the lead to one.  Holy Cross scored on the man advantage in the final two minutes of the third quarter.

Navy gave Holy Cross a bit of a scare, scoring early in the fourth quarter to cut the Crusaders lead to just one point. But the Holy Cross defense kept the Navy offense at bay and McKenna scored his fourth goal with 5:16 left to give his squad the insurance goal they needed.

“It was a huge win for our school,” McKenna said following the victory. “Our first win ever over a military school. I mean you cant ask more from a defense and goalie than only letting up five goals against a great team like that is just incredible.”

Goalkeeper Michael Ortlieb made 12 saves in the win, including several big ones when the game was on the line, and the defense did a solid job of limiting Navy’s chances.

“My assistant coach Justin Hager did an awesome job with the defense again,” Morrissey said. “We’ve never held a team like Navy under six goals before, so that was a tremendous effort by our D as a whole.”

But the real star was McKenna.

“We got Miles and John Hannan, who I’m playing with everyday, and they’ve had a huge year so far,” he explained. “They opened things up for me today. They weren’t sliding me early just gave me a lot of chances to shoot. It was awesome playing in a place like this. It just feels great.”

It might have been extra special for him to have such a stellar performance at Citi Field since he grew up not too far from the venue in Summit, New Jersey.

“I’ve been here a couple times,” McKenna said. “It’s just incredible, I’ve never played in front of so many people with the big screens. It’s the biggest game of all our lives so far. Hopefully we can build on that and get some other big games, but it was definitely amazing to be here.”

Fans are encouraged to check out the photo gallery from the game by clicking on the link below:

http://1495sports.com/2013/03/17/photo-gallery-holy-cross-vs-navy/