On a cool, windy afternoon, Navy’s bounced back from a chilling loss in its previous game, starting off with a red-hot offense that scored a season-high six first-period goals.

After the explosive start, the Mids were never challenged as they blended that on-target offense with a stingy defense, rolling past Lafayette 15-5 in only their second home game of the season.

The Mids, 3-0 in the Patriot League and 4-3 overall, got five goals from freshman Christian Daniel, two goals from Casey Rees and a goal and four assists from Ryan Wade, as 13 different players had either a goal or an assist for the Mids.

Navy, which led 8-1 at halftime, also scored six times in the final frame after Lafayette (0-3, 2-5) had closed to within 9-3.

The Mids’ overall performance was quite impressive and came following Tuesday’s 11-3 loss to Penn that snapped a three-game winning streak. The victory over Lafayette begins a stretch of six straight conference games for Navy.

The Mids also stand in a first-place tie with Lehigh, which beat Army on Saturday. Navy next plays No. 7 Loyola, which lost to No. 3 Duke on Saturday.

“I thought we couldn’t have started any better, jumping out to six goals in the first period after the loss Tuesday. It was good to see them ready to play,” said Navy head coach Rick Sowell. “I think we are very happy to be back at home. We knew this was a big game, a league game, so it was good to see us start off strong. Except for a few glitches in the second and third period it was a solid all-around game for us.”

Daniel’s fifth goal of the game started a 5-1 run covering the final six minutes, during which Sowell played many of his freshmen and other seldom-used players.

Among the players getting their first career goal during the game-ending onslaught — four goals in three minutes, 39 seconds — were freshman Joe deLyra, sophomores Brendan Jacob and Connor Young and senior Justin Knode. Freshman Tyler Perreten, a graduate of Severn School, had his first career point with an assist.

“That doesn’t happen too often,” said Sowell, of the opportunity to go deep into his bench. “It was a good day and a good team win. I was proud of the way the team performed.”

The 15 goals were a season high for the Mids, who have scored in double figures in four of their five wins.

joevans@capgaznews.com