GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!

GO NAVY! BEAT ARMY!

These two slogans often serve as athletics-related rally cries that mean so much to the United States Military Academy athletes in West Point, New York, and the United States Naval Academy athletes in Annapolis, Maryland.

This week, these slogans will mean a little bit more when yelled inside Christl Arena in West Point Sunday afternoon as the Army Black Knights (6-3 overall, 3-2 EIWA duals) prepare to host the Navy Midshipmen (5-3, 4-0 in EIWA duals) during the 69th edition of the Star Match, which is part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. 

“This is what college sports are about,” Army West Point head wrestling coach Kevin Ward said. “You are going to see 20 young men fight their ass off for a really worthy cause, and it's not going to be the most important thing they do in their lives. They're going to move on and do more important things. That's guaranteed; all 20 of them, and all 40 something athletes on each roster, this will not be the most important thing they ever do in their life. To me, that's cool. 

“You get to watch these people fight, knowing they're going to move on to even more important things. So if there's any dual meet, anybody could get behind (it’s this one). That's the reason we call it America's match; this represents the ideals that we think make this country great.”

A Dual Meet That Means Something

In the new era of college wrestling, postseason wrestling in March matters most. It seems that the individual dual meet — whether a rivalry dual or otherwise — carries perhpas less weight and value than it once did. 

Army versus Navy is an exception to this trend. No matter the sport, the result matters immensely if the Black Knights and the Midshipman are competing against each other. 

“It's (feelings of) excitement and appreciation that we get to be part of it,” Ward said of being part of such a storied rivalry. “I mean, there are teams all around the country, and almost none of them get to wrestle in dual meets that actually matter. 

“You can wrestle in a dual meet, and it goes on a record, but there are no implications to the dual meet. You're not awarded a trophy for dual meets. In a lot of ways, in our sport, dual meets are kind of irrelevant. … This one matters.”

Ward elaborated further on why Army versus Navy week is not just another dual on the schedule. 

“It’s two institutions, not just two teams; it's two really, really proud, very important institutions battling against each other. And it doesn't matter if it's a wrestling match or a chess match or the debate club,” Ward said. “And wrestling is the most primal, maybe the most physical and grueling of them all, and that's what makes it special, is that there are two institutions that really care there. There are people out there who don't care about any other match of the season, but they'll care about this one.”

Any Time Is The Right Time For This Dual

Heading into Sunday’s matchup — expected to draw the largest wrestling crowd in the history of Christl Arena — with over 2,000 tickets sold (not including student passes), the Ward and Cary Kolat coached squads have differing levels of momentum. 

Navy is riding a four-match winning streak that dates back to Dec. 21 and includes wins over American, a then-top-25 Lehigh team, Harvard, and Bucknell. The Midshipmen have not dropped a team dual since Nov. 9, when Navy fell to Iowa State on the road in Ames.

The loss to the Cyclones was the Navy’s second consecutive dual meet loss after the Midshipmen were bested by the North Carolina Tar Heels six days earlier during the Navy Tri-Meet, which the Navy hosts at home in Annapolis. 

Navy's other dual meet win on the year was against EIWA foe Drexel, also at home. 

On the other hand, Army is coming into the showdown with Navy after dropping two straight duals. 

The Black Knights were on the wrong side of back-to-back road duals in the Keystone State, first against Bucknell (Jan. 26) and then against the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh (Feb.1). 

Army has not seen a dual meet go its way since Jan. 19 on the road at American. 

Before this rough patch, Army West Point wrestlers had started the season off quite well, earning wins against Purdue and victories against Buffalo, Morgan State, Long Island, and American. Each of those four victories came by margins of 30 or more points. Over the holidays, the Army earned a second-place finish at its Black Knight Invitational on Nov. 24 and then took home first-place honors at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga (Jan. 4-5). 

Even though the two teams are entering with contrasting levels of momentum, Ward is not worried about how his wrestlers will react. 

“The adversity is an important part of it,” Ward said of the grind that is the five-month college wrestling season. “And, you know, unfortunately, maybe we had to find some of that adversity in competition and not in the wrestling room, but we found it; so that's good, and now the response to that really matters, and I think the expectation is really important (also). 

“Let's make sure that we expect the right things out of ourselves. I think we can raise our expectations a little bit, and when we do, man, all limits are gone.”

Not only does Ward feel that his Cadets are just scratching the surface of their true potential as individuals and as a team, calling the season a “slow burn’ thus far,  but he also said he believes there is “never a bad time for the Army-Navy dual.”

“Anytime is the right time for this one,” Ward said of the Army-Navy Star Series. “It doesn't matter whatever happened last week. This is always a fresh opportunity, and it's a brand-new opportunity every year. And, so, it's always the right time for this dual meet, no matter what. You don't need any extra motivation. You're excited to get out there into the arena and be able to put on a show, but you don't need any more motivation. It's always the right time (for the Star Series).

Nearly A Dozen Nationally Ranked Wrestlers 

Not only is any Army-Navy athletic event drama and intensity personified, but Sunday’s dual meet features almost a dozen nationally ranked wrestlers among the 20 student-athletes set to take the mat, according to the latest FloWrestling rankings. 

According to those same rankings, there is the potential for as many as four ranked-versus-ranked bouts (141, 174, 197, and 285), and as many as seven of the 10 total bouts should feature at least one nationally ranked competitor (125, 133, 141, 165, 174, 197, 285). 

If those statistics are not enticing enough, consider this rivalry as back-and-forth as it has been in recent memory. 

To date, the Star Match series record between the Black Knights and the Midshipmen under its current branding over the last two decades is 9-9-1 overall, with many recent duals decided by narrow margins.  

Army won the last dual last year in 2024 in Annapolis, 18-17. Navy’s last Star Match victory came in 2023, winning via an 18-13 score on the road at West Point. 

“It’s a crowded gym with a few thousand fans, and they're close to the mat. They're right on top of you,” Ward said of the dual’s one-of-a-kind environment in Christl Arena. “And what fans are watching is, per capita, the most dense population of future Special Forces military folks anywhere in the country.

 “You are watching some of the best of the best, and these people that are going to go out, and they're going to be able to do the things that you watch in movies, and they're wrestling each other right in front of you. They're going to give everything they've got on both sides. There's not going to be a drop of effort left when they walk off the mat.”

Ward went on to say that he expects this dual to be a “hyper-competitive dual with 10 really hard-fought matches.” He pointed out that the talent level of the student-athletes involved in this dual is increasing each year. 

Army vs. Navy Has A Purity To It

Ward also believes another element of what makes the annual Army-Navy dual so special is that it demonstrates what he believes college athletics is all about — competing for the love of the sport. 

“It's true competition, and these are true student-athletes on both sides. There are no transfers; there are no fifth-and-sixth-year competitors. There's nobody who is under the illusion that they're signing the big NIL deal or going pro,” Ward said. 

 “There's a purity in this competition that you're kind of losing in college athletics right now; if you watch any other dual meet, ‘How many transfers?’ If you look at the 20 people competing in every dual meet you watch, almost half of them are transfers (at non-service academy institutions). These (Army and Navy wrestlers) are truly bought into a team. It just adds an extra level of passion, an extra level of what I think college athletics should be about, which is fighting for your team, believing in something bigger than yourself and doing it because you love it.”

‘Winning Is Not Final and Losing Is Not Fatal’

Make no mistake about it, Ward, his staff, and his athletes are hoping to earn a win on Sunday in front of what is sure to be a packed house at Christl Arena. All involved want to extend their dual meet winning streak over the team in the navy blue and gold singlets to two dual meet victories in a row. 

Having said that, Ward also said he believes that “winning (the dual) is not final and losing (the dual) is not fatal.”

“Our philosophy in this program is that whatever happens, you will learn from it. You're going to move on. You're going to take the good things with you, and you're going to leave the baggage behind, and you're going to use it to make you better,” Ward said. 

“Listen like winning isn’t final and losing is fatal; you're going to move on. If you win the match, good, move on. The season isn’t over. If you lose the match, well, that sucks, but you can learn a lot from it.” 

Ward pointed out that one of wrestling's unique elements is that once athletes reach the postseason, it’s a clean slate and a brand-new season in that no results — good or bad — matter moving forward. 

“You walk into the conference tournament with a 0-0 record on the year, and everything that you've ever dreamed of accomplishing is still right there in front of you, no matter what happened last week or two or three or four weeks ago,” Ward said. “And so, I think we've done our job as coaches, which I feel like we have when we wake up on Monday morning. You know this team's mind is going to be in the right spot.”

Watch the Army-Navy dual meet at 4 p.m. ET Sunday live on Flowrestling.