By Marvin Pave, Boston Globe - MILTON, Mass. - Curry College senior lacrosse captain Andrew Navoni never met his grandfather, Andy, the former athletic director at the Rivers School in Weston.

“But knowing of him and what people have told me about his character and integrity meant a lot to me,’’ said Navoni, a 2009 Rivers grad from Natick whose solid two-way play in the midfield helped propel Curry to a 5-0 start this season.

“I felt I had a family name to live up to,’’ said Navoni, whose father, James, teaches mathematics and is an assistant athletic director at Rivers. “But my dad said I also had a name to make for myself.’’

Given more responsibility offensively by first-year coach Tim Murphy this season, Navoni has responded with several clutch goals, including the game-winner in Curry’s 14-13 victory in overtime March 5 against Southern Maine.

He had six ground balls — plus two goals — in an 11-10 win over Mount Ida; 8 ground balls and 4 caused turnovers when the Colonels topped Manhattanville; and the first tally in a 7-5 victory against Norwich last Sunday. His 12 ground balls against Southern Maine were a season high.

Murphy appreciates Navoni’s skill set and athleticism.

“He’s developed offensively in summer select lacrosse, and he’s unbelievable in transition,’’ said Murphy.

The NCAA wanted to speed up the game this season and part of that was taking out the sideline horn — which used to allow substitution of offensive and defensive units — so Navoni rarely comes off the field.

“He runs with our first-line offensive midfield and we also use him late in games on the defensive end because he’s a great shutdown cover guy, something he excelled at with Rivers and his first three years at Curry,’’ Murphy said.

Click here to read the full story