The US Naval Academy had some work to do but managed to defeat University of Notre Dame 25-3 Friday night in South Bend, Ind.

The game was part of a rugby/football double, as the two universities will face off in gridiron on Saturday. Friday night's game was highly competitive, with Notre Dame holding off Navy thorugh most of the first half. Navy scored one try, and kicked a penalty, while the Irish had two penalty attempts, making one.

"Notre Dame played well, but we were also guilty of being a little greedy when we had scoring chances," said Navy Head Coach Mike Flanagan. "We got down to the one-inch line but we tried to bang it over instead of moving the ball wide. We addressed that in the second half."

With the wind at their backs, the Midshipmen scored three more tries in the second half, getting the ball out of the rucks more quickly and spinning it wide.

"That was the theme of the second half - free the ball and let's have some fun," said Flanagan. "I was much more pleased with the second half."

Notre Dame battled, but Navy was the stronger, despite leaving six starters back in Annapolis for Navy SEAL screening.

"We got six new guys in the startling lineup and I am happy they performed well," said Flanagan, who got good games from lock Piper Thaler and wing Robbie Stephenson. And up front, loosehead prop and captain Woody Dewing was a force, handling an opposing tighthead who outweight him by a good 60 pounds.

"He was rock solid," said Flanagan. "We play alright but we did have some things we needed to do better. But defensively we were solid all night; I though the guys played some inspired defense against a Notre Dame team that was really tough. We are really glad we came here and Notre Dame has a great facility and a lot of potential."