Ryan Kern is an outstanding student and could have come directly to the Naval Academy. However, the standout goalkeeper realized the Midshipmen would have a returning starter at his position in 2016 and thus elected to attend the Naval Academy Prep School for a year.
"I knew John Connors would be graduating and the job would be open," Kern said. "My mindset was to come in and challenge for the starting spot."
That plan worked to perfection as Kern gained valuable experience at NAPS then showed up in Annapolis and beat out three other candidates to replace Connors in the cage.