Sept. 20, 2006
Box Score
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's soccer team scored a pair of goals in the game's first 20 minutes, then held on in the second half for a 2-1 non-conference victory over Mount St. Mary's on Wednesday night at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The win evens Navy's record to 4-4-1 overall, as the team now enters a 10-day break for six-week exams.
Navy took advantage of a strong northerly wind in the first half to jump out to a 2-0 lead. McKenzie Plank (Mountain View, Calif.) continued his early-season assault by tallying the Mids' first goal just eight minutes into the contest. Zach Pleis (Granite Bay, Calif.) played a long ball from the defensive zone that Plank corraled. He then beat his man one-on-one and rolled a shot from the left slot to the low right corner of the net for a 1-0 advantage. The goal for Plank, who entered the game as the top scorer in the Patriot League, was his sixth of the season and 10th of his career.
Navy then went up 2-0 about 13 minutes later when Travis King (Loveland, Ohio) buried his third goal of the season. Plank fired a shot off the crossbar that ricocheted to King, who calmly deposited the ball into the back of a wide-open net for the eventual game-winner.
Navy scored a pair of goals on just five shots in the first half for a 2-0 halftime lead.
"I thought in the first half we applied great pressure and really forced them into some mistakes, which we took advantage of," said Navy head coach Rich Miranda. "It would have been nice to have had more scoring opportunities, but we took advantage of the ones we had."
With the field reversed in the second half, Mount St. Mary's took control, cutting into the Navy lead on a Pierre Del Aguila goal in the 68th minute. Del Aguila corraled a loose ball in traffic and chipped it over goalkeeper Evan Barnes (Dublin, Ohio).
Despite outshooting Navy, 5-1, in the second half, The Mount could get no closer and Navy escaped with a 2-1 victory.
"We just didn't have many possessions in the second half, and we weren't very composed when we did have the ball," said Miranda. "They were first to everything, and really came out strong in the last 45 minutes. But we were able to hold the lead and our defense played strong limiting their good scoring opportunities. A win is a win and its good to be back to .500."
Navy was outshot for the game, 9-6, but drew six corner kicks to Mount St. Mary's two. Navy was whistled for 17 fouls to Mount St. Mary's 15. Barnes made two saves for Navy.
The Mids will now take 10 days off before heading to Holy Cross on Sept. 30. It's a break that Miranda hopes will heal the squad. Navy played Wednesday night without four starters, but as many as three of them could be back by the time Navy plays Holy Cross.
Navy will be back home on Oct. 7, hosting Colgate at 7:00 p.m.
# GO NAVY #
