Aug. 31, 2008

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's soccer team played spirited soccer in the game's final 30 minutes, but its rally was not enough as Saint Mary's outscored the Mids, 4-2, on the final day of the Navy Soccer Classic. The loss drops Navy's record to 0-1-1 and ends the Mids' seven-game non-conference unbeaten streak.

"I'm disappointed we lost today, but I am more disappointed with the way we started the game," said Navy head coach Rich Miranda. "We need to play with the urgency and intensity we played the last 30 minutes with period. We have to realized that our success will come from outworking and outhustling people, and until we do that, we are going to struggle. When we started to play with that energy, we had our success."

Saint Mary's got on the board first when Jordan Grider redirected a Joel Fumia free kick in traffic in the 23rd minute for a 1-0 Gaels lead.

However, Navy responded on junior Chris Marino's (Longwood, Fla.) first career goal 12 minutes later. Scott Robertson (Chester, Va.) played a long ball to a streaking Marino, who dribbled the ball past a defender for a 1-on-1 situation with the goalie. Marino blasted a shot from 12 yards out that Saint Mary's keeper Jason Badger got a hand on, but couldn't prevent the ball from getting past him as it caromed into the top right corner to tie the game at one.

But the Gaels answered with a key goal in the 44th minute as Brian Siu delivered a corner kick that somehow made it through traffic and into the net for a 2-1 Gaels' advantage. The lead then stretched to 3-1 in the 69th minute when Yousef Samy scored on a penalty kick when he was tripped in the box by Navy goalie Nolan Grebb (Woodbury, N.J.), who was attempting to cover a loose ball.

Navy didn't fold, and pulled to within 3-2 when sophomore Sam Lepley (Des Moines, Iowa) tallied his first career goal. Off a Saint Mary's foul along the left sideline, junior Matt Tapajcik (Alexandria, Va.) sent a ball into the box, where Lepley timed his run perfectly to get a head on it and redirect past a frozen Badger in the 77th minute. The assist was Tapajcik's first career point.

The Mids nearly tied the game up just eight minutes later after applying strong pressure on the Saint Mary's defense. Sophomore Mike Porcelli (West Islip, N.Y.) streaked into the box and received a crossing pass in traffic, but his shot sailed just high to keep the Gaels' lead at 3-2. The Mids continued to keep the pressure on late in the game forcing the action on the offensive end, but it was Saint Mary's that took advantage. With the Navy defense out of position following a scramble in the offensive end, Erik Rivas took a pass from Samy and came in all alone on Grebb, scoring in the 90th minute for an insurance goal to cap off the 4-2 Saint Mary's victory.

The Mids were outshot, 22-6, including 14-3 in the second half. Navy had 15 fouls to Saint Mary's 11, and the Gaels recorded five corner kicks to Navy's two. Grebb made four saves in goal.

Navy will be in action next on Friday, Sept. 5, at the UMBC adidas Kick-off Classic in Baltimore. Navy will play Adelphi at 2:00 pm on Friday, then will battle Lipscomb on Sunday at noon.

# GO NAVY #