Sept. 5, 2008
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BALTIMORE, Md. -- Freshman Wes Powell tallied his first career goal in dramatic fashion, scoring in the 100th minute to lift the Navy men's soccer team to a 2-1 overtime victory over Adelphi in the first game of the UMBC adidas Kickoff Classic. The win was Navy's first of the year and pushed the Mids' record to 1-1-1 overall.
"A win is a win. At times we looked great and at times we looked unorganized. This was our first game playing a new system, so that was to be expected," said Navy head coach Rich Miranda. "When we stuck to our plan, we looked pretty good. We scored our first goal with our new system, and then we totally got away from it. When we were making a transition from offense to defense, we looked a little confused. But the new system showed us that we can be a good offensive team and it was an encouraging effort today."
Navy has now scored four goals in the last two games after being shut out in the season opener. Ironically, the Mids have scored their four goals in the last two games on just 12 shots. Navy had 13 shots in the season opener against St. Francis (N.Y.).
"The last two games we have done a good job getting behind the defense, instead of playing in front of them. It just puts a lot of pressure on the opposing defense to play solid," said Miranda. "We have played to our strengths the last two games and gotten behind the defense. We are getting strong opportunities and making the most of them."
With just 38 seconds left in the first overtime, Powell uncorked a blast from 22 yards out that curled just inside the left post for Navy's 10th "Golden Goal" in program history. Ironically, Navy's last "Golden Goal" came during the first day of the UMBC adidas Soccer Classic a year ago, when Mark Garcia scored in the 104th minute against Iona on Sept. 7, 2007.
"It was just a tremendous shot by Powell," said Miranda. "We had a good counter-attack in the midfield, and Powell got the ball and hash and just fired it at the goal. It hit the inside post and went in. We needed that."
The Mids jumped out early when junior Chris Marino (Longwood, Fla.) scored in the 17th minute for a 1-0 Navy advantage. Marino, who has now scored goals in back-to-back games after recording his first career goal against Saint Mary's last Sunday, took a lead pass from Matt Tapajcik (Jr. / Alexandria, Va.) down the left wing into the Panthers' defense. Marino rifled a shot from 11 yards out that beat the Adelphi keeper for his second goal of the season.
The lead was short-lived as Adelphi's Patrick Figueiredo scored 21 minutes later in the 38th minute to knot the score at one.
The Navy offense struggled in the second half, but had another great chance in the 89th minute. Marino found a seam in the defense, but his shot hit the crossbar and Adelphi was able to clear the ball out of trouble and send the game into overtime.
In the overtime session, Navy held the Panthers without a shot, before Powell's heroics won the game for the Midshipmen.
Navy was outshot by Adelphi, 8-6, for the contest and the Panthers drew nine corner kicks to Navy's one. Navy was also whistled for six offsides calls and for 16 fouls, while Adelphi had just one and 11, respectively.
Nolan Grebb (Sr. / Woodbury, N.J.) stopped four shots in goal to earn his second career victory.
The Mids are now 6-1-2 against non-conference foes in the last nine games, dating back to last year.
Navy will be in action on Sunday, when it concludes the UMBC adidas Soccer Classic against Lipscomb at noon.
# GO NAVY #
