April 24, 2014
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy men's soccer team recently completed a successful spring season against a challenging slate of opponents. Navy finished the spring season with a 2-1-2 record. The Mids earned wins over Drexel (1-0) and NC State (2-1), while drawing with Penn State (3-3) and USL Pro's Harrisburg City (1-1). Navy's only loss was to 2013 NCAA Tournament team William & Mary (2-0).
Rising junior forward Jamie Dubyoski led the Mids with five goals during the spring season, while rising sophomores Sam Bascom and Alex Evans each scored once.
Dubyoski scored the lone goal in Navy's 1-0 win over Drexel. Drexel was the 2013 CAA Champion and an NCAA Tournament team. Dubyoski also scored a hat trick in Navy's 3-3 draw with Penn State. The Nittany Lions won the Big Ten title for the second straight year and advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen last fall.
Bascom and Evans scored in Navy's 2-1 win at NC State. The Wolfpack had a year-end RPI ranking of 34 in the fall.
"It was an important spring for us," head coach Dave Brandt said. "For the second spring in a row, we played three NCAA teams from the previous fall, a pro team and then another big name team in NC State. It was stiff competition."
Navy will open the 2014 fall season at Air Force on August 29. In 2013, Navy went 16-4-2 and advanced to the NCAA Second Round. Navy won the Patriot League Regular Season (9-0-0) and Tournament Championships, while finishing the season ranked No. 25 in the NSCAA Coaches Poll.
Along with Dubyoski, the 2013 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, Navy will return starting center back duo Joseph Greenspan and Derek Vogel. Both Greenspan and Vogel were named to the All-Patriot League First Team in 2013 and helped Navy rank 15th in the NCAA in goals-against average (0.70).
NavySports.com recently spoke with Brandt about his team's performance this spring.
NavySports.com: The program will graduate nine seniors in May, with six of them being starters, how did you use the spring season to replace that group?
Brandt: The seniors, as a class, had a huge imprint in the fall. We were in the unique spot where we lost a lot with our senior class, but we also returned a lot of capable players. Both those things were true for us. Replacing that senior class and having young guys step into new roles in the spring went well. It was a very positive spring for us and it will be a very important spring for us moving forward. Losing the senior class was always going to matter. They got us to a certain spot and obviously it's now up to the rest of us to take it from here and do a good job with what they left us with.
NavySports.com: What were some of the positions that needed to be replaced in the spring?
Brandt: We lost some key players at wing back and we lost our whole center midfield. So it was important for guys to step into those roles to get really meaningful and really challenging minutes, and I think that happened. I think they played well.
NavySports.com: Who were some of the players that showed improvement in the spring?
Brandt: I think the whole freshman class did. A couple of those guys did have a good fall for us too, but it was a good spring for the whole freshman class. I think Daniel Camuti and Matt Saunders specifically shouldered a lot of the responsibility this spring, more than what they did in the fall. I think there were lots of other guys too, including Sam Bascom and Alex Evans. Jackson Morgan got some good minutes in goal as well.
NavySports.com: After having the most successful fall season in decades, how do you keep the team from getting complacent with what they have already achieved?
Brandt: I don't think we have done enough yet to become complacent. The seniors played a big role in the fall, but now we have a young and hungry group that is confident, but certainly not over-confident to the point where complacency is even an issue. I think we have lots to prove and we probably are 'healthy-nervous,' if that makes sense. We are respectful of what it would take to have another good fall.
