EASTON, Pa. – With the Patriot League postseason staring the Navy women's soccer team squarely in the face, the Midshipmen came out on Wednesday night and gained three more important points in the standings with a 1-0 win on the road at Lafayette. Scoreless through the opening 45 minutes, the Mids (10-4-3, 6-1 PL) received a game-winning goal from Cadie Higginson (Jr., New Orleans, La.) in the 48th minute to defeat the Leopards (4-11, 1-6 PL) at Oaks Stadium.
 
"We're happy to get an important road win tonight," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "It's always tough to play here and tonight the conditions were especially tough with a stiff wind affecting a lot of what both teams were trying to do. I'm pleased with our fight throughout and our willingness to go hard with every challenge. On offense, we got some good looks and Cadie made her's count. We received strong defending from across our roster tonight; we really guarded them tightly in our defensive third."
 
Navy and Lafayette's battle with the wind was noticeable from the beginning as the first half was devoid of many high percentage offensive chances.
 
The visiting Mids' first strong scoring opportunity came in the 24th minute when Baseley McClaskey (Jr., Grand Junction, Colo.) connected with a cross towards the head of Emily Keast (So., Springfield, Va.), but the sophomore's header attempt glanced just wide of the goal.
 
Wind and defense continued to control the majority of the action down the stretch in the first half and the game went into halftime with the score deadlocked at 0-0. A testament to the defenses curtailing of quality offensive looks was a glance at the box score that saw Navy with just two shots, while Lafayette was unable to register even one shot.
 
Coming out of the locker room after intermission, the Mids quickly broke the stalemate 3:17 into the second half when McClaskey navigated the left wing and darted into the box before slotting a square pass to a waiting Higginson, who one-timed a shot into the back of the net. The goal was Higginson's second in two games, while McClaskey's assist was her seventh helper of 2018.
 
A give-and-go between Kristina Dzhandzhapanyan (So., Diamond Bar, Calif.) and Regan McQuain (Jr., Lafayette, Calif.) nearly resulted in Navy's second goal less than 10 minutes later in the 57th minute. Dzhandzhapanyan's shot from just inside the 18-yard box was struck well, but sailed wide of target.
 
Navy held onto that 1-0 lead over the ensuing 33 minutes of play, though Lafayette looked to make it interesting in the 76th minute, when Alex Stanford got a clean look at goal, but her shot was corralled by Fortson at the mouth of the goal with ease. That shot by Stanford was Lafayette's first and only shot of the entire contest. 
 
The Mids' second shot on goal of the night was an Eleanor Pratt (Sr., New Orleans, La.) hard, low, line-drive strike that tested the Leopards' goalkeeper Maggie Pohl in the 79th minute. Pohl was up to the task and made the save to keep the game at a 1-0 margin.
 
In the Navy 1-0 victory, the Mids outshot the Leopards, 6-1, with a 2-1 advantage in shots on goal. Navy recorded three corner kicks versus two for Lafayette.
 
With a full five-game slate of Patriot League games going final on Wednesday night, Navy moves into second place with 18 points (6-1). Colgate picked up its sixth win of the year to improve to 6-0-1 (19 points), while Boston tied Army and fell into third place with a 5-0-2 mark (17 points). Navy is now guaranteed to finish in the top-four of the Patriot League.
 
A matchup of those top-two teams will take place this Saturday morning when Navy hosts Colgate in an 11 a.m. contest at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The winner of that contest will control its destiny in terms of a potential number one seed in the postseason tournament.