ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Bayne Bentley (Fr., Austin, Texas) and Jacob Williams (Fr., Millersville, Md.) both scored in the second half to guide the Navy men's soccer team to a 2-1 victory over Boston University on Saturday night at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
 
The Midshipmen (2-11-1, 1-5 Patriot League) trailed early in the second half, but the freshmen duo paced the Navy offense to its first Patriot League win of the season. The victory also snapped an eight-match skid for the Midshipmen.
 
"I am proud of the guys and I thought they played really well tonight," head coach Tim O'Donohue said. "They battled back and the young players played really well. We had great leadership from the older players and we want to finish the season strong."
 
The Terriers (3-9-3, 2-3-1 PL) held the offensive pressure for a majority of the first half. Boston had two corner kicks in the first six minutes of play, but could not generate a shot. The first shot of the match came from Williams, but his shot was well off target.
 
In a period that saw each team record two shots, Boston had both of its shots 18 seconds apart in the 21st and the Midshipmen's backline came up with a pair of blocked shots.
 
Navy had a scoring chance in the 36th minute with Wyatt Millard (So., Columbia, S.C.) sprinting toward the left post, but Mike Bernardi came up with the save for the Terriers. 
 
In the first half, both teams had two shots with Millard's attempt the only one reaching target. Boston's pressure came from corner kicks with five in the first 45 minutes of play. 
 
The second half got off to a furious pace with a header from Bentley going just wide of the left post and then Williams had a header that was saved by Bernardi. Both attempts came in the first five minutes of the half.
 
Despite strong offensive pressure from the Midshipmen, it was the Terriers scoring first in the 51st minute. Adam Wright outmuscled the Navy defense to head home a cross from Toti Knutsson to give Boston a 1-0 lead. 
 
The Midshipmen continued to press offensively with three shots and three corner kicks in the next 11 minutes following the goal. During that span, the Terriers were held without a shot and just one corner kick. 
 
Navy finally found the back of the net in the 71st minute. Bentley made a strong run down the left wing and cut in toward the near post. After the ball took a deflection and popped up into the air, Bentley corralled the loose ball and headed the ball down into the open goal to tie the match, 1-1.
 
In a back-and-forth battle, the field started to tilt toward Boston with the Navy being held without a shot for nearly 14 minutes and the Terriers recorded half of their second-half shots in between Navy goals. However, the Midshipmen were able to score on the counter-attack with just over five minutes to play. Millard stole the ball from Boston and he played a ball through to Williams. After a couple touches from Williams, he shot the ball low to the left post and banked the shot off the post and into the back of the net to put the Midshipmen ahead, 2-1, in the 85th minute.
 
Tyler Fahning (Fr., Victoria, Minn.) and the Navy defense withstood the Boston offense down the stretch and secured the 2-1 victory for the Midshipmen. Fahning made three saves in the match, while Navy outshot the Terriers by a 12-8 margin and 5-4 margin in shots on goal. 
 
With the victory, the Midshipmen now have three points in the Patriot League standings and are five points behind American for the sixth and final transfer spot into the Patriot League Tournament. Following this weekend's action, all 10 league teams will have three matches left in the regular season.
 
Navy is back in action on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. as it travels to Easton, Pa., to take on eighth-place Lafayette.