ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's soccer team began the Patriot League portion of its 2018 schedule on Thursday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over Holy Cross. Taking on the Crusaders (2-6, 0-1 PL) in a game that was moved up from Saturday morning in advance of any weather that may trouble the Mid-Atlantic region, the Mids (3-3-3, 1-0 PL) used timely defending and a game-winning goal by Baseley McClaskey (Jr., Grand Junction, Colo.) in the 61^st minute to secure the shutout decision at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
 
"That was a good soccer game," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "I don't think we stayed very disciplined in some of our defending principles that we had been doing well with up until this point, but we generated a lot of chances in the flow of the game, which hasn't been happening as frequently for us. On the attacking side of the ball we had some good chances and should have put away a few earlier, but in the end we only needed to get one in to win this game against a quality opponent."
 
As referenced by Gabarra, the action on Thursday in the offensive third saw Navy manufacture some dangerous chances early and often versus Holy Cross. In a two-minute span of action Regan McQuain (Jr., Lafayette, Calif.) whipped a threatening cross into the goal box in the 14^th minute and Karli Sottung (Sr., Westfield, N.J.) played Hannah Miller (Fr., Mattawan, Mich.) in behind the defense in the 15^th minute. Both opportunities required Holy Cross' goalkeeper Sophia Lettieri to leave her line and intercept the action.
 
The Mids pressured Lettieri two more times in the final 15 minutes of the first half as Kristina Dzhandzhapanyan (So., Diamond Bar, Calif.) took a shot on goal in the 31^st and Eleanor Pratt (Sr., New Orleans, La.) did the same in the 45^th with a well-struck side-volley shot. Anabell Motley (Sr., Asheville, N.C.) facilitated both of those high percentage opportunities with crisp ball movement. 
 
The game went into halftime scoreless with both teams credited with seven shots. 
 
Holy Cross put the pressure on first to start the second period as the visiting Crusaders registered the four shots and a corner kick over the opening 14 minutes of action. Navy's goalkeeper Sydney Fortson (Jr., Claremont, Calif.) made her second save of the game during this run of play as she turned aside a Carly Flahive shot on goal in the 59^th minute. After some miscommunication with her backline, Fortson retreated from the top of the box and made the stop on Flahive's looping shot near the goal line.
 
Withstanding that initial surge by Holy Cross, Navy made its first shot and shot on goal of the second half count when McClaskey got a hold of free kick from over 40 yards out at 60:25. With the ball powered towards goal, Lettieri parked underneath it, but saw it squirm late through her hands for the score.
 
Holding a 1-0 lead, the Mids's shutout was saved by the defensive efforts of Pratt in the 75^th minute, when she ranged back inside the goal box and swept away a bounding ball that was hit over Fortson in the direction of a Crusader striker and the open goalmouth. 
 
Likewise Holy Cross kept its comeback hopes alive later in the game in the 81^st minute when Cadie Higginson (Jr., New Orleans, La.) connected for a shot on goal off of a corner kick only to see a Crusader defender bat the ball away at the last minute while holding the goal line.
 
Navy held the majority of the scoring chances down the stretch over the last 10 minutes of play to wrap up the 1-0 victory. For the game, Navy outshot Holy Cross, 14-13 with a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal. Both teams took three corner kicks.
 
Fortson made two saves in goal to secure Navy's fifth shutout of the season.
 
"I'm happy with the result today," said Gabarra. "We know the areas that we need to get better with moving forward. We need to keep possession a little bit better, we were missing simple passes and we need to tighten up our discipline on defense."
 
Navy will next be in action on Monday evening on the road at Howard in a non-conference tilt. Kickoff between the Mids and Bison is set for 7 p.m. in Washington, D.C.