ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The 21st-ranked Navy men's soccer team (9-0-0, 2-0-0 Patriot League) is back on the road Wednesday afternoon to face American (0-6-2, 0-1-1 Patriot League) in Washington, D.C., at 3 p.m.
The Midshipmen moved up to No. 21 in the national poll this week and earned their second-straight ranking with 109 points this week. Navy is ranked second in the Atlantic Region, behind James Madison. The Midshipmen also come in at No. 15 in the Top Drawer Soccer Poll and No. 19 in the College Soccer News ranking.
Navy currently has the longest winning streak in the country at 13 games, which dates back to last season. The Midshipmen are also the first team in the country to nine wins and are one of four teams left in the nation without a loss or a tie. The 9-0-0 start for Navy is the best start in program history since 1966 and this is the fifth time Navy has started the season with nine-straight victories.
Coming into the week, the Midshipmen grabbed their second Patriot League victory of the season after defeating Loyola on the road, 2-0, which was Navy's first win in Baltimore against the Greyhounds since 2009. Nicko West and Ethan Singer tallied the goals for the Midshipmen as they scored both goals in the first half to run their first-half scoring margin to 13-0 this season. Navy has scored in the first half in eight of the nine contests this year. The shutout for the Midshipmen was their third straight and seventh of the year. Navy has a current shutout streak of 310:21 heading into the midweek bout.
The two shutouts from Navy last week propelled Ian Bramblett to Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honors and he also earned a spot in the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week. Matt Nocita also came up with a pair of clearances off the goal line against Loyola to pick up Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors, which also earned him a spot on the Patriot League Network Top-Three Plays.
On the year, Jacob Williams has led the team with five goals and 12 points, while his two assists are tied for second on the team. West is just behind Williams with four goals and eight points in 2019. Navy has 10 different players with at least two points this season, which includes six different players with a goal. Navy has scored 16 goals this season to go along with 14 assists, where Diego Manrique leads the way with four assists.
Bramblett has played all 810 minutes in goal for the Midshipmen this season racking up 18 saves over the first nine matches of the year. The junior has led Navy to the second-best save percentage in the country at .909 and he also compiled a 0.22 goals-against average this season. Bramblett's seven shutouts this season also move him to fifth in program history for most shutouts in a season since 1983.
American heads into the week with a record of 0-6-2 and is 0-1-1 in the Patriot League after playing to a 1-1 draw with Bucknell on the road last time out. In the Eagles' league opener, they suffered a 2-1 set back to Lehigh. After being shutout for five-straight matches, Nick Dimitrijevic has led the offense with a goal in each of the last two matches to become the team's only multi-goal scorer. Malachy McGovern has American's third goal of the season, which came in the first match of the year, while the Eagles have four different players with an assist this season. Jake Agnew has played the bulk of the season in goal for American with 34 saves and a .734 save percentage. As a team, the Eagles have a 1.78 goals-against average.
In the all-time series between Navy and American, the Eagles hold a 13-10-8 record over the Midshipmen. American has also won the last two meetings by matching scores of 3-2. Navy's last victory over American came during the 2014 season, 2-0, and the year prior was the Midshipmen's last victory over the Eagles in Washington, D.C., 1-0.
