RALEIGH, N.C. – The Navy women's soccer team concluded its 2019 season on Friday night with a 3-0 loss on the road at North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Competing in their first NCAA Tournament game in 12 years, the Mids (16-3-3) played the Wolfpack (11-6-4) even for nearly 55 minutes before the hosts broke through with three goals within a 20-minute run of play in the second half.
 
"N.C. State is very athletic so we knew that we had to be very disciplined and organized," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "I think we were, but they wore us down with the pace that they moved the ball and the numbers that they sent forward. They eventually took us out of our shape and we did the best would could to stay with them, but they wore us down.
 
"I think that they came out at halftime with more urgency than they did in the first half because we kept them off the scoreboard. After that first goal we were trying to get out, but they had us pinned in. College soccer is about set pieces; we work on attacking with them and defending them. They scored on two set pieces tonight, that hurt us in this game."
 
The action on Friday night began very defensively as Navy's starting backfield was busy and effective. In the first 15 minutes of play both Alex Jackson (Sr., Centennial, Colo.) and Avery Fries (So., Draper, Utah) were called upon to step up and make defensive stands. Jackson first headed away a free kick in the fourth minute before Fries swept away a loose ball in the box following a Wolfpack corner kick in the tenth.
 
Navy's offensive attack started making in-roads during the middle portion of the first half. The Mids' first quality look at goal came as a result of a Jeana Freeman (Fr., Raleigh, N.C.) cross from the left wing towards an on-coming Kristina Dzhandzhapanyan (Jr., Diamond Bar, Calif.) in the 22nd minute. Unfortunately for Navy, N.C. State's goalkeeper Jessica Berlin left her line to bat the cross away before Dzhandzhapanyan could make contact. Less than seven minutes later, Baseley McClaskey (Sr., Grand Junction, Colo.) set up a free kick from just inside midfield that found the head of Cadie Higginson (Sr., New Orleans, La.) and deflected wide of the goal.
 
Sydney Fortson (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) was called upon late in the first half to hold the 0-0 stalemate as she made a leaping save on a Jameese Joseph shot on goal that had eyes for the far upper-90 after North Carolina State played a corner kick out to the top of the box.
 
The teams went into the halftime intermission with the game scoreless. The Wolfpack held a 6-0 advantage in shots taken for the first half.
 
The offensive intensity for the hosts picked up in the second half as N.C. State recorded four shots in the first 9:08 of the stanza. While the first three shots of that span were either blocked or saved by Fortson, the fourth shot, a curling attempt to the right upper-90, found the back of the net for the Wolfpack. After Lulu Guttenberger's initial shot off of a free kick was blocked by the Mids' wall of defenders, the Wolfpack player recovered the loose ball and deposited the game's first goal at 54:08.
 
N.C. State kept the pressure on and Navy struggled to get the ball into its attacking third for the next 20-plus minutes. Fortson was up to the task of holding onto the Mids' one-goal deficit as she turned aside another Joseph shot on goal in the 59th minute.
 
The outlook of the game took a hard turn at the end of this 20-minute span as the Wolfpack scored back-to-back goals within 32 seconds of each other. N.C. State's first goal at 74:18 came when Guttenberger found Leyah Hall-Robinson for a corner kick connection, while its second came when Kristina Schuster hit a streaking Anna Toohey for an odd-numbered rush at 74:50.
 
Navy's first official shot of the game came in the 78th minute when Higginson gathered the ball 30 yards out and ripped a shot that sailed high over the goal.
 
The game would go final by that 3-0 score and North Carolina State would advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season. The Wolfpack are set to meet up with the bracket's number three seed, the Arkansas Razorbacks in Provo, Utah on Thursday, Nov. 21.
 
For the game, North Carolina State outshot Navy, 17-1 with a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal. The host Wolfpack also held a significant 9-1 margin in corner kicks.
 
The 2019 Navy team will go into the program record books with the fifth-most wins in a single season. The Mids' defense finished the season with just 12 goals allowed for a 0.52 goals against average and 13 shutouts. All-time, those marks ranks third and fifth, respectively in the history of Navy Women's Soccer. Offensively, 18 different field players recorded at least one point during the 2019 campaign.
 
Friday's game was the final for Navy's esteemed Senior Class of 2020. Winners of 52 combined games, Patriot League Regular Season titles in 2017 and 2019 and the Patriot League Postseason Championship in 2019, the program's first since 2007, the Class of 2020 leaves behind a memorable legacy. The class consists of Cadie Higginson, Alex Jackson, Baseley McClaskey, Lexie Silva, Ashley Sweet and team captain Sydney Fortson.
 
"Our senior class has been great," remarked Gabarra. "The competitiveness and skill that they brought for four years has been outstanding. I always believed in this group because of the fire and drive that they have. This game doesn't always come down to the best team, but instead the team that finds a way to get it done. This senior class and our team as a whole this season was really good at that, no matter what other teams threw at them. I really like the way this class includes everyone. Every player on this team has a role and their voice is heard. This group is very inclusive and I really respect that. Not to mention their academic ability and what they do off the field; they do the right thing. All of that has left a huge impact on all of our younger players.
 
"This group got us back in the NCAA Tournament and won us a Patriot League title. They were able to accomplish both with a lot of grace, togetherness and helping the team culture thrive. All of those are positive aspects that they've given us this year and throughout their careers. They mean so much to this program."