ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Playing in his final regular-season home match on Senior Night, senior Diego Manrique (Buford, Ga.) delivered Navy's (12-3-1, 5-3-2 Patriot League) game-winning goal in the 82nd minute to seal a 1-0 victory over Lafayette (8-6-4, 4-3-2 Patriot League) on Wednesday.
With the win, the Midshipmen clinched the No. 3 seed in the Patriot League Tournament as Navy jumped over Lafayette to finish third in the league standings with 16 points. The Midshipmen now host No. 6-seeded Bucknell on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"It is a big difference in soccer," head coach Tim O'Donohue commented about hosting a quarterfinal match. "We will have our crowd behind us, which is going to be great. Our guys work so hard academically and we will be able to sleep in our own beds on Friday. It is one game at a time this time of year. We are all in for Saturday and we are going to give it our all."
Right from the beginning of the match, both teams looked to break the ice early with the two teams combining for five shots in the first 10 minutes of the contest. Then, in the 20th minute, Joe Alex (So., Lockport, N.Y.) delivered a corner kick into the penalty area and from 10 yards out, Matt Nocita (So., Porter Ranch, Calif.) put the first shot on goal in the match. However, Lafayette's Alex Sutton was there to make the save and keep the match tied at zero.
Throughout the first 23 minutes of play, the Midshipmen and Leopards racked up nine shots but neither team placed a shot on target over the remainder of the half. Navy held a 5-4 edge in shots at the intermission with Nocita's shot being the only shot on goal in the first 45 minutes.
To start the second half, the Midshipmen had an early chance to get on the board as Alex snuck behind the Lafayette defense and tried on volley home a cross from Manrique but his shot attempt went wide in the 50th minute.
Over the next 15 minutes, the Leopards started to pressure the Navy defense with the next seven shots. In the 62nd minute, Lafayette hit the upper right corner of the crossbar and then in the 64th minute, Ian Bramblett (Jr., Easley, S.C.) came up with a stop to keep the Leopards off the scoreboard.
Jacob Williams (So., Millersville, Md.) had a back-heel attempt in the 70th minute but his shot was corralled by Sutton in goal.
Following another strong defensive stand by the Navy defense, the Midshipmen flipped the field in a hurry as Manrique notched his second goal of the season in the 82nd minute. Off of a throw-in from senior Andrew Hopkins (Garrison, Md.), Wyatt Millard (Jr., Columbia, S.C.) played a quick pass over to Manrique in the middle of the field. Manrique took one touch and then ripped a left-footed shot from 21 yards out and tucked into the lower-left corner of the net to give Navy a 1-0 lead in the match with just eight minutes to play.
Over the final minutes of the match, Navy tried to double its lead with shots from Williams and Nicko West (Jr., Mansfield, Texas) but both opportunities were off target. Down the stretch, Bramblett collected his second save of the night to seal the 1-0 victory for the Midshipmen.
"I thought we possessed the ball for long periods of time tonight and they [Lafayette] are a tough team to play against and they are disruptive," O'Donohue said about the match. "I am proud of our guys. We have had a few tough breaks last game, but our guys came back and had really good character. Now we have to get ready for Saturday."
Bramblett notched his 10th shutout of the season to tie the program record for most shutouts in a season. Gavin Snyder originally set the record in 2013 as he helped Navy win Patriot League Tournament during his senior season. Bramblett – now at 11 career clean sheets – is also just one shutout away from cracking the top five for career shutouts in program history.
Prior to the match on Wednesday night, the Navy men's soccer program honored its four graduating seniors for Senior Night. Andrew Hopkins, Diego Manrique, Ben Nicholas and Ethan Singer were all recognized before their final regular-season home match.
Navy now hosts Bucknell on Saturday in the first of two Patriot League Quarterfinals. Earlier this season, the Midshipmen grabbed a 2-0 home victory over Bucknell. The second tournament quarterfinal features No. 4 Lafayette hosting No. 5 Colgate at 3 p.m. on Saturday. No. 1 Lehigh and No. 2 Loyola await the two quarterfinal winners for the semifinals on Tuesday night.
