ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With a full offseason and a challenging preseason of training behind them, the Navy women's soccer team got a chance to get out of the blocks with a bang on Thursday night versus Buffalo in front of a loud and passionate crowd at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. While the game started out with a bang early for the Mids courtesy of a Cadie Higginson (Sr., New Orleans, La.) penalty shot in the 15th minute it also ended with a bang as lightning strikes in the surrounding area concluded the game with between the Mids (1-0) and Bulls (0-1) a bit early with 6:12 minutes remaining on the clock. Higginson's lone goal stood up as the game-winner in Navy's 1-0 victory.
 
"It's always great to win your home opener," exclaimed head coach Carin Gabarra. "We got to put a lot of new faces on the field and get them collegiate experience. Buffalo is an athletic team, that moves the ball quickly and works super hard. They were a very good matchup for us. They exposed us in some places that we learned about and can improve on those moving forward. Finding out your weaknesses and improving are important takeaways from early non-conference games. It's too bad we didn't get the whole game in, but I enjoyed watching us play and seeing some of our younger players step on the field, as well as our seniors moving into more leadership roles."
 
After a quick feeling out period, Navy started making in-roads on the offensive third of the field as the hosts recorded four shots and a pair of corner kicks within the first 11 minutes of play. All that pressure eventually turned into hand ball penalty in the box versus a Buffalo defender. With a penalty kick granted to the Mids, Higginson calmly walked up to the ball and beat the Bulls' goalkeeper Emily Kelly to put her team up 1-0 at 14:55.
 
As the action continued over the final 30-plus minutes of the first half, the Mids kept controlling the majority of the possession and the tempo. During this stretch, Navy welcomed a variety of underclassmen into the game flow with three freshmen and two sophomores entering the game. With Caitlin Doran (Fr., Queens, N.Y.) and Kaitlynn Johns (Fr., Austin, Texas) already in the game as members of the starting lineup, fellow freshmen Sadie McCaleb (Loganton, Pa.), Gracie Checkan (Gaithersburg, Md.) and Jeana Freeman (Raleigh, N.C.) all debuted in the back stretch of the first half.
 
"It's a different pace and a different level with different expectations," remarked Gabarra when asked about her freshmen's showing. "Then you put a loud, boisterous crowd in the stands; that's a new, different energy too. I'm pretty proud of the number of them [freshmen] that played and how they grew more comfortable with the action. Moving forward, they'll know what to expect. That's a good thing to get out of a first game like this."
 
Freeman's impact was felt quickly as she entered the game in the 36th minute and had two shots both before the half closed out. Her second shot at 40:35 was on frame and required a low diving save by Kelly.
 
At the half, Navy was up on the scoreboard, 1-0, as well as in the shots (7-2) and corner kicks (3-1) categories.
 
Coming out of the locker room after the break it was more of the same as Navy held the majority of possession, as well as turned in a series of high-pressure scoring chances. Holding a one-goal lead, the Mids continued turning solid midfield play into dangerous drives towards goal. Junior Emily Keast (Springfield, Va.) nearly made it a 2-0 game in the 56th minute when she streaked up the left wing and fed senior forward Regan McQuain (Lafayette, Calif.) into space before Kelly crashed out of her crease and met McQuain at the ball to deflect it away.
 
Navy's pressure turned into five more corner kicks for the team in the second half to finish the contest with a total of eight, seven more than Buffalo.
 
With lightning showing itself in the distance, Mother Nature decided to get a closer look at the action in the 84th minute with strikes registering within the impermissible playing range. Delayed and waiting out the lightning from their respective locker rooms, the teams were informed by the referees at 9:40 p.m. that the action would be unable to restart again.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Buffalo, 11-5. Five different Mids registered two shots with Higginson, Freeman and Alex Jackson (Sr., Centennial, Colo.) all putting their shots on goal.
 
Playing the entire 83:48, Sydney Fortson (Sr., Claremont, Calif.) recorded the shutout, the 18^th of her career. Buffalo forced the senior goalkeeper to make one save to preserve the clean sheet.
 
"We need to get 90-minute match fit moving forward, but that will come with time," concluded Gabarra. "We also need to build some players up and find some composure in certain situations. We had runs were we played really well and kept possession, but then would lose our composure in other times. We need to get better at finishing our chances and continuing to work hard to create."
 
Navy will continue early season action with another non-conference tilt on Sunday, this time against the No. 24 LSU Tigers.