CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Navy women's soccer team improved to 2-1 on the young 2019 season with a 1-0 victory at Charleston Southern on Friday. Playing on the road for the first time this season, the Mids (2-1) turned in a strong performance at the CSU Soccer Field with substantial advantages on both ends as they unleashed seven shots on goal, while allowing just two for the Buccaneers (2-1). Unable to breakthrough for the first 69 minutes of play, sophomore Hannah Miller (Mattawan, Mich.) ended the scoreless tie as she deposited the ball in the back of the net following a series of passes from Cadie Higginson (Sr., New Orleans, La.) and Gina Peraino (So., Downington, Pa.).

"This was a quality road win today," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We really had a complete team effort as some of our best performances came from players that started the day as reserves. When our starters need a break or we wanted to change up our style, they came in and didn't miss a beat. Cadie and Gina did a great job of setting up Hannah for that game-winner. I'm also proud of the way our defense held down a challenging offense that came into the day with six goals over its first two games."

Navy controlled the majority of the action in the first half as the team recorded 10 shots with three testing Jazmin Gonzalez, the Buccaneers' goalkeeper. After seeing their initial shots in the period miss wide or be blocked, the Mids ran off a series of three shots on goal in a matter of three minutes and 40 seconds between 30:09 and 33:49. Junior Denisse Ramirez (Union City, Calif.) was the first Navy player to challenge Gonzalez at 30:09 before sophomore Carolyn Mang (Forest Hill, Md.) came back at 31:34 with another strike on frame. The third Mids with a shot on goal during this span of play was freshman Caitlin Doran (Queens, N.Y.) at 33:49. In addition to three shots on goal, Mang and Navy fell victim to an unlucky bounce as another one of her first half shots rang off the crossbar and came within inches of edging across the goal line.

Coming out of the halftime intermission knotted at 0-0, the Buccaneers nearly tallied the game's first goal less than 90 seconds into the second half as Zari Hayes put a well-placed ball on goal, requiring an athletic save from senior goalie Sydney Fortson (Claremont, Calif.).

After that one quality scoring chance, Navy's defense locked down CSU the rest of the way allowing just four shots, all of which were off-target over the final 43-plus minutes. With the Buccaneers' offense at bay, the Mids were on the hunt for the go-ahead score. More selective than the first half, Navy took seven total shots with four on goal. After Kristina Dzhandzhapanyan (Jr., Diamond Bar, Calif.) was denied in Navy's first shot on goal of the half, Miller made sure the team's second attempt would prove lucrative. Six minutes after checking in at 63:03, Miller changed the game as she received a crisp pass from Peraino, also newly in the game, for the game's only goal at 69:11. Higginson started the scoring drive with a well-placed header to Peraino.

Freshman Sadie McCaleb (Loganton, Pa.) and senior Regan McQuain (Lafayette, Calif.) kept the pressure on Gonzalez and the Buccaneers with two more shots on goal over the final 20 minutes of play. In both cases, the redshirt-senior goalkeeper was able to turn aside those attempts.

In Navy's 1-0 win, the visitors outshot Charleston Southern, 17-6 with a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal. Corner kick opportunities were fairly even with the Buccaneers taking four corners versus three for the Mids.

"Once again, we generated a lot of quality scoring chances," said Gabarra. "Moving forward we will have to get better and more efficient to make those chances count."

Fortson notched her second clean sheet in three games and the 19th of her career with two saves. Her performance was aided by the defensive duo of Alex Jackson (Sr., Centennial, Colo.) and Kaitlynn Johns (Fr., Austin, Texas), as well as defensive midfielder Cadie Higginson playing all 90 minutes in front of her on Friday.

Navy will stay down in Charleston for the weekend as a matchup across town at The Citadel awaits the team on Sunday. Kickoff between the Mids and Bulldogs is slated for 12 p.m. at Summerall Field.