ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Nicko West (Jr., Mansfield, Texas) recorded a pair of goals on Saturday afternoon to pace the Navy men's soccer team (7-0-0, 1-0-0 Patriot League) to a 4-0 victory over Holy Cross (0-6-0, 0-1-0 Patriot League) on the first day of the Patriot League regular season at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The 7-0-0 start for Navy is the best start in program history since 1966.

The Midshipmen's victory also extends their winning streak to 11 matches and this is the first league opener Navy has won since the 2015 season when it won 1-0 over Loyola at home. The Midshipmen are just the third team in the NCAA this season to reach seven wins as No. 7 Clemson and No. 9 St. John's have also reached the seven-win mark in the early portion of the season. 

Saturday marked the second career multi-goal game for West after his first came in last year's season finale when he notched a pair of goals in a 4-1 win against Bucknell. Jacob Williams (So., Millersville, Md.) scored his team-leading fourth goal of the year and tallied his first career assist. Senior captain Ben Nicholas (Cornwall, Conn.) scored his second career goal after his first came during his freshman campaign against Lafayette on October 29, 2016.

"It feels good to get the first league win of the season," head coach Tim O'Donohue said after the match. "I am really happy with how the guys played and I am also happy we were able to get some guys in at the end of the game that have been working hard this season. I thought it was a dominant performance and I am excited about Tuesday."

Navy took early control of the match after Williams scored the first goal of the game, which also ended up being the game-winning goal. In the 11th minute, Williams was dribbling down the right-wing and after cutting inside toward goal, he ripped a shot from nearly 20 yards out with his left foot and beat the Holy Cross netminder to the near post to give Navy a one-goal edge.

With the 1-0 lead, the Midshipmen had their second penalty kick in as many matches, but Williams' shot was saved by Bobby Hurstak in the 15th minute as Navy still held onto the 1-0 advantage.

The Midshipmen's offense continued to possess and press looking for their second goal of the match. In the 20th minute of play, a ball rattled around midfield and West was able to beat his defender to the ball and he found himself one-on-one with Hurstak in goal. With the Holy Cross defense bearing down on him, West slipped a low shot to the far post and tucked the ball into the corner of the net to push Navy's advantage to two goals.

Shots continued to come for the Midshipmen with Joe Alex (So., Lockport, N.Y.) hitting the post and West's rebound attempt was saved. After coming on as a sub in the 38th minute, Nicholas made a quick impact on the game with a goal in the 44th minute. Williams was able to make the turn on his defender from 40 yards out and as he and Nicholas were running toward the penalty area, Williams played the ball off to Nicholas who stopped and fired a shot into the upper corner of the goal to give Navy a 3-0 lead heading into the intermission.

The 3-0 lead was Navy's first three-goal halftime lead since September 5, 2014, when the Midshipmen held a 3-0 lead over Appalachian State. Navy would go on to win that match 5-0 at home.

The Midshipmen controlled the first 45 minutes of play with a 12-1 shot advantage and they also had all six shots on goal in the opening stanza. On the season, Navy has outscored its opponents 10-0 in the first half and the Midshipmen have scored in the first half in six of the seven matches this year with lone outlier coming on the road at Mount St. Mary's.

At the start of the second half, Navy did not let off the gas and continued to press forward. West scored his third goal of the season, which matches his career-high, in the 64th minute of the contest. Wyatt Millard (Jr., Columbia, S.C.) zig-zagged through the Crusader defense down the left-wing and found space to flick the ball ahead to West. After West picked up the ball at the top of the penalty area, he took one touch and then fired a left-footed shot toward goal and it rolled past a charging Hurstak to push the Navy lead to 4-0.

Holy Cross was forced to play with 10 men over the final 17 minutes of the match after Liam Butler was tagged with his second yellow card and sent off in the 73rd minute. Navy was unable to tack on a goal with the man advantage and started the Patriot League season with a 4-0 victory.

The Navy defense limited the Crusaders to just seven shots for the match and kept all seven away from Ian Bramblett (Jr., Easley, S.C.) as he was not forced to make a save in the Midshipmen's fifth shutout of the year. Following a season-high 18 shots on Wednesday, Navy recorded 21 shots to set a season-best. The 21 shots are the most in a game since Oct. 17, 2015, when the Midshipmen recorded 26 shots in a 1-0 loss at Bucknell.

"We are being a little more patient on the ball and sometimes it takes a couple of games to get rolling with possession," O'Donohue commented about his team's strong possession game this week. "We have been trying to emphasize being more dominant and more patient on the ball. We also want to have purpose with possession. We want to get opportunities, get to the end line and be dynamic."

Navy is back at home Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Liberty. Tuesday is also set to be Navy's final non-league match at home in 2019.