ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's soccer team (11-5-1, 5-4-0 Patriot League) will begin play in the 2021 Patriot League Tournament with a quarterfinal match Saturday at Lehigh (5-10-2, 5-4-0 Patriot League). Opening kick of the contest is slated for 6 p.m. from the Mountain Hawks' Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pa.

Saturday's match will have free, live statistics provided on NavySports.com in addition to being broadcasted on ESPN+, a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign up for a monthly or yearly plan prior to tuning into the game.

PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT FIELD
Following the final day of regular-season play in the Patriot League on Wednesday, Navy was seeded fifth in the six-team tournament field after finishing with 15 points on five league victories. Loyola was crowned regular-season champions of the league for the fourth time in the last five seasons with 21 points while American finished second with 19 points.

Holy Cross, who enters the tournament having gone winless in each of its last five games, is third with 16 points followed by Lehigh in fourth with 15 points. The Midshipmen are slated fifth, also having 15 points, while Army earned a tie in its regular-season finale against Lafayette to earn the sixth and final spot in the Patriot League Tournament field.

QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS
No. 1 Seed: Loyola – First Round Bye
No. 2 Seed: American – First Round Bye
No. 6 Army (7-7-2, 4-4-1 PL) at No. 3 Holy Cross (8-7-3, 5-3-1 PL) – Saturday, 6 p.m.
No. 5 Navy (11-5-1, 5-4-0 PL) at No. 4 Lehigh (5-10-2, 5-4-0 PL) – Saturday, 6 p.m.
 
PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Navy returns to the Patriot League Tournament for the 12th time in program history in addition to being the second time in the last three seasons. The Midshipmen enter postseason play seeking their second Patriot League Championship, with the first coming in 2013.
 
SERIES HISTORY
In a series that dates back to the 1922 season, Navy holds a 32-23-8 advantage over the Mountain Hawks. However, over the last 10 meetings in the series, Lehigh has 6-3-1 edge including earning a 3-2, double-overtime victory over the Mids earlier this season in Annapolis. In the last game played in Bethlehem between the two programs, Navy earned a 2-0 victory over Lehigh during the 2021 spring season. Saturday's match will mark the first all-time meeting between Lehigh and Navy in the Patriot League Tournament.
 
LAST FIVE GAMES
Over the last five games in the series, Lehigh has a 4-1-0 advantage over the Midshipmen. The two programs have split each of the last two meetings, along with playing tightly-contested matches with three of the last five games being decided by one goal.
 
Oct. 23, 2021: Lehigh 3, Navy 2 (2OT)
April 3, 2021: Navy 2, Lehigh 0
Oct. 19, 2019: Lehigh 2, Navy 0
Oct. 6, 2018: Lehigh 1, Navy 0
Oct. 7, 2017: Lehigh 1, Navy 0
 
LAST MATCHUP: Lehigh 3, Navy 2 (2OT) – October 23, 2021 – Annapolis, Md. – Full Recap
In a match that proved to have serious implications on seeding in the Patriot League Tournament field, the Mountain Hawks earned a 3-2, double-overtime victory at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility on October 23. Charlie Kriel (Fr., Severna Park, Md.) netted a game-tying score in the 88th minute to force overtime, but Lehigh responded with a golden goal just over a minute into the first sudden-victory overtime period to secure a crucial three points over Navy.
 
The Midshipmen were led on offense by Kriel and Cristian Coelho (So., Katy, Texas), who tallied one score apiece, while the trio of Jason Aoyama (So., Narberth, Pa.), David Jackson (So., Cypress, Texas) and Sidney Paris (So., Oakville, Ontario) each recorded an assist.  Jack Sarkos led the way for the Mountain Hawks in the match, scoring each of the three goals for Lehigh including the game-winning score in the 92nd minute.
 
The Mountain Hawks began their scoring effort early in the contest, as Jack Sarkos netted a pass from Trevor Koski just 23 seconds into the match to give Lehigh a one-score advantage. The Mids went on the attack following the score, recording each of the next three shot attempts before ultimately converting when Coelho played a pass from Paris and lined a shot from 15 yards out into the top-right hand corner of the net, tying the score at 1-1 in the 15th minute.
 
Lehigh struck once again in the 32nd minute with Sarkos recording his second goal of the contest on a well-placed feed from Yoni Aidlberg to put the Mountain Hawks back in front by a score.The Navy back line settled in following the goal, limiting Lehigh to just a single shot attempt through the remaining 13 minutes of the half and defending three corner-kick attempts to hold its deficit at one heading into the intermission. 
 
A defensive battle ensued through the majority of the second half, with the Midshipmen turning away each of the six shots by the Mountain Hawks, including two saves by Fahning in the final eight minutes of regulation. Lehigh matched the effort of the Mids on defense, rejecting the first eight shots by Navy that included goalkeeper Blake Koski turning away a penalty-kick try by Paris in the 69th minute. 
 
With just three minutes remaining in the match and the Midshipmen pushing for an equalizing score, Kriel headed home a perfectly placed pass from Aoyama to tie the game at 2-2 at the 87:21 mark, ultimately forcing overtime.

Just over one minute into the first sudden-victory overtime period, Lehigh's Perry Kingson lined a shot on goal that was knocked away by Fahning before being corralled by Sarkos who played the rebound into the back of the net for the game-winning score at the 91:05 mark, securing a 3-2 overtime win for the Mountain Hawks.
 
NAVY PRIMER
Overall Record: 11-5-1
Patriot League Record: 5-4-0
Patriot League Tournament Seed: No. 5
Last Patriot League Title: 2013
Home Record: 8-1-0
Away Record: 2-4-1
Neutral Record: 1-0-0
Last Five Games: 2-3-0
Streak: L1
Head Coach: Tim O'Donohue I 16th Season (204-65-33), Sixth Season at Navy (39-44-10)
 
SCOUTING THE MIDSHIPMEN
ALL-PATRIOT LEAGUE HONORS: Matt Nocita (Sr., Porter Ranch, Calif.) was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year for the third time in his career and Jacob Williams (Sr., Millersville, Md.) garnered honors as the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year to highlight Navy's 2021 All-Patriot League selections released Friday.
 
In addition to their player of the year honors, Nocita and Williams both earned first team All-Patriot League honors along with Paris who earned the first All-Patriot League honor of his career as a midfielder. Jackson, Baba Kallie (So., Coatesville, Pa.) and Tyler Fahning (Sr., Victoria, Minn.) garnered second team honors while Tyler Collins (Sr., Crofton, Md.) and JD Wagner (Jr., Medford Lakes, N.J.) were third-team selections.
 
Navy had the most All-Patriot League selections with eight, followed by Loyola (5), Lafayette (5), American (4), Holy Cross (3), Lehigh (3) and Boston (1).
 
LAST TIME OUT: Last time out, Navy dropped a 3-1 decision on the road to American in its regular-season finale. Williams converted on a pass from Paris in the 14th minute to given the Midshipmen a one-score advantage. However, the advantage proved to be short lived for the Mids as the Eagles went on to score three unanswered goals over the final 76 minutes of play that included two scores by Jerry Zouantcha to secure a two-score win for American.
 
Despite dropping the two-score decision, Navy finished with an 18-9 advantage in total shots along with leading the way in corner-kick attempts (7-4) while American tallied a 5-4 edge in shots on goal.
 
LEADING THE CHARGE: After tallying his sixth score of the season last time out against American, Williams leads the way for the Navy attack with 16 points on six goals and four assists. The senior forward also leads the team in total shots (71), shots on goal (25) and game-winning goals (3) along with being one of only seven players to start all 17 regular-season games for the Mids this season.
 
Paris is second on the team in points (15) along with leading the way in assists (7) and being tied for third in goals (4). Rounding out the top-offensive performers for Navy is Jackson, who has 13 points on four goals and five assists, and Kallie who has 10 points on five goals this season.
 
KEEPER COUNT: Fahning has played every minute in goal for Navy this season, allowing 16 goals and recording 43 saves for a .729-save percentage and a 0.91-goals against average. Additionally, the senior goalkeeper has tallied a Patriot-League best nine shutouts this season in addition to being the second-most clean sheets in the nation.
 
POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE: The Midshipmen enter Saturday's quarterfinal match against Lehigh with six players having previous postseason experience. Collins, Nocita, Wagner, Williams, Joe Alex (Sr., Lockport, N.Y.) and Bayne Bentley (Sr., Austin, Texas) all saw time in Navy's 2019 quarterfinal match against Bucknell.
 
Head coach Tim O'Donohue also has extensive postseason experience over his 16 seasons as a head coach, having led the Midshipmen to two postseason appearances along with leading the Stevens Institute of Technology men's soccer program to nine conference championships and nine NCAA Tournament appearances over his 10 seasons.
 
BOUNCE BACK: Navy has found success in bouncing back from a loss this season, having a 3-1-0 record in contests immediately following a defeat. In those games, the Midshipmen are outscoring opponents by an 8-2 (+6) margin.
 
ON THE ATTACK: With its 2021 regular season completed, Navy enters the first round of the Patriot League Tournament as one of the top-offensive teams in the Patriot League this season. The Midshipmen have tallied 30 goals through 17 games for an average of 1.76-goals per game on 15.7-shots per contest.
 
IN THE RECORD BOOKS: The 2021 Navy men's soccer team has worked its way up the program record book, led in the individual rankings by Fahning and Williams.
 
Fahning has nine shutouts this season, sitting just one clean sheet shy of tying Ian Bramblett (Easley, S.C.) and Gavin Snyder (Severna Park, Md.) for the most shutouts in a single season in program history. Additionally, with 11 career shutouts to his ledger, the senior goalkeeper sits just outside the top-five in career clean sheets with Bramblett ranking fifth with 13 career shutouts.
 
Williams also stands on the precipice of joining the offensive leaders of the Navy men's soccer career ranks, sitting just five points shy of being tied for the 10th-most career points in program history along with being just two goals shy of that same mark in career-goals scored. 
 
SPREADING THE WEALTH: Along with being one of the top-offensive teams in the Patriot League this season, the Midshipmen have proven to be a versatile unit with 11 different players scoring at least one goal this season in addition to having eight players score at least once in addition to having an assist. The 11 different goal scorers this season are the most among Patriot League teams in 2021.
 
PATRIOT LEAGUE LEADERS: Entering the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament, Navy has gone wire-to-wire in leading the way in several offensive categories among league members along with having several leaders in the individual rankings. The Midshipmen rank first in the Patriot League in shots (267), shots per game average (15.7) and tied for first in goals scored (30) while also being second in goals per game (1.76) and third in points (80). Defensively, Navy has been equally as dominant by leading the league in goals allowed (17), team goals against average (0.91) along with being tied for first in shutouts (9).
 
In the individual rankings, Williams is first in shots (71) and shots per game average (4.18) along with being second in game-winning goals (3), tied for fourth in goals scored (6) and eighth in points (16). Paris is tied for third among the Patriot League assist leaders (6) while also being third in assists per game (0.40). Fahning, a second-team All-Patriot League selection, has proven to be one of the top goalkeepers in the league this season by ranking tied for first in shutouts along with being second in goals against average (0.91) and fifth in save percentage (.729).
 
ROUNDING OUT THE ATTACK: Rounding out the top performers for the Navy offense this season is the quartet of Aoyama, Coelho, Kriel and Nocita. Aoyama leads the way among the four players with seven points on two goals and three assists followed by Coelho and Kriel who have tallied five points apiece on two goals and one assist, respectively. In addition to his contributions to the defense, Nocita has proven to be a solid contributor to the Midshipmen attack with four points on two goals.
 
LEHIGH PRIMER
Overall Record: 5-10-2
Patriot League Record: 5-4-0
Patriot League Tournament Seed: No. 4
Last Patriot League Title: 2019
Home Record: 3-5-1
Away Record: 2-5-1
Neutral Record: 0-0-0
Last Five Games: 4-1-0
Streak: W3
Head Coach: Dean Koski I 30th Season (254-222-67)
 
SCOUTING THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
LAST TIME OUT: Last time out, Lehigh clinched the No. 4 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and the right to host a quarterfinal match with a 1-0 road victory over Colgate. Jack Sarkos netted what proved to be the game-winning score in the 47th minute in a contest where the Raiders controlled possession for the majority of the match. However, the Lehigh backline held strong on the back of a solid effort from goalkeeper Blake Koski who recorded two saves over 90 clean minutes to secure the one-score win.
 
ON THE ATTACK: Sarkos leads the Lehigh attack this season with 18 points on eight goals and two assists, including scoring six goals over the last three games that started with a hat trick against the Midshipmen on October 23. Josh Luchini is second on the team with 15 points on five goals and five assists along with leading the Mountain Hawks in total shots (40) and shots on goal (16).
 
IN NET: Koski has seen the majority of action in goal for Lehigh this season, appearing in 11 games with 10 starts, allowing 16 goals and recording 42 saves for a 1.42-goals against average and a .724-save percentage in addition to tallying two shutouts. Noah Sutherland has also seen time in net for the Mountain Hawks, starting all seven games he has appeared in, recording a 1.93-goals against average and a .692-save percentage.
 
UP NEXT
With a victory over Lehigh, Navy would advance to the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament where it would travel to take on either Loyola or American who are the top-two seeds in the field, respectively, on November 9.