ANNAPOLIS, Md. - In a season unlike any other, the Navy women's soccer team will be in NCAA Tournament action on Tuesday night in Wilson, North Carolina versus the New Mexico Lobos. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of Patriot League conference play until the spring and then a restriction of movement (ROM) mandate at the Naval Academy halted all athletic activities for a three-week period throughout most of March, the Mids (4-4-2) rolled up their sleeves and got to work closing the regular season with a 3-0-1 mark over a period of 14 days and then a dramatic run through the Patriot League Tournament. On the strength of its three-member senior class, Navy received its lone goal in regulation from team captain Kristina Dzhandzhapanyan, two penalty shootout saves from Molly Swiger and the shootout clinching goal by Emily Keast to earn the 2020-21 Patriot League Women's Soccer Championship crown and a berth in this year's NCAA Tournament. The Mids will match up with the Lobos (10-1), the champions of the Mountain West Conference, at the neutral site surroundings of the Gillette Athletic Complex. The action is slated to begin at 6 p.m. and will be streamed live on Vimeo via the Greenlight TV Station.

The victor of the Navy-New Mexico contest will advance to play the fourth-seeded TCU Horned Frogs three days later on Friday, April 30 in Wilson. The entire NCAA Tournament will be held in the state of North Carolina.

There are a limited amount of general admission tickets (approx. 300) available for sale to the public at the gate of the Gillette Complex.

Navy vs. New Mexico
The Mids and Lobos have never met in a women's soccer contest ... Navy has had limited interactions with schools in the Mountain West Conference as it's 7-3 all-time with a 4-2 mark versus Air Force, a 2-0 mark against Boise State and a 1-1 record versus San Diego State. The most recent, Navy-Mountain West game was on Sept. 21, 2012 when the Mids defeated the Broncos, 2-1 in Annapolis.

Navy in the NCAA Tournament
In the Mids' history in the NCAA Tournament, the team is 0-4-1 and has advanced once to the second round of the tournament in 2006 when they went to penalty kicks versus William & Mary on Nov. 10, 2006. After 110 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Mids outscored the Tribe, 5-4 in the best-of-five shootout ... Most recently, the team competed in the 2019 tournament and travelled to Raleigh, N.C. for a first round matchup with N.C. State. The host Wolfpack defeated the Mids, 3-0.

All-Time Results
    Nov. 15, 2019 at North Carolina State (1st Rnd): NCSU 3 - Navy 0
    Nov. 16, 2007 at No. 12 West Virginia (1st Rnd): WVU 4 - Navy 0
    Nov. 12, 2006 at No. 1 North Carolina (2nd Rnd): UNC 4 - Navy 0 
    Nov. 10, 2006 vs. William & Mary in Chapel Hill (1st Rnd): Navy 0 - W&M 0 
        (Navy advanced 5-4 on PKs)
    Nov. 14, 2003 at No. 5 Penn State (1st Rnd): PSU 5 - Navy 1 

Most Recent NCAA Tournament Game: Nov. 15, 2019 in Raleigh vs. N.C. State
Navy concluded its 2019 season with a 3-0 loss on the road at North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Competing in their first NCAA Tournament game in 12 years, the Mids (16-3-3) played the Wolfpack (11-6-4) even for nearly 55 minutes before the hosts broke through with three goals within a 20-minute run of play in the second half.  

The action on Friday night began very defensively as Navy's starting backfield was busy and effective. In the first 15 minutes of play both Alex Jackson and Avery Fries were called upon to step up and make defensive stands. Jackson first headed away a free kick in the fourth minute before Fries swept away a loose ball in the box following a Wolfpack corner kick in the tenth.

Navy's offensive attack started making in-roads during the middle portion of the first half. The Mids' first quality look at goal came as a result of a Jeana Freeman cross from the left wing towards an on-coming Kristina Dzhandzhapanyan in the 22nd minute. Unfortunately for Navy, N.C. State's goalkeeper Jessica Berlin left her line to bat the cross away before Dzhandzhapanyan could make contact. Less than seven minutes later, Baseley McClaskey set up a free kick from just inside midfield that found the head of Cadie Higginson and deflected wide of the goal.

Sydney Fortson was called upon late in the first half to hold the 0-0 stalemate as she made a leaping save on a Jameese Joseph shot on goal that had eyes for the far upper-90. The teams went into the halftime intermission with the game scoreless, though the Wolfpack held a 6-0 advantage in shots taken for the first half.

The offensive intensity for the hosts picked up in the second half as N.C. State recorded four shots in the first 9:08 of the stanza. While the first three shots of that span were either blocked or saved by Fortson, the fourth shot, a curling attempt to the right upper-90, found the back of the net for the Wolfpack. After Lulu Guttenberger's initial shot off of a free kick was blocked by the Mids' wall of defenders, the Wolfpack player recovered the loose ball and deposited the game's first goal at 54:08.

N.C. State kept the pressure on and Navy struggled to get the ball into its attacking third for the next 20-plus minutes. Fortson was up to the task of holding onto the Mids' one-goal deficit as she turned aside another Joseph shot on goal in the 59th minute. The outlook of the game took a hard turn at the end of this 20-minute span as the Wolfpack scored back-to-back goals within 32 seconds of each other. N.C. State's first goal at 74:18 came when Guttenberger found Leyah Hall-Robinson for a corner kick connection, while its second came when Kristina Schuster hit a streaking Anna Toohey for an odd-numbered rush at 74:50.

Navy's first official shot of the game came in the 78th minute when Higginson gathered the ball 30 yards out and ripped a shot that sailed high over the goal.

The game would go final by that 3-0 score and North Carolina State would advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.

For the contest, North Carolina State outshot Navy, 17-1 with a 7-0 advantage in shots on goal. The host Wolfpack also held a significant 9-1 margin in corner kicks.

Comparing the Teams