ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's soccer program announced its 2021 fall schedule on Monday. The two-time defending Patriot League Champions, the Midshipmen under the guidance of 29th-year head coach Carin Gabarra open their season at home on Aug. 19 versus Loyola Marymount at 7 p.m. This home contest versus the Lions is the first of 10 non-conference games for the Mids in 2021 and the first of 19 total regular season competitions. The first Patriot League game of 2021 is a Sept. 18 road tilt at Bucknell University, while the Patriot League Tournament is set to return to its six-team, three-round setup for the week of Oct. 31 through Nov. 7.

Navy's diverse non-conference schedule consists of four straight weekends of play with three sets for Thursday/Sunday tilts and a fourth going Friday/Sunday. The previously mentioned matchup against Loyola Marymount University kicks off Navy's 2021 schedule with a 7 p.m. slated kickoff at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. A matchup on Sunday, Aug. 22 versus George Washington at 4 p.m. closes the brief two-game homestand. Over the next two weekends, the Mids will be on the road first with a weekend series at Towson on Thursday, Aug. 26 and the University of Maryland on Sunday, Aug. 29 followed by a trip to the Buckeye State for a Thursday, Sept. 2 tilt at Ohio University and a concluding matchup at Ohio State on Sunday, Sept. 5. Once back in Annapolis, Navy will host Mount St. Mary's on Friday, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. before going head-to-head with the Air Force Falcons on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 12 p.m.

After that initial stretch of eight non-conference games, the Mids will dive into Patriot League play with a challenging four-game run of contests, including three against fellow 2020-21 Patriot League Tournament participants. Additionally, three of those four contests will be on the road. The first of two straight road games is on Saturday, Sept. 18 at Bucknell. Just four days later on Wednesday, Sept. 22, the Mids will face off with the Loyola Greyhounds in a rematch of the 2020-21 Patriot League Tournament Semifinals in Baltimore. The first Patriot League home game of the year for Navy occurs three days later when Boston University, a tournament semifinalist, comes into town for a Saturday, Sept. 25 matchup. The Mids and Terriers are slated for a 12 p.m. kickoff at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The fourth and final Patriot League conference game during this span is a road matchup on Saturday, Oct. 2 at Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y. The last time these two teams met was in the league tournament finals this past April, in which the Mids advanced to the NCAA Tournament over the Raiders, 4-1 in penalty kicks.

Navy takes a brief break from Patriot League opposition with a non-conference home game against Delaware State on Monday, Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. After this tilt with the Hornets, another action-packed stretch of league contests quickly come into view for the Mids with three games scheduled over an eight-day span. First up is a home matchup with the Lehigh Mountain Hawks on Friday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. The following week, Navy travels to American University on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 13 before hosting Army in the 2021 Star Game on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects that ravaged the sprint of a 2020-21 soccer campaign, the Mids and Black Knights were unable to meet on the pitch last season and will be facing off for the first time since the 2019 Patriot League Championship Finals. Navy went 2-0 versus Army in a pair of meetings during the 2019 season.

One more out-of-conference tilt at Howard University on Monday, Oct. 18 leads Navy into its final run of regular season contests. The last Patriot League road game of the year for Navy is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 23 at Holy Cross, while the last conference home game of 2021 will see the Mids hosting the Lafayette Leopards on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m.

The 2021 Patriot League Tournament begins on Sunday, Oct. 31 with four teams (seeds 3-6) in quarterfinal action before the week-long event moves onto the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 4. The Patriot League Championship Final is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 7. In all three rounds the highest remaining seed will have hosting duties.