ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's soccer team completed its run of early season non-conference play with a 1-0 loss to Air Force on Sunday. Playing in front of a boisterous crowd that surrounded the field at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, the Mids (4-3-1) out-played the Falcons (2-2-1) in most areas of the game except the scoreboard as the visiting service academy rival scored on one of their two shots on goal.
"First off, a huge thank you goes out to our community, we had great support and it provided us an energized atmosphere," remarked head coach
Carin Gabarra. "There were a lot of Midshipmen, a lot of families and a lot of local teams out today; we're very thankful for that!
"The team was prepared and I thought that we had a lot of energy. Our fight and work rate was there, but our execution wasn't. We played pretty well in possession from 18 to 18, but once we got into the box, we didn't execute and were impatient. We didn't do a good job of finding that one extra pass or finding a better spot to finish. We were impatient and took chances that could've improved upon. Moving forward, we have to be better in the box on both offense and defense in those big moments."
Playing Air Force for the first time since 2002, Navy was on the hunt of the game's opening goal as in the ninth minute
Caitlin Doran (Jr., Queens, N.Y.) came in possession of the ball at the top of 18, pivoted around her defender and whipped a curling shot that flew just over the crossbar. The Mids continued building in the midfield and setting up for looks at goal as
Sadie McCaleb (Jr., Loganton, Pa.) and
Jenna Daunt (So., Haymarket, Va.) each registered shots over the ensuing 10 minutes.
Getting shut out in the shots category, 4-0, Air Force made its first attempt count as the Falcons used a series of quick passes inside the 18-yard box from Catherine Bakken and Hailey Ramos to set up Jenna Rubidoux for the game's first goal at 22:19.
In the 29th minute, Navy recorded its first shot on goal after
Victoria Tran's (Sr., Clarksville, Md.) initial shot was blocked before Daunt gathered the deflection out of the air and snapped a header shot that was denied by Air Force's goalkeeper Cammi Bych.
The scoreboard stayed at that 1-0 margin over the final 16 minutes of the first half. The teams retired to the locker room with Navy holding a 9-5 advantage in total shots.
Navy's comeback attempt took a while to build in the second half, as over 25 minutes expired with only one recorded shot for the hosts. From the 70th minute on, the Mids were active throughout the offensive third of the field as they took seven shots. Two days after netting the game-winning goal,
Amanda Graziano (Fr., Middlebury, Conn.) nearly dialed up her late game magic again as she ripped a shot on goal that was saved by Bych in the 73rd minute. A little over two minutes later, Graziano slipped a cross to a wide-open
Chloe Dawson (So., Fairfax, Va.) on the backside of the box, though Dawson's shot sailed wide of the net.
The fast-paced action continued as
Rylee Rives (Fr., Arlington, Texas) looked put her name in the scoring column as she out-leapt her defender on a corner kick and connected for a header shot that bounded over the cross bar in the 79th minute. The Mids' last high percentage scoring chances came five minutes later when
Carolyn Mang (Sr., Forest Hill, Md.) powered a deep left-footed shot that flew over Bych, but unfortunately squarely into cross bar. With the ball deflecting back inside the 18,
Alexa Riddle (Fr., Tomball, Texas) recovered the ball and took a shot that hit the side of net.
In the 1-0 loss, Navy outshot Air Force, 17-9, though both teams only recorded two shots on goal each. The Mids also held an advantage in corner kicks, 7-3.
Navy will now turn its attention to Patriot League play as the squad travels to Bucknell University next Saturday for a 2 p.m. matchup.
