ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's soccer team will conclude its 2022 regular season with one direct task ahead of it on Wednesday night, win-and-you're-in. Currently, sixth in the Patriot League's standings and holding the final position for the conference's postseason tournament, the Mids (7-7-3, 3-5 PL) will go head-to-head with the Lafayette Leopards (3-10-3, 1-5-2 PL) in Easton, Pa. in a contest at Oaks Stadium. With positions five and six still available, the Mids will be looking to win and clinch at least the sixth seed with the potential to rise to the fifth spot should Loyola lose to American. The action in Easton is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

The Navy-Lafayette contest will have live stats provided online, as well as be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest.

Patriot League Standings (All five Patriot League games on Wednesday kick off at 7 p.m.)
1: Boston Uni. (6-2, 18 pts) at Army ... Clinched: will be 1-2-3 seed
t2: Bucknell (5-1-2, 17 pts) vs. Lehigh ... Clinched: will be 1-2-3-4 seed
t2: Army (5-1-2, 17 pts) at Boston Univ. ... Clinched: will be 1-2-3 seed
4: Lehigh (5-2-1, 16 pts) at Bucknell ... Clinched: will be 2-or-4 seed
5: Loyola (3-3-2, 11 pts) vs. American ... Clinched: will be 5-6 seed
6: Navy (3-5, 9 pts) at Lafayette ... Win clinches top-6; 5th seed with W + Loyola L ... 6th with W + Loyola W ... 6th: Colgate & Holy Cross tie
7: Colgate (2-4-2, 8 pts) at Holy Cross ... Win + Navy loss = 6th seed
8: Holy Cross (2-5-1, 7 pts) vs. Colgate ... Win + Navy loss = 6th seed
9: American (1-5-2, 5 pts) at Loyola
10: Lafayette (1-5-2, 5 pts) vs. Navy

Scouting the Competition
Lafayette
The Leopards come into Wednesday's game with a 3-10-3 record and a 1-5-2 mark in Patriot League play ... Lafayette's only win in conference play came on October 1 versus Loyola with a 1-0 decision ... Competitive throughout the majority of their Patriot League tilts, three of the Leopards' five conference losses were one-goal decisions: Boston Univ. (Sept. 17, 2-1), at Army (Oct. 12, 1-0) and at Holy Cross (Oct. 15, 1-0); their two draws came against American (Sept. 25, 2-2) and at Colgate (Oct. 22, 1-1) ... Most recently in Hamilton versus Colgate, Lafayette went ahead in the third minute on an April McDonald goal before Ally Giovino found the back of the net for the host Raiders in the 76th minute to knot the game at 1-1 ... Lafayette was picked seventh out of 10 teams in the Patriot League's preseason coaches poll with 47 voting points.

Navy vs. Lafayette
Wednesday will be the 31st meeting (24-4-2) between the two schools in a series that began in Navy's first year of varsity existence in 1993 ... In that Sept. 26, 1993 matchup, Lafayette took the contest by a 7-1 decision ... Over the next 17 meetings between the Mids and Leopards, Navy went 17-0, including a postseason victory in 2001 ... After tying in 2010 and losing in the regular season in 2011, Navy then rattled off four straight wins (2011-PL Semis, 2012, 2013 and 2014) before Lafayette posted consecutive 1-0 shutout victories in 2015 and 2016; since then the Mids are 3-0-1 ... All-time, Navy has outscored Lafayette, 71-22 and hold an 11-3-0 mark in games played in Easton.

Last 5 Matchups
In the last five meetings dating back to 2016, the Mids lead 3-1-1 with a 6-3 edge in scoring 
    Oct. 27, 2021 (H): Navy 3 - Lafayette 1
    Oct. 2, 2019 (H): Navy 1 - Lafayette 1
    Oct. 17, 2018 (A): Navy 1 - Lafayette 0
    Oct. 18, 2017 (H): Navy 1 - Lafayette 0
    Oct. 23, 2016 (H): Lafayette 1 - Navy 0, OT

Most Recent Matchup - October 27, 2021 in Annapolis
With seeding for the upcoming Patriot League Tournament up for grabs on Wednesday night, the Navy women's soccer team knew that with a win the Mids would clinch bye into the semifinals and potentially lock up the regular season title depending on the outcome of the Boston University-Army matchup. It didn't take long for the home fans at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility to recognize that the Mids were on a mission as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Leopards within the first seven minutes courtesy of a pair of Alexa Riddle goals. A Katie Herrmann goal in the second half and a late penalty kick conversion by Lafayette sent the game into the record books with a 3-1 final score. With Navy's victory and Boston's 2-1 win at Army, the Terriers held on for the number one seed, while the Mids finished one point back in second place.

The action started at a breakneck pace as Riddle put the Mids up 1-0 at 5:01. Starting with a Mattie Gallagher goal kick, Herrmann chested the ball down to Jenna Daunt on her right. Without hesitation Daunt one-timed a chip shot over Lafayette's defense and into space for the sprinting Riddle, who went one-on-one for the final 25 yards and calmly slotted a low shot past Lafayette's goalkeeper, Lindsay Dewar. Less than two minutes later, Riddle found herself in a similar position as this time Chloe Dawson lofted a high arching pass from beyond midfield towards Riddle near the 18. After a slight deflection off a Lafayette defender, Riddle gathered the ball in stride and dribbled into the six-yard box before unleashing a shot into the lower left corner of the goal at 6:50.

After 45 minutes of action, Navy was ahead on the scoreboard, 2-0 with a dominant 13-1 advantage in total shots and a 6-1 edge in shots on goal.

Coming out of the halftime intermission, the Mids continued pressing for a third goal. Navy's third shot on goal of the half resulted in a score as Herrmann gathered a loose ball following a corner kick and slotted a shot through a trio of Lafayette defenders at 58:29. With the game in hand at 3-0, Gallagher helped her side continue its shutout effort with saves in the 60th and 80th minutes.
 
A late penalty kick was awarded to Lafayette in the 86th minute following a handball by Navy. Dowd brought the final score to a 3-1 margin as she converted the penalty kick.
 
For the game, Navy outshot Lafayette, 19-7 with a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Mids' defense didn't allow the Leopards to record a corner kick during Wednesday night's contest.

Comparing the Teams

2022 Stats	Navy	Lafayette
Record	7-7-3	3-10-3
Goals/Gm	1.24	0.75
Assists/Gm	1.41	0.50
Shots/Gm	12.5	7.9
Goals Against Average	0.82	1.63
GK Saves/Gm	4.41	4.25

Individual Leaders

	Navy	Lafayette
Goals	Daunt/I. Romano, 3	Oswald, 4
Assists	Graziano, 5	McDonald, 2
Points	Graziano, 9	Oswald, 9
Shots	Riddle, 23	Oswald, 26
GK Saves	Gallagher, 75	Dewar, 36

Last Time Out: October 21 vs. Holy Cross
Playing its final regular season home game of 2022, the Navy women's soccer team was defeated by Holy Cross by a score of 2-0 on Friday. Competitive throughout the contest at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, the Mids were unable to answer the Crusaders, who netted goals in each half.  

The game started slowly as both teams registered just one shot over the initial 12 minutes of action. The Crusaders broke through on the scoreboard shortly thereafter as Claire Carew played a cross inside the box to Katie Quinn, who finished for the game's first goal at 14:16.
 
Trailing 1-0, Navy tried to make in-roads in Holy Cross' defense third, but only recorded one shot over the ensuing 15 minutes. Mattie Gallagher did her best to hold onto the one-goal margin as she turned aside three shots between the 22nd and 26th minute.
 
Coming out after halftime down by a goal, the Mids kept the pressure up and took two shots on goal in the first 10 minutes. Navy's second look was particularly challenging to Olivia Dubin as Kat Healey's shot was re-directed out of the air by Marlee Heaven. Healey nearly made it three shots on goal in this early run of second half play as she ripped a free kick from 25 yards out, that rang squarely off the crossbar at 60:04.
 
With the score still 1-0 in favor of Holy Cross and less than 20 minutes left in regulation, Navy had its next threatening look as Healey played a ball off the end line out to Chloe Dawson at the top of the 18-yard box. After a few dribbles to gain distance from her nearest defender Dawson turned towards the goal and unleashed a hard shot that just missed the upper-90 to the high side.
 
Fast forwarding to the 80th minute, Mimi Abusham took her best chance at netting the game-tying goal as she curled her free kick shot around the Crusaders' wall, but Dubin was able to track the ball and snag it for her fifth save of the game.
 
Withstanding all of Navy's efforts, Holy Cross added an insurance goal in the 82nd minute as Cerys Balmer put away a bouncing ball inside the six-yard box after the Crusaders served a deep free kick.
 
In the 2-0 defeat, Navy outshot Holy Cross, 16-13, though the Crusaders held a slight 7-6 advantage in shots on goal. The visitors also posted a 5-2 final edge in corner kicks.