ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's soccer team improved on its undefeated start to the 2022 season with a dominant 6-0 shutout victory over Marymount on Tuesday afternoon at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The Mids (2-0-1) scored early and often in the non-conference tilt and saw its defensive alignment hold the Saints (0-0) to just one shot during the contest.
 
Navy's offensive attack was spearheaded by the sophomore duo of Tori Liesen (Hudson, Ohio) and Ashley Yi (Lynnwood, Wash.), who had a hand in all six of the Mids' goals. Yi tallied a game-high two goals, while Liesen tallied a goal and three assists from her midfield position. Navy's three other goals were registered by Olivia Foster (Sr., Brighton, Mich.), Ellie Wiltse-Hiatt (So., Cathlamet, Wash.) and Isabella Romano (Fr., Syosset, N.Y.). The scores by Liesen, Romano, Wiltse-Hiatt, Yi were all the first of their respective careers. Also of note, Liesen's three assists tied a single-game program record. The sophomore midfielder is the 13th player in program history to reach that milestone and the first since Rachel Feldman and Meghan Hegarty each had a trio of helpers against Hampton on Oct. 27, 2015.
 
"Today's game gave us a chance to test and showcase our depth," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We had a lot of players give us quality minutes out there. I'm really proud that we still played up to our standard of Navy Women's Soccer. There were times that we got out of rhythm, but we challenged them to move the ball better with pace and get back to our style of play. We got the game-winning goal from our captain Olivia Foster and first career goals for Tori, Bella, Ellie and Ashley; that was great to see. Today gave us a chance to see where all of our players are at."
 
The action kicked into high gear almost immediately as just 123 seconds into the game Liesen whipped a deep looping cross towards the back side of the six-yard box where Foster was posted up and snapped in a header to the top right section of the net.
 
A little over three minutes later, activity on the wing once again resulted in a goal when Liesen played a short corner to Wiltse-Hiatt, who curled in an arching shot into the upper-90 past the Marymount goalkeeper at 5:30.
 
Navy continued to control the possession in the midfield and in the attacking third over the next 20 minutes. Held off the scoreboard during this run of play, the Mids were back in the scoring column at 27:23 when Liesen grabbed possession of a loose ball in the midfield and raced through the Saints' defense for a one-on-one with the keeper. Inside of the box, the sophomore placed her shot easily into the lower right corner of the goal mouth.
 
The Mids' offense kept its foot on the pedal heading towards halftime when the trio of Liesen, Marlee Heaven (Fr., Rockville, Md.) and Romano connected for a crisp series of passes that ended with Romano raising her arms in celebration of her first career goal at 34:17. The possession started with Liesen striking a lead pass up to Heaven on the right wing, who laid off a well-timed cross to Romano, who collected the ball in the center of the 18 and quickly took aim on the goal.
 
Similar to the first half, Navy was active on the scoreboard in the opening minutes of play. The duo of Kat Healey (Jr., King George, Va.) and Yi created the Mids' fifth goal of the game at 47:41 when Healey gave Yi a lead pass into the box. Once in possession of the ball, Yi's shot beat the goalkeeper and deflected late off a Marymount defender, who was unable to stop the ball that was on its way into the goal.
 
Yi's career day culminated in the 88th minute with her second goal of the contest. On the receiving end of a midfield build-up by Romano and Sophie Utsinger (So., Bettendorf, Iowa), Yi cleanly beat the Saints' goalkeeper to the bottom right at 87:18.
 
In the 6-0 victory, Navy outshot Marymount, 20-1 with a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal. The hosts held a 13-2 margin in corner kicks.
 
Navy's defensive alignment throughout the day consisted of Lilliana Gemma (So., Flemington, N.J.), Emma Romano (Fr., Syosset, N.Y.) and Mori Sokoloff (Fr., Arnold, Md.) seeing all 90 minutes of action, while Foster was on the field in the defensive third for 85 minutes. The goalkeeping trio of Talley Applewhite (Fr., Midlothian, Va.), Kaitlyn Burns (Sr., Frederick, Md.) and Kirsten Baxa (Fr., Houston, Texas) backstopped the Mids to the combined shutout.
 
"Our defense did a great job of completely shutting down their [Marymount's] offense," remarked Gabarra. "Our seniors, Olivia and Kaitlyn, did a tremendous of communicating and helping lead a very young lineup out there today.
 
"After playing three games and seeing everyone in action over these past five days, we're still trying to figure out our strengths and weaknesses, and how to play our best soccer for 90 straight minutes. It's really hard to play 90 minutes of the style of soccer we want early in the season. Certain players are still getting into game fitness and we're trying to integrate quite a few new players. After this first week, we're getting a better feel for who belongs where and in what systems. Today helped give us a better view of our entire roster."
 
Navy will have a quick turnaround as the Mids will be back in action on Thursday night with a home matchup against in-state rival, the University of Maryland. Kickoff between the Mids and Terps is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The women's game will follow the men's season opener versus Saint Joseph's that kicks off at 5 p.m.