ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's soccer team extended its streak of undefeated play to open the 2022 season on Thursday night with a 1-1 draw versus in-state rival the University of Maryland. The action at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility began fast and continued over 90 ultra-competitive minutes in a contest that could have went to either team. Jenna Daunt (Jr., Haymarket, Va.) led the scoring effort for the Mids (2-0-2) with a goal 60 seconds into the game, while Mattie Gallagher (Jr., Gilbertsville, Pa.) made five saves on six shots on goal by the Terrapins (0-0-2).
 
"It's always fun to have a Navy-Maryland game," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We're in-state rivals. They're very athletic, very fast and play the game the right way. They're well-coached, organized and disciplined. I think we matched that pretty well tonight; we played good, quality soccer. We had the ball a lot, changed systems a few times and got a lot of players in the action, who all played very well. I thought our defense played fantastic, they're really coming together. They play tight and don't give up quality chances, they're hard to beat; that's something we always ask of our teams. Defensively, we're sound and we're getting better on the attack, we're creating more chances. We just to fine tune some things to put 90 good minutes together."
 
Navy jumped out almost immediately to a 1-0 lead over Maryland as the Mids connected on a set piece at the one-minute mark. Amanda Graziano (So., Middlebury, Conn.) started the scoring play with a high-arching corner kick that looped into the 18-yard box. Katie Herrmann (Jr., Charlotte, N.C.) gathered the ball first and ushered it towards the Maryland goal when Daunt reached out late and flicked a successful shot past the Terrapins' goalkeeper Madeline Smith.
 
Up 1-0, the Mids kept up that early spark and had a high percentage look at goal only 11 minutes later. Caitlin Doran (Sr., Queens, N.Y.) had Navy's first look at goal number two in the 12th minute as Alexa Riddle (So., Tomball, Texas) found her in space and she immediately dribbled in toward the goal before a Maryland defender slid in late and blocked her shot.
 
Unable to find that insurance goal, the Mids unfortunately fell victim to an equalizer by the Terps at 14:27.
 
With the score now 1-1, Navy had another strong chance for its second goal in the 21st minute when a crisp series of passes between Graziano, Herrmann and Riddle set up the sophomore attacker with a shot on goal that required a diving save by Smith.
 
A pair of saves by Gallagher before the halftime intermission helped keep the score knotted at 1-1.
 
"We started off tonight's game with great energy," commented Gabarra. "We were excited to be out here. This is the kind of game you don't have to worry about your team getting up for because it's Maryland. This is a big one. The crowd was great. We were ready!

"Scoring off of set pieces are always important to us. I'm proud of effort on that play, it was taken perfectly. We generated a lot in the first half. We weren't as clean with the ball in the second half, but I think both teams were starting to feel the physicality and all of the running. We did what we needed to do to play against a good Maryland team and come away with a tie."
 
After Navy outshot Maryland, 8-6 in the first half, the Terrapins turned up the heat in the attacking third in the second half and registered 12 shots versus three for the Mids. Though Gallagher and Navy's defense was under fire for much of the 45-minute period, Maryland was forced into taking long shots that either flew wide of the net or were denied by Gallagher without trouble.
 
In the 69th minute, Sadie McCaleb (Sr., Loganton, Pa.) bolstered the Mids' effort with back-to-back blocks of Amanda Schafer's attempts towards the goal.
 
Over the final seven minutes of play, Gallagher made a pair of saves to finalize the 1-1 draw. Those stops were the fourth and fifth of the game for the junior keeper.
 
"We don't mind teams taking long shots, our goalkeepers are very sound," said Gabarra. "If we're going to give up shots that's where we'd prefer they come from. Our pressure on the ball was good. We covered for each other. That was a really good team effort on both sides of the ball tonight."
 
For the game, Maryland outshot Navy, 18-11 with a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal.
 
The Mids now have a 2-1-2 series lead over the Terrapins in the last five games of the in-state series since 2016.
 
Navy will conclude its five-game season-opening homestand on Sunday with a 1 p.m. contest against Niagara at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.