CLINTON, S.C. – The Navy women's soccer team kicked off its two-game South Carolina road trip with a commanding 3-1 win over Presbyterian College on Thursday night. Coming into the contest undefeated to open their 2023 season, the Mids (2-0-3) scored early and often to blitz the Blue Hose (1-4) right out the gate at Martin Stadium as the visitors led 2-0 after seven minutes of play and 3-0 through 37 minutes.
 
Navy received its scoring from three different players on Thursday night as Jenna Daunt (Sr., Haymarket, Va.), Alexa Riddle (Jr., Tomball, Texas) and Mimi Abusham (So., Los Alamitos, Calif.) all tallied goals versus Presbyterian. The scores were the first of the season for Daunt and Abusham, while Riddle found the back of the net for the second time in five games so far in 2023.
 
"I'm pleased with tonight's result," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We had an excellent start with two quick goals, that's something we've been trying to work on. Presbyterian has defended very well coming into tonight's game with only three goals allowed over four games so we had to fight to find goals through different avenues. Though not in the scoring column, Rylee Rives did a great job of controlling the midfield for over 70 minutes tonight."
 
Navy controlled the majority of the first half as the visitors were constantly living in the attacking third. Just over two and half minutes into the contest, Marlee Heaven (So., Rockville, Md.) dribbled into the box before she was physically taken down, drawing a penalty kick. The Mids' senior team captain Jenna Daunt calmly walked up to the penalty spot and struck her shot into the side netting to give Navy a 1-0 lead at 2:31.
 
A little over four minutes later, the Mids increased their lead to 2-0 when Riddle banged home a muddled clearance less than two yards off the goal at 6:37. The play began when Amanda Graziano (Jr., Middlebury, Conn.) maneuvered her way into the box from 25 yards out and whipped a cross towards the middle of the field that deflected off a PC defender and into Daunt before landing at Riddle's feet for the easy putaway.
 
The visitors nearly broke out to a 3-0 advantage in the 15th minute when Rylee Rives (Jr., Arlington, Texas) lofted her throw-in deep into the box towards Graziano, who flicked the ball into space near the top of the 18 where an on-coming Katie Herrmann (Sr., Charlotte, N.C.) ripped a low, line drive shot on goal, though Presbyterian's goalkeeper Kelly Hall was able to turn aside the attempt.
 
Navy finally did achieve that 3-0 lead at 36:23 when Hannah Mulholland (Fr., Chandler, Ariz.) raced up the right wing before turning towards goal and zipping a crisp pass on the ground to Abusham, who quickly took two touches with the second begin a well-placed shot into the lower right corner of the goal past Hall.
 
Coming out in the second half trailing by three, Presbyterian was able to cut a goal off its deficit at 59:04 when Lindsey Malyszek scored for the hosts.
 
With the score 3-1, the Mids nearly went back up by three in the 71st minute when Kassidy Borden (Sr., Leesburg, Va.) chipped a high-flying corner kick towards the goal that required Hall to jump off her line and punch the cross away as a plethora of Navy players crashed the net.
 
Mattie Gallagher (Sr., Gilbertsville, Pa.) thwarted Presbyterian's final threat in the 89th minute when Lina-Marie Muller put her shot on frame and forced Gallagher to suffocate the attempt.
 
"We're disappointed in the goal we gave up as we let down our guard and allowed them to catch us in transition; that's something that we need to tighten up moving forward," said Gabarra. "At the end of the day, it's hard to win on the road so overall this is a result we'll be very happy with."
 
Navy will be back in action in the Palmetto State on Sunday afternoon when it makes the short trip to Spartanburg for a matinee matchup versus Wofford. Kickoff between the Mids and Terriers is set for 1 p.m.