SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Navy women's soccer team continued its strong start to the 2023 season with another 3-1 decision on Sunday. Two days after knocking off Presbyterian College by a 3-1 score, Navy came back on Sunday afternoon in Spartanburg, S.C. and mirrored that outcome versus Wofford. The Mids improved their record to 3-0-3 this campaign on the strength of goals by three different players against the Terriers (1-5) on Snyder Field.
 
Alexa Riddle (Jr., Tomball, Texas) started the scoring on Sunday as she found the back of the net in the 20th minute. Less than three minutes after Wofford tied the game late in the first half, Isabella Romano (So., Syosset, N.Y.) pushed Navy back in the lead heading into the intermission. Kat Healey (Sr., King George, Va.) wrapped up the Mids' scoring output as she slotted home her first career goal in the 84th minute.
 
"That was another good win on the road against a quality opponent," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We showed up and played quality soccer in a tough environment; it was quite hot and the field played very fast. I'm pleased with the scoring chances that we got today. We're showing that we have a dangerous attack that can strike from many different ways throughout our roster. We're a little disappointed again that we couldn't shut out our opponent; that's something that we'll have to continue working on; keeping the intensity up for 90 minutes without lapses."
 
The action started evenly as each side recorded one shot over the initial 15 minutes, though neither was very dangerous Navy's shot was wide, while Mattie Gallagher (Sr., Gilbertsville, Pa.) handled Saachi Bureau's attempt in the fifth minute.
 
The visitors started making substantial in-roads on the offensive side of the ball soon after as Rylee Rives (Jr., Arlington, Texas) slotted a pass into space to Marlee Heaven (So., Rockville, Md.), who two-touched it and put Navy's first shot on frame in the 18th minute. A little over 90 seconds later, Navy's pressure resulted in a goal when a failed clearance found its way to Amanda Graziano (Jr., Middlebury, Conn.). After gathering herself, the junior danced around her defender and whipped a curling left-footed cross towards the six-yard box to a charging Riddle, who controlled the one-hopping pass and volleyed the ball into the far side of the net at 19:04.
 
Less than two minutes later, Riddle was the point-person for another potential goal as she caught a long ball over the top and quickly dropped it off to the on-coming Jenna Daunt (Sr., Haymarket, Va.), who snapped off a shot just as a Wofford defender dove in from the left to deflect the attempt off target.
 
Terriers' comeback effort began soon after as the hosts registered three of the next four shots over the ensuing 20 minutes. Wofford's third shot made Navy pay as Saachi Bureau netted the equalizer at 39:26.
 
The score wasn't tied at 1-1 long as a little over two minutes later, a transitional clearance saw Healey receive the outlet pass and quickly find Romano in space. Dribbling the ball across the midfield stripe and into Wofford's side of the field, Romano noticed that the Terriers' goalkeeper was significantly off her line and lofted a high-arching shot that hit the post and had enough back-spin to roll over the goal line at 41:51.
 
Coming out of the locker room with the score 2-1 in favor of Navy, the visitors almost immediately went up by two goals when Riddle challenged Wofford's keeper Caroline Doss in the 48th minute, though Doss came up with the save.
 
After a quiet 20-plus minutes of soccer on the offensive end of the field, Wofford searched intently for the game-tying goal. In the 74th minute, Gallagher made her first save of the half as she pushed aside an Ines Obradovac shot on goal. The Terriers kept the pressure on Gallagher and the Mids as they earned two corner kicks in quick succession before Obradovac unleashed another shot that flew wide of frame. A little over five minutes later, Gallagher was called upon again as she was forced to deny an Ellie Gower shot on goal.
 
Withstanding all of Wofford's attempts to net its second goal of the game, the momentum flipped to Navy over the final 10 minutes of the contest. In the 84th minute, Heaven played Graziano up the left wing. Drawing the attention of the nearest Terrier defender, as well as the goalkeeper, Graziano calmly cut back and played a square pass to Healey, who one-timed the ball into the gaping net for her first career goal at 83:27.
 
Wofford outshot Navy on Sunday, 11-10 though both teams finished with five shots on goal. The host Terriers held a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.
 
"Going 2-0 this trip was great," said Gabarra in closing. "We're learning to win both at home and on the road. Now we look ahead to Thursday when we welcome a high-quality ACC team like Virginia Tech to Annapolis in what should be a stiff test. We'll have to have a series of locked-in training sessions this week."
 
The Mids will continue their non-conference slate this coming week with contests against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Thursday night at 6 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility before heading to UMBC for a Sunday showdown at 12 p.m. versus the Retrievers.