ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's soccer team (3-5-4, 2-2-1 PL) continues Patriot League play on Sunday afternoon when it travels to Holy Cross (2-9-3, 1-3-1 PL), with the Midshipmen and Crusaders set for a 1 p.m. match at Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium in Worcester, Mass.
 
Both teams will seek to get back in the win column as the league schedule enters its back-half, with Navy holding onto a four-way tie for fifth place (seven points) while Holy Cross sits three points back in ninth. Jorge Bannister and Mike Basile will have the call on ESPN+ from Worcester.
 
Pierce Between the Posts
With 53 saves made across Navy's first 12 games, senior goalkeeper Pierce Holbrook has picked up right where he left off from the past two seasons … League- and nation-wise, Holbrook paces the Patriot League with his 53 total saves (16th in NCAA) and ranks second in the league with 4.42 saves per game (22nd in NCAA) and a .768 save percentage (49th in NCAA) … Holbrook's 17 career shutouts are the second most by a Navy goalkeeper since 1983, three shy of Brian Steckroth's 20 clean sheets from 1998 to 2001 … The 17 career shutouts are also the 18th most among active Division I goalies while his .756 career save percentage is 21st compared to other active DI keepers … Holbrook's 64 saves last season and 69 saves in 2022 made him the first Navy goalkeeper with back-to-back 60-save seasons since Mac Burke in 2016-17 (64, 92).
 
Stevens Shining
After shining during the Mids' exhibition slate, freshman Wyatt Stevens carried his success into the regular season, making the starting lineup in each of Navy's first eight matches and scoring four goals before missing the last four contests … With the game-tying tally against Stonehill, the rookie forward became the first Navy freshman to score the Mids' first goal of a season since Phillip Gustafson on Aug. 31, 2017 against Campbell … Stevens is also the first Navy freshman with four-or-more goals in a season since Jacob Williams' eight tallies during the 2018 campaign.
 
Navy Notes
The current Navy seniors have helped the Mids post a 28-24-19 overall record over their four seasons in Annapolis, going 13-9-10 in Patriot League matches … The Mids are 5-0-3 when junior A.J. Schuetz records a point, while Navy has tallied a 4-1-1 mark when junior Andrew Schug scores and a 2-0-5 record when senior Noah Ward tallies a point … Senior captain Charlie Kriel has started all 71 of Navy's games during his time with the Mids … Navy's 8.75 fouls per game rank as the seventh-lowest in the NCAA this season … Schuetz's 2.13 shots per game ranks fifth in the Patriot League entering the weekend.
 
Last Time Out
With a lively crowd of 10,134 watching a back-and-forth contest in Army-Navy Cup XIII, Navy allowed an unfortunate late goal to fall to rival Army, 2-1, last Friday at Subaru Park … After the Black Knights' Ronald Zhai grabbed the lead off a corner kick in the game's opening seven minutes, Holbrook weathered the storm for the Midshipmen with four big first-half saves as the offense started to press … While junior Jalen Grant scored off a header for the second-straight game to even the match shortly after halftime, Army pushed back and eventually retook the lead when Gage Lyons converted on a Navy miscue with just under seven minutes remaining, securing the chance to sing second … Holbrook ended the contest with a season-high eight saves while Camargo made five saves in the winning effort, as Army outshot the Mids, 19-11.
 
Scouting Holy Cross
After an up-and-down start to the season that saw the Crusaders go undefeated in its first two league games and earn an impressive non-conference draw against then-No. 5 Clemson, Holy Cross has been on a six-game slide since a scoreless draw at Bucknell, with five of those matches being one-goal contests … Three-time all-league selection Evan Jones leads the Crusaders and the Patriot League with five goals, his fourth-straight season with five-or-more tallies … Jonathan Klein and Marcus Williams both enter the weekend with five points (two goals, one assist), ranking second on the team in total points … Returning all-league second-teamer Ethan Gill is one of four Crusaders with two assists on the season … Josh Tubbs (nine starts) and Tristan Stephani (five starts) have split the netminder duties this season, with Tubbs collecting 40 saves for a 1.11 goals against average while Stephani has made 10 saves and recorded a 2.00 GAA … Tubbs' 4.44 saves per game paces the league.
 
Series History
Navy is 14-15-6 in the all-time series with Holy Cross, holding a 5-9-2 record when visiting the Crusaders in Worcester … The Mids are on a four-game unbeaten streak against Holy Cross, as blowout wins in 2019 and 2021 have been followed by a 1-1 draw in 2022 at Holy Cross and a scoreless draw in Annapolis last year … Navy is 5-1-4 in its last 10 meetings against Holy Cross … The 2023 contest in Annapolis saw the Mids outshoot the Crusaders, 17-10, but neither side found the back of the net as Holbrook collected four saves and A.J. Schuetz registered five shots.
 
Up Next
Navy will travel to Bethlehem, Pa., on Oct. 26 for a 6 p.m. match against Lehigh.