ANNAPOLIS, Md. – An annual tradition awaits the Navy men's soccer team (3-4-4, 2-1-1 PL) on Friday night, as the Midshipmen and their historic rival Army (2-8-1, 0-4-0 PL) get set for Army-Navy Cup XIII at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa.
 
With the Mids' riding a four-game unbeaten streak, Friday's Patriot League contest is slated for a 7 p.m. opening kick from the home of Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union. The match will air on ESPN+ with Joe Miller and Paul Killian on the call.
 
The game will also mark the fifth competition of the 2024-25 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA, with the Black Knights holding a 3-1 lead in the all-sport season series entering the weekend.
 
Series History
Going into the 91st all-time meeting between the two programs, the Mids hold a 41-32-17 advantage over their rivals from West Point … Despite going 2-5-3 against Army in the past 10 contests, Navy has split the last three meetings with the Black Knights at 1-1-1 … Army has a 7-4-4 edge over Navy in neutral-site matches … The longest winning streak in the series from either side was a 10-game win streak by Navy from 1955 to 1964, with draws making it a 13-game unbeaten streak for the Mids against Army from 1954 to 1966.
 
Army-Navy Cup History
While Army and Navy had faced off in two neutral-site contests in the 1960s, the first iteration of the Army-Navy Cup at the Philadelphia Union's home stadium came in 2012 … The Black Knights have a 5-3-4 edge over the Mids through the first 12 meetings at now-Subaru Park … After the 2012 game ended in a 1-1 tie, the Mids won the 2013 and 2014 meetings by a 1-0 score each time before Army rattled off two-straight victories in the event, while a scoreless draw in 2017 set up an Army win in 2018 … A tie in the 2019 match built momentum for the 2020 meeting, but COVID-19 forced the ninth edition of the Army-Navy Cup to be played on April 25, 2021, as Army grabbed a 2-0 win … Just 166 days later, Navy got revenge on Oct. 9 thanks to a hat-trick from Jacob Williams, the first hat-trick in the Cup's 10-year history, as Navy picked up a 3-0 shutout … Army used a pair of second-half goals to defeat Navy in the Oct. 7, 2022 iteration of the match … Along with nine saves by the Mids' Pierce Holbrook, goals from Navy's David Jackson and Army's Gage Lyons resulted in a 1-1 draw last year on Oct. 13 … Holbrook's nine saves in 2023 are the most by a Navy goalkeeper in the 12-year history of the Army-Navy Cup.… Senior captain Charlie Kriel has played the full 90 minutes in each of the last three Army-Navy Cups.
 
Covering the Connections
Sophomore Nate Stewart is the latest in a long line of Navy players to come out of the Philadelphia Union Academy program, as the Phoenixville, Pa., native played 14 minutes off the bench as a rookie in last year's Army-Navy Cup … Stewart also has the rivalry in his blood, as his father Jason is a 1994 West Point graduate and former cross country/track athlete, who was a three-time NCAA All-American and was inducted into the Army Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017 … Another Pennsylvania native, freshman Keane Brown from New Hope, Pa., will face off against his former Pennington School teammate in Army's Justin Davidyock, as the two helped Pennington claim the Mid-Atlantic Prep League championship in 2023.
 
Pierce Between the Posts
With 45 saves made across Navy's first 11 games, senior goalkeeper Pierce Holbrook has picked up right where he left off from the past two seasons … League- and nation-wise, Holbrook is second in the Patriot League with 45 total saves (14th in the country) and ranks third in the league with 4.09 saves per game (39th in the country) and fourth with a .763 save percentage (61st 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 15th most among active Division I goalies while his .754 career save percentage is 18th 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 three 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 28-23-19 overall record over their four seasons in Annapolis, going 13-8-10 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 70 of Navy's games during his time with the Mids … Navy's 9.00 fouls per game rank as the 10th-lowest in the NCAA this season … Schuetz's 2.29 shots per game ranks third in the Patriot League entering the weekend.
 
Last Time Out
Down 2-0 with 16 minutes left, Navy rattled off three unanswered goals to post a 3-2 comeback victory over in-state rival Loyola on Saturday afternoon in Annapolis, closing out a three-game homestand and extending its unbeaten streak to four-straight contests … After Caden Stafford put Loyola up just before halftime at 39' and buried his second goal of the afternoon in the 73rd minute, Navy started its surge to victory when Andrew Schug set up A.J. Schuetz just over a minute later … With Jalen Grant's equalizing header going in at 77' for his first collegiate goal, Schug completed the comeback with a tap-in at 82', giving the Mids three goals in a stretch of 7:35 and earning a three-point day for himself … Pierce Holbrook then had to collect a final chance from Stafford off a Loyola corner at 84' to preserve the come-from-behind victory, ending the day with five saves to Dylan Van der Walt's two stops.
 
Scouting Army
A tough start to the season has had bright spots for the Black Knights, as a season-opening draw at Temple and a one-goal loss to Penn State preceded a 2-1 win at fellow service academy Air Force on Aug. 29 … Army earned its first win of the season against the Falcons, getting second-half tallies from Jack Drabenstott and Gage Lyons to seal a 2-1 victory … A six-game slide was snapped last Tuesday, as Army freshmen Kai Thomas and Miles Hadley propelled the squad to a 2-0 win over Rider, but the Black Knight then suffered a 2-1 loss to American on Saturday … Fourth-year head coach Brian Plotkin's team features 22 underclassmen (12 freshmen, 10 sophomores) … Lyons paces the team with four goals, tied for third in the Patriot League this season, while Thomas leads the team and ranks second in the league with three assists … Blair Camargo has had the bulk of action in net with 24 saves in eight starts, while Keanu Likewise has made 12 saves over three starts and picked up a shutout.
 
Army-Navy Star Series Update
The contest will mark the fifth of 28 Star Games between Army and Navy teams in the 2024-25 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA … Army leads the series, 3-1, as Army volleyball opened the slate with a five-set win over Navy on Sept. 27, while Navy men's rugby got the Mids' first star of the season with a 32-5 rout of Army on Sept. 28 … A week later, Army picked up wins in sprint football, 17-3, and men's golf, 7-4, to the lead in the all-sport series … Next weekend will feature three stars up for grabs in women's soccer at West Point and men's and women's cross country in Annapolis.
 
Up Next
Navy will head to Worcester, Mass., for a 1 p.m. showdown with Holy Cross on Oct. 20.