WEST POINT, N.Y. – The latest edition of the Army-Navy women's soccer rivalry had a postseason chapter written on Sunday afternoon. In a matchup of the sixth-seeded Mids (9-10-2) and the third-seeded Black Knights (12-5-1) at Malek Stadium at Clinton Field on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy, the two combatants played 83 minutes of scoreless nip-and-tuck action before the host Black Knights took advantage of a dangerous Cami Silvestro corner kick that saw Hannah Pohlidal connect for a header shot and goal at 83:49. That score held up as the only marker on the afternoon to advance Army into the semifinals of the 2024 Patriot League Tournament.
Navy's defense was stout throughout the 90 minutes of action on Sunday. Consisting a backline of
Tatum Kelly (Sr., Pinecrest, N.C.),
Emma Romano (Jr., Syosset, N.Y.),
Jordan Townsend (Jr., Marriottsville, Md.) and
Kayana Adlam (Fr., Orlando, Fla.), with
Rylee Rives (Sr., Arlington, Texas) serving as a defensive midfielder, the Mids' were back-stopped by freshman goalkeeper
Natasha Stramrood (Cypress, Texas). In her first postseason game, Stramrood was nearly lights-out as she turned aside seven shots on goal, including two leaping deflections on upper-90 shots and two more stops right at the goal line. Kelly, Townsend and Rives played all 90 minutes, while Adlam and Romano both played more than 77.
"What a competitive collegiate soccer game between two rivals that were fighting to extend their season," remarked head coach
Carin Gabarra. "I'm so proud of our team, we played so hard and did everything that we set out to do; we followed the game plan so well. We had hoped to limit their [Army] high percentage looks and limit their corner kicks, while looking to fight by them and use our speed with a transition goal. We did everything we could, but needed one more inch and one more bounce.
"Our defense did a great job of containing them this afternoon. In goal, Natasha was great; she made save-after-save and kept us in it all game; what a performance."
Early on, neither team was overly effective in the attacking third as over first 20 minutes as Army was credited with the only shot of this span, though the attempt was well off target. While not showing up in the box score, Stramrood was active in limiting the Black Knights' chances as she punched away a corner kick in the 13th minute, and snagged a threatening cross in the 18th before sprinting off her line and pushing the ball away from an on-coming Army attacker in the 20th.
Navy's first opportunity came in the 21st minute when
Alexa Riddle (Sr., Tomball, Texas) was played over the top and went one-on-one with Army's final defender. Late contact from that Black Knight was just enough as Riddle didn't strike her shot as clean as she would've liked and as such, Sage Strohman didn't have a problem denying the look on goal.
The final 20 minutes of the first half focused on fireworks up-and-down the pitch provided by Stramrood. In the 25th minute, the freshman goalkeeper left her box and struck a free kick that flew deep towards Army's net and the waiting head of
Tatum Kelly; a late leap and punch away by Strohman kept Kelly from completely the scoring look. After her first official save of the game in the 27th minute, she was busy down the stretch with saves in the 37th, 44th (two) and 45th minutes of play. Her stop in the 37th was especially noteworthy as she extended her leg for a kick save on a bounding shot by Brigid Duffy before pushing a Kaelen Bradley shot over the cross with a dramatic leap to the far upper-90 in the 44th and repeating the same act on Duffy's second shot on goal with just seven seconds remaining in the half.
Coming out of the halftime intermission still knotted at 0-0 both teams came out hunting for that first goal. Over the initial 10 minutes of the period, Army was credited with four shots, while Navy had two. The Mids' second look in the 55th minute was extremely threatening as once again Riddle used her speed to break away behind the Black Knights' defense. Going one-on-one with Strohman, Riddle edged closer and closer inside the box, though Strohman played the angles and forced Riddle to curl a shot around her. Unfortunately for Navy that shot hit the inside of the post and rolled away from danger.
Both defenses flexed their respective muscles over the next 20 minutes as neither side registered a shot on goal over four combined attempts, three for Navy and one for Army.
Stramrood continued to showcase her maturity in the face of postseason pressure with another enormous save in the 79th minute when she dove to her right to catch Grace Edvalds' point blank re-direct from inside the six-yard box.
Army finally broke through in the 84th minute when they took advantage of a corner kick that came after the referees deemed that Stramrood touched a ball that careened off the crossbar. On that corner kick, a high in-swinging ball by Cami Silvestro was headed in by Hannah Pohlidal for the go-ahead score.
A frantic final six-plus minutes saw Navy players sprinting throughout the pitch trying valiantly to get one more look on goal, though all opportunities were closed off by Army and the Black Knights secured the hard-fought 1-0 victory.
For the game, Army out-shot Navy, 17-7 with an 8-1 edge in shots on goal and a 10-1 advantage in corner kicks. A physical battle, the teams combined for 25 fouls.
"This is such a tough result for our team, but especially our firsties," said Gabarra in closing. "They were fantastic today. They showed the courage to leave it all on the field. They played to win every second of the game today. They have given us four tremendous seasons of skill, heart, passion and leadership. We're extremely fortunate to have had them be a part of Navy Women's Soccer."
Sunday marked the final collegiate competition for
Emma Frommelt,
Amanda Graziano,
Alexa Riddle,
Rylee Rives and team captain
Tatum Kelly.
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