ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With its postseason hopes on the line, the Navy men's soccer team (4-7-4, 3-4-1 PL) is set to face regional rival American (4-5-7, 3-2-3 PL) in the Patriot League regular-season finale on Tuesday night, with the Midshipmen and Eagles slated for a 7 p.m. kick at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
Navy is chasing its fourth-straight Patriot League Tournament berth while American is looking to secure its fifth consecutive appearance in the league's postseason and potentially a share of the regular-season title, as just two points in the Patriot League standings separate the third-place Eagles from the Mids in eighth while three points sit between American and first-place teams Boston and Bucknell.
Airing on ESPN+ with Joe Miller on the call, Tuesday night will also serve as a chance for Navy to avenge last season's loss at American and an opportunity to pull the all-time series closer.
Playoff Stakes
Navy can anywhere from third to ninth in the league standings, with the top six teams qualifying for the Patriot League Tournament … The Patriot League will announce full postseason tiebreakers and seeding scenarios on Tuesday morning … A postseason berth would be Navy's 15th overall Patriot League Tournament appearance and its fifth league tournament bid in the last six seasons … A fourth-straight Patriot League Tournament berth for the Mids would establish a new program record.
No Place Like Home
The Mids have posted an outstanding 18-8-11 mark at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility since the start of the 2021 season, including a 4-2-2 home record last season … Navy has outscored opponents, 54-30, in those 37 games, with the 2023 campaign seeing the Mids outscore their foes, 13-4, across eight home games last year … Head coach
Tim O'Donohue is 37-23-16 in his career at Glenn Warner.
Pierce Between the Posts
With 72 saves made across Navy's first 15 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 72 total saves (14th in NCAA) and 4.80 saves per game (13th in NCAA), while ranking second at a .783 save percentage (30th in NCAA) … Holbrook's 18 career shutouts are the second most by a Navy goalkeeper since 1983, two shy of Brian Steckroth's 20 clean sheets from 1998 to 2001 … The 18 career shutouts are also the 17th most among active Division I goalies while his .762 career save percentage is 19th compared to other active DI keepers … With 64 saves last season and 69 saves in 2022, Holbrook is only the second Navy goalkeeper with three-straight 60-save seasons, joining Steckroth's run during the 1999-2001 seasons … Holbrook's 72 saves on the season are the most by a Navy keeper since Mac Burke's 92 stops in 2017.
Navy Notes
The current Navy seniors have helped the Mids post a 29-26-19 overall record over their four seasons in Annapolis, going 14-11-10 in Patriot League matches … The Mids are 6-0-3 when junior
A.J. Schuetz records a point, while Navy has tallied a 4-1-1 mark when junior
Andrew Schug scores and a 3-0-5 record when senior
Noah Ward tallies a point … Senior captain
Charlie Kriel has started all 74 of Navy's games during his time with the Mids … Navy's 8.33 fouls per game rank as the fourth-lowest in the NCAA this season … Schuetz's 2.45 shots per game and 1.18 shots on goal per game both rank second in the Patriot League entering the week.
Last Time Out
Despite another impressive performance in net from Holbrook, Navy was unable to rally late in a 1-0 loss to Boston University, spoiling the Mids' Senior Night festivities on Friday evening … A 47th-minute goal from the Terriers' Quin DeLaMater off Ryan Lau's corner kick proved to be the lone goal of the penultimate regular-season contest and propelled Boston into a tie for first place in the Patriot League standings at 15 points, while the Mids fell to eighth in the league table … Andrew Wike ended with the two-save shutout while Holbrook made eight stops on the other end, as the Terriers outshot the Mids, 17-10.
Scouting American
Overcoming a slow start to the season, the Eagles rattled off a five-game unbeaten streak to begin September … Another up-and-down stretch that featured losses to Bucknell, Lehigh and Virginia has been followed up by AU's current three-game undefeated streak, with a win over Lafayette preceding draws with Boston and Holy Cross … In American's most recent match on Friday, Dilane Zouantcha scored his third goal of the season at 54' to put AU ahead in the second half but Holy Cross' Marcus Williams got a late equalizer with under five minutes left to notch a 1-1 draw between the Eagles and Crusaders … Troy Elgersma's six assists pace the Patriot League, while his 10 points lead the Eagles … Zouantcha and Sam Hershey share the team lead with three goals apiece, as six different AU players had multi-goal campaigns so far … Matthew Tibbetts has played every minute in net for the Eagles this season, making 63 saves over 16 starts for a 1.44 goals against average and .733 save percentage … Tibbetts' 63 saves are the 29th-most in Division I.
Series History
Navy is 13-16-9 in the all-time series with American, with the Mids going 2-3 against the Eagles in their last five meetings … Navy holds a 9-4-4 mark against American when playing in Annapolis, including a 6-4-1 record over the Eagles at Glenn Warner Soccer Facility … Each of the Mids and Eagles' last three meetings had ended with a 1-0 score … After defeating American in Annapolis with
David Jackson's penalty-kick goal at 49' in the 2022 regular-season finale, Navy then used
A.J. Schuetz' 83rd-minute tally to beat the visiting Eagles again 10 days later in the 2022 Patriot League Championship game … The 2023 matchup on Oct. 18 saw American defend its home field when Ethan Boyle's 26th-minute goal proved to be the difference in a defensive battle that saw a combined 21 shots between the squads.
Up Next
The quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament will be played on Saturday, Nov. 9, with the No. 6 seed at the No. 3 seed and the fifth seed visiting the fourth seed.
