ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's soccer team opened the home portion of its 2024 schedule with an explosive 5-3 victory over Sacred Heart on Thursday afternoon. The Mids (1-2) scored early and often versus the Pioneers (0-2) as the home fans at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility were treated to three first-half goals and two more in the second half by Navy.

Marlee Heaven (Jr., Rockville, Md.) led the Mids in scoring with a pair of goals, while Alexa Riddle (Sr., Tomball, Texas) added a goal and two assists, all in the first half. Chiara Cosenza (So., Westfield, N.J.) and Rylee Rives (Sr., Arlington, Texas) added the two additional Navy goals.

"It's great to get a win at home," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We enjoy playing at Glenn Warner in front of our home fans, who make it a fun atmosphere. We have just a passionate group of fans.

"I'm really proud of the attack that we showed today; getting five goals. We were quite efficient scoring five goals on nine shots on goal; those were quality looks. There are definitely things that we need to improve upon. Our goal is to shut teams out, so we'll have to clean up some things defensively. We'll work on being more connected and tighter defensively. We'll need to also improve our possession and to not force plays when they aren't there."

The offensive fireworks started early for Navy when Riddle whipped a low looping cross into the six-yard box where Heaven sprinted into position and met the ball with a bouncing header past Sacred Heart's goalkeeper Kyran Thievon at 3:48 of the first half.

After the Pioneers nearly evened the score with a Shea Kelleher shot that rang off the crossbar in the 18th minute, the Mids added an insurance goal a short time later when Riddle captured a high, bounding ball, juked past a pair of defenders and slotted a crisp lead pass to Cosenza, who ripped a shot into the back of the net at 22:03.

Just 100 seconds later at 23:43, Riddle notched her first goal of the game when she stepped up to a free kick from 25 yards out and curled a shot into the lower far corner of the goal mouth to make it a 3-0 advantage for Navy.

The Mids held that lead into the halftime break as Natasha Stramrood (Fr., Cypress, Texas) corralled a pair of Pioneer shots on goal over the final 20-minutes of action. Thursday's game marked the first collegiate start of Stramrood's career.

The action in the second half was more wide-open and action-packed as the teams combined for five goals and 16 total shots. Sacred Heart shaved a goal off of
Navy's lead within the first eight minutes of the second stanza with a Morgan Bovardi tally at 52:45.

The two-goal margin was short lived as Rives found the back of the net, three-and-a-half minutes when she headed home an Amanda Graziano (Sr., Middlebury, Conn.) corner kick at 56:20. The Mids' 4-1 lead quickly expanded to 5-1 when Talley Applewhite (Jr., Midlothian, Va.) launched a deep punt that bounded up the field and ricocheted off multiple Pioneer defenders and was deflected into open space before Heaven ran up on the loose ball and went in for a breakaway goal at 57:27.

With the score 5-1 Navy, Sacred Heart tightened the final result to 5-3 with goals in the 72nd and 78th minutes.

For the game, Navy out-shot Sacred Heart, 17-11 with a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal. The Mids also held a 6-1 edge in corner kicks.

Stramrood earned her first collegiate win with two first half saves.

"We received a lot of contributions from throughout our roster today," commented Gabarra. "It's important that we continue to work on our depth and make sure we're gaining important experience. This was our first game during the school week, so that's an experience that our young players learned about navigating today. We are still working on meshing different players, different playing shapes and different styles. I'm proud of the result and looking forward to our next game on Saturday night."
 
Navy will be back in action on Saturday night when its hosts Fairleigh Dickinson in another non-conference tilt. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.