ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Patriot League play gets one week closer for the Navy women's soccer team following this weekend's action. The 10th and 11th non-conference tilts of the Mids' (5-4-0) season will see them host the Penn Quakers (0-3-3) on Thursday before traveling up to Philadelphia for a Sunday afternoon matchup at Temple (1-6-0). The Navy-Penn contest is set for 7 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, while the Navy-Temple game kicks off at 1 p.m. at the Temple Sports Complex. After the conclusion of this weekend's competitions, the Mids will move onto Patriot League play next Friday, Sept. 20 at Lehigh.

All of the women's soccer action this week will have live stats provided online, as well as ESPN+ broadcasts. ESPN+ is a subscription-based streaming service that requires patrons to sign-up for monthly or yearly plans prior to tuning into the contest.

Navy vs. Penn
Thursday will be the eighth meeting between the two schools in a series that began in 1999 ... All-time, Penn holds a 3-2-2 advantage over Navy ... In that first-ever matchup on Oct. 25, 1999, the Quakers defeated the Mids, 6-0 in Philadelphia ... After playing twice in the first two years of the series, Navy and Penn didn't meet again until Sept. 26, 2010 in Annapolis (the Mids won 3-2) ... Over the past 10 years, the two schools have traded victories as Navy won 2-1 in 2014 before Penn earned its win back in 2018 by a score of 4-2 ... The most recent meeting on Sept. 8, 2022 in Philadelphia, saw the Mids fight back for a 1-1 draw on the strength of the game-tying goal in the 81st minute

Last 5 Matchups
In the last five matchups dating back to 2010, the Mids and Quakers are tied 2-2-1 with Penn holding a slight 9-8 advantage in total goals scored.
    Sept. 8, 2022 (A): Navy 1 - Penn 1
    Sept. 9, 2018 (H): Penn 4 - Navy 2
    Oct. 12, 2014 (A): Navy 2 - Penn 1
    Oct. 14, 2013 (H): Penn 1 - Navy 0 (OT)
    Sept. 26, 2010 (H): Navy 3 - Penn 2

Most Recent Navy-Penn Matchup: September 8, 2022
The tests for the Navy women's soccer team continued on the road on Thursday night as the Mids (3-2-3) earned a hard-fought 1-1 tie with the Penn Quakers (1-0-4) at Rhodes Field in downtown Philadelphia. Challenged throughout the 90-minute affair, the Mids battled back from allowing a late first half goal with a late second half goal of its own. Amanda Graziano played the role of hero on Thursday night as she one-timed a Jordan Townsend pass into the back of the net in the 81st minute.
 
Junior goalkeeper Mattie Gallagher was active in net for Navy as she faced 17 shots, including eight that were on goal and came away with a season-high seven saves.

The action opened evenly as both teams recorded one shot over the initial 10 minutes. The host Quakers tallied the first shot on goal of the contest in the 19th minute, though Gallagher had little trouble with Sizzy Lawton's attempt for her first save. A little over three minutes later, a slickly threaded pass by Katie Herrmann through Penn's defense found Caitlin Doran (Sr., Queens, N.Y.) in space. The Quakers' goalkeeper Laurence Gladu quickly sprinted off her line and closed in on Doran to force a rushed shot on goal. Similar to Penn's first shot on goal, the host's second attempt on frame caused little consternation for Gallagher in the 29th minute.
 
The scoreboard finally saw some action six minutes later when Penn's Anuli Okafor played a dangerous cross in from the right wing that deflected off a Navy defender and was quickly one-timed by Janae Stewart into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead at 35:45.
 
Coming out of the second half down by one goal, Navy struggled initially to make in-roads in Penn's final third and didn't register its first shot of the period until 70:34. Over those first 25 minutes, the Quakers found more success in their hunt for a goal as they took four shots with three of those tries making their way to Gallagher.
 
With the score 1-0 and the clock heading towards 10 minutes left in regulation, the Mids found their time shine. Building up the right wing via Doran, the senior striker played the ball into the box to Alexa Riddle, who tried to flip the ball past the Penn goalkeeper, though she was denied. After a collecting the rebound, Riddle re-directed the ball out across the six-yard box to Townsend, who gathered herself, turned to her right and fed Graziano for a well-struck one-timer into the upper-90 of the right side of the goal at 80:10.
 
Re-invigorated by its late game-tying goal, Navy continued to press on for the go-ahead goal on offense, while locking down Penn on defense. One final save by Gallagher in the 89th minute sealed the 1-1 draw.
 
For the game, Penn outshot Navy, 17-5 with an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal. The hosts also held a 7-1 edge in corner kicks on Thursday night.

Navy vs. Temple / American Athletic Conference
Though separate by about two hours, the Mids and Owls are fairly infrequent regular season combatants on the pitch as they met in just two times with Navy holding a 1-0-1 record ... The series has laid dormant for 29 years as the most recent matchup came as part of the 1995 Lafayette Invitational on Sept. 2 in Easton, Pa.; Navy was victorious by a 2-1 score (an oddity, Navy has now played both of its opponents from that tournament this season; Marist on Sept. 1 and Temple on Sunday) ... The first-ever Navy-Temple contest occurred 11 months earlier on Oct. 14, 1994 in Annapolis; that game ended in a 2-2 draw ... In the history of the Navy women's soccer program, the Mids have gone up against American Athletic Conference opponents eight different times and have come away with a 3-3-2 record: vs. Temple (1-0-1), Tulsa (1-0), USF (0-1-1), Rice (0-1), UTSA (0-1) and Tulane (1-0 ... note: the Green Wave shuttered its program following the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005)

Last 5 Meetings vs. AAC
    Aug. 18, 2024 (A): Rice 2 - Navy 1
    Aug. 15, 2024 (A): UTSA 2 - Navy 1
    Sept. 7, 2018 (H): USF 2 - Navy 1
    Aug. 29, 2014 (A): Navy 1 - USF 1
    Oct. 8, 1999 (H): Navy 3 - Tulane 0

Comparing the Teams

2024 Stats	Navy	Penn	Temple
Record	5-4-0	0-3-3	1-6-0
Goals/Gm	2.56	0.67	0.71
Assists/Gm	2.44	0.17	0.86
Shots/Gm	14.4	10.0	7.4
Goals Against Average	1.89	1.50	3.14
GK Saves/Gm	3.89	4.67	7.14

Individual Leaders

	Navy	Penn	Temple
Goals	Heaven, 4	Four Players, 1	Atkins, 2
Assists	Abusham, 4	Stewart, 1	Zhou, 2
Points	Graziano/Heaven, 8	Four Players, 2	Atkins, 5
Shots	Riddle, 15	Fuss, 15	Atkins, 10
GK Saves	Stramrood, 27	Austen, 28	Bynoe, 41

Last Time Out: September 8 vs. VMI
The Navy women's soccer team turned in a highly offensive-minded performance on Sunday afternoon as the Mids fired off 28 shots on their way to a 3-2 victory over the VMI Keydets. Coming in with an all-time series advantage of 6-0 over the Keydets (3-2-1), the Mids (5-4-0) overcame an early one-goal deficit with a loud run of three unanswered goals before a late VMI score tightened the final result to 3-2 at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.

Marlee Heaven paced Navy's comeback effort with her second two-goal game of the season as she netted the go-ahead goal in the 67th minute before notching the game-winning tally courtesy of a converted penalty kick in the 82nd. Lauren Toms was the Mids' first goal scorer of the day as she hammered home a header shot in the 31st minute for her first career goal.

The Mids pressured the Keydets early and often, though none of their offensive attempts were able to find the back of the net. Surviving the early barrage of action in their defensive third, the Keydets rallied and broke onto the scoreboard first with a Riley Boucher marker at 23:53.

It took less than eight minutes for Navy to pull even as Amanda Graziano swung a deep looping corner kick to the back post where Toms elevated up to meet the ball and powered a header shot into the back of the net at 31:00. Natasha Stramrood was called up a little over two minutes later when she leaped up in the 34th minute to deny a Sedona Dancu shot on goal. That save helped both teams retire to the locker room at halftime with the score knotted at 1-1.

The vigor that Navy showed in the first half with its 12 shots and four corner kick opportunities was ratcheted up in the second stanza. In just the initial eight minutes of the second half, the Mids turned in three high-percentage looks as Alexa Riddle sprinted in with the ball to the end line before whipping a cross to Heaven, that unfortunately was pushed wide in the 49th minute before Chiara Cosenza nearly facilitated a Morrow goal two minutes later with a dynamic dribbling effort around three Keydet defenders, though Morrow's shot missed the frame. The pressure by Navy continued with a series of passes from Heaven-to-Morrow-to-Riddle that saw Riddle break in free to the goal, though once again VMI's keeper, Tracy, was active and effective off her line to negate the chance.

Hannah Mulholland tried to break the 1-1 tie in the 64th minute when she dribbled into the 18 and ripped a shot towards the goal that rang off the crossbar. That shot was the second of three looks on Sunday that connected with the crossbar as a later attempt by Cosenza in the 81st minute was deflected by Tracy into the stanchion.

Navy's nose for the goal finally paid off in the 67th minute when Ande Swan played a ball up from midfield to Isabella Romano, who calmly collected the pass and found Heaven for the through ball and another one-on-one opportunity. Heaven made sure Tracy's aggressiveness wouldn't pay off as she pocketed her shot into the far corner of the goal mouth at 66:03.

Heaven matched her two-goal effort from earlier this season versus Sacred Heart in the 82nd minute when she converted the Mids' first penalty kick of the year. The opportunity came about when Riddle out-ran a VMI defender and was taken down from behind in the box.

A corner kick connection by the Keydets' Cadee Hegarty to Isabella Bruzonic at 84:00 tightened the final margin to 3-2. 
 
For the game, Navy out-shot VMI, 28-8 with a 9-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Mids also held a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.

Parking / Shuttle / Ticket Information
Fans are reminded that the general public does not have access to drive their vehicles on to the U.S. Naval Academy. Fans may park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for a fee and take a shuttle that will run every 10 minutes starting one hour before the game and will continue running until one hour after the game is completed. Fans 18 and over need a government-issued photo ID. Enter Gate 5 off Taylor Ave. to park at the stadium. Dogs are not permitted inside the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. All soccer contests at Glenn Warner will be free of charge