ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Scoring late in both halves on Saturday afternoon, the Navy men's soccer team (2-4-2, 1-1-0 PL) pulled out its first Patriot League victory of the campaign with a 2-1 win over Lafayette (3-3-2, 0-2-0 PL) at Gummeson Grounds in Easton, Pa.
 
After denying multiple chances from the Leopards during the onset of the first half, a beautiful goal from junior A.J. Schuetz at 34' gave the Midshipmen the edge into halftime, while Navy overcame Roy Biegon's late equalizer in the 72nd minute when freshman sensation Wyatt Stevens scored his league-leading fourth goal of the season with just under eight minutes remaining to lift the Mids to victory and snap a three-game skid.
 
With Lafayette pressing early, senior goalkeeper Pierce Holbrook came out to stop Andrey McIntyre's shot from 10 yards out in the 11th minute before seeing a Beaux Lizewski shot sail high just under a minute later. McIntyre then put a shot off the right post at 19', while Holbrook saved Cole Duschang's shot in the 22nd minute to keep it scoreless. The Mids capitalized in the 34th minute when Schuetz intercepted a Lafayette pass just outside the Leopards' box, raced past the defenders and put an across-the-body shot towards the far post that beat Griffin Huff.
 
Lafayette came out right away in the second half looking to score as Carter Houlihan saw his shot go off-target, but Navy turned the tables when sophomore Victor Saade put a low shot on goal that Huff had to stop at 48' and a Tommy Lockhart attempt went over the net at 51'. Junior Andrew Schug nearly extended the lead in the 65th minute when he was fed a pass inside the right side of the box and held off a defender to put a kick on target that Huff dove to bat away. McIntyre then forced another Holbrook save at 67', while Stevens missed high less than a minute later.
 
Lafayette finally found the equalizer at 72' when Lawrence Aydlett made a defender miss and raced in to cross a ball that the sliding Roy Biegon put in the net behind the Navy defense. Another dangerous shot from Digger Iqbal went high at 75', but Navy finally found its offensive footing again as time wore on, capping it off when Schug's cross into the box at 83' was stopped by Schuetz and he placed a pass to a crashing Stevens, who rifled the ball into the top left corner. Navy was not done attacking, as senior Noah Ward almost added insurance in the 85th minute with a shot from the wing that nearly beat Huff, while Schuetz had a chance go off-target at 88', with the resulting Lafayette counter seeing the Mids block two Leopard shots over the final 70 seconds of the match.
 
Holbrook wrapped up the win with three saves, while Huff made four saves in the loss.
 
Head Coach Tim O'Donohue Comments
"It was a tough game from start to finish. We had a good week of practice and I give our players credit for being resilient on the road and getting a very important three points in the league standings."
 
Match Notes
• Navy is now 27-17-5 in the all-time series with Lafayette, extending its unbeaten streak in the series to seven matches.
• Navy has also won its last five trips to Easton and is undefeated in its last six visits to Lafayette.
• Stevens' four goals are the most by a Navy freshman in a season since Jacob Williams' eight tallies in 2018.
• Navy is now 4-0-3 when Schuetz scores in his career.
 
Up Next
Navy returns to Glenn Warner Soccer Facility on Tuesday, Sept. 24 to face non-conference foe UC San Diego, with the 7 p.m. match kicking off a three-game homestand for the Mids.