BALTIMORE – Playing to extend its 2025 season, the Navy women's soccer team left it all out on the pitch at the Ridley Athletic Complex on Wednesday night with a 1-1 draw at Loyola University. Coming into the contest one point behind Loyola for fourth place and in a three-way tie with Holy Cross and Lafayette for fifth place, but on the wrong side of tie-breakers, Navy knew the most straight forward route into the Patriot League Tournament was to defeat and surpass the Greyhounds in the standings. In the driver's seat for a playoff spot, the Greyhounds (5-4-8, 2-2-5 PL) had the opportunity to move onto the playoffs with a win or tie and the hosts were able to rest on that added insurance throughout the second half and held off the Mids (9-6-4, 2-3-4) for a 1-1 decision.

Jessica Black (Fr., Cedaredge, Colo.) sparked Navy's offense in the first half as she drew her squad even with a highlight reel individual effort in the closing minutes of the opening stanza that saw her steal the ball near midfield and fire off a well-struck shot with a host of Loyola defenders crashing onto her as she approached the 18-yard box. Defensively, sophomore goalkeeper Natasha Stramrood (Cypress, Texas) made a career-high eight saves to hold Loyola to just a single score on Wednesday night.

"I was proud of our fight tonight," commented head coach Carin Gabarra. "We fought from behind to draw even and continued to battle until the final whistle. That's a testament to our seniors and the fight that they instill in this program.

"It's hard to play against Loyola, especially here on the road. They play an extremely organized brand of soccer. They know how to get numbers behind the ball and defend. The wind was a factor for them in the first half and us in the second. They did what they needed to do to capture a point."

The action opened with a significant offensive Loyola feel to it as the Greyhounds recorded the game's first four shots on goal over the initial 20 minutes. Stramrood was active during this run of play as she snagged an Asma Merzougui volley in the seventh minute before leaping up towards the upper left corner of the goal to grab a Malia Tarazon shot in the 17th.

After Kayana Adlam (So., Orlando, Fla.) registered Navy's first shot in the 25th minute when she connected for a header of a Marlee Heaven (Sr., Rockville, Md.) cross, the momentum flipped back to Loyola and resulted in the game's first goal as Tarazon snapped off a shot at 29:35 to push the Greyhounds into the lead.

With her team trailing by a goal and the clock ticking towards halftime, Black used her patented buzzing defensive style to dispossess Loyola's Zoe Willis at midfield and sprint towards goal. With the Greyhounds' defense closing in on her, she moved the ball to her left foot and ripped a shot from the top of the 18-yard box into the low right side netting of the goal to pull the Mids even 1-1 at 38:54.

Stramrood helped her squad take that tie to the halftime break as she made two more saves over the final six-plus minutes to give her four stops for the opening half.

Coming out of the locker room with the score knotted at 1-1, Stramrood continued to keep the Mids' hope of gaining a positive result for their playoff push alive with a pair of saves in the 62nd minute. In a chaotic 10-second segment of action that could've turned the game, Loyola played a corner kick into the center of the box and had a pair of shots pinball off Stramrood and Navy defenders before the sophomore goalkeeper collapsed on top of the ball.

The final 25-plus minutes of regulation played out with both teams alternating between aggressive and conservative styles of play that were dictated by the hope of advancing into the Patriot League Tournament. Unfortunately for the Mids, who were chasing an outright win, their final two looks at goal resulted in one save and one shot that missed the target high and the contest concluded tied at 1-1.

For the game, Loyola out-shot Navy, 15-9 with a 9-3 advantage in shots on goal. The hosts also held a 5-3 edge in corner kick opportunities.

With the conclusion of the Patriot League season, Navy finished just one point out of a postseason berth as Loyola clinched the sixth seed with 11 points (2-2-5). Victories by Holy Cross over Army and Lafayette over Lehigh allowed the Crusaders and Leopards to leap frog the Greyhounds and grab the fourth and fifth seeds with 12 points (3-3-3), respectively.

Wednesday marked the final collegiate contests of the careers of seniors Mimi Abusham, Talley Applewhite, Marlee Heaven, Isabella Romano, Emma Romano, Mori Sokoloff and team captain Jordan Townsend. Over their four years with the program, Navy won 35 games and earned Patriot League Tournament berths in 2022 and 2024.

"This is a hard way for our seniors to go out," remarked Gabarra. "They've grown so much over their four years and led from the front, constantly motivating and showcasing the effort that Navy Women's Soccer is built on. Our team culture was great all season long. We scored a lot of goals this year and had our chances. It's sad that we weren't able to come out on the other side of one of those one-goal games this year, four ties and two other one-goal defeats is tough; we were right there. It all comes down to moments throughout a contest and unfortunately we just didn't have enough break our way; that's sports. You can't fault any of our players for their effort and energy all season."