WORCESTER, Mass. – Part of a cluttered Patriot League leaderboard entering the fourth of nine legs of the conference schedule, the Navy women's soccer team had eyes at advancing up the table going into its matchup at Holy Cross on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, for the Mids (8-5-1, 1-2-1 PL), the host Crusaders (4-5-4, 1-1-2 PL) used a career-high 11 saves by their freshman goalkeeper Aubrey Haesche to stonewall the visitors and secure a 1-0 shutout at the Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium.

Marlee Heaven (Sr., Rockville, Md.) led Navy's offensive effort with a season-high six shots, of which three challenged Haesche in goal. Defensively, goalkeeper Natasha Stramrood (So., Cypress, Texas) back-stopped the Mids with four saves.

The action on Sunday began with a heavy Navy feel to it as the Mids recorded three of the game's first four shots over the opening 18 minutes, including shots on frame by Hannah Mulholland (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) and Chiara Cosenza (Jr., Westfield, N.J.). The latter attempt was particularly noteworthy as Cosenza took down a flicked-on header from Heaven and immediately one-timed a shot towards goal, though Haesche was up to the task and threw her body at the shot to keep the game at 0-0.

On the opposite end of the pitch, Stramrood responded when her number was called as she batted away a dangerous corner kick in the 20th minute.

The final 15 minutes of the opening half saw even more threatening action with Navy's Lucy Gaines (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) testing Haesche with a long shot that nearly bounced over the goalkeeper in the 32nd minute and Heaven get two back-to-back looks on frame just one minute later. Heaven's initial shot required a diving save by Haesche before her second attempt rang off the post.

After Stramrood's second save of the first half in the 41st minute, Isabella Romano (Sr., Syosset, N.Y.) nearly connected with Lauren Toms (So., Fairplay, Md.) for a corner kick-header combination with 80 remaining in the opening period. Once again, Haesche denied the scoring opportunity.

At the halftime intermission, Navy was out-shooting Holy Cross, 10-5 with a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal.

The end-to-end action continued in the second half as both teams recorded shots on goal in the first seven minutes of action; Heaven notched the Mids' attempt in the 51st minute.

The constant pressure finally resulted in movement on the scoreboard at 54:49 when Olivia Perez unleashed a shot into the far upper-90 for the match's first goal.

Trailing by one, Navy kept up its hunt for the back of the net and nearly succeeded in the 63rd minute when Jordan Townsend (Sr., Marriottsville, Md.) controlled a loose ball in the box following a free kick and headed a shot on goal, that Haesche snagged at the last moment.

Navy's offense continued testing the freshman keeper, but in each situation, including threatening looks by Jessica Black (Fr., Cedaredge, Colo.) in the 74th and Romano in the 83rd, Haesche sprung off her line and turned aside the scoring opportunity.

Three final shots by the Mids in the final five minutes went for naught and the Crusaders held on for the dramatic 1-0 victory at home on Saturday afternoon.

For the game, Navy out-shot Holy Cross, 22-13 with an 11-5 advantage in shots on goal. Both teams received a plethora of corner kick opportunities with the hosts earning seven versus five for the visitors.
 
"This is a frustrating result," remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. "We feel like we were controlling the action and scoring chances, but unfortunately the scoreboard doesn't reflect that. We've been out-performing teams recently, but just not getting the results; sometimes its one or two things with our attack and sometimes it's a defense lapse. We gave great effort for 90 minutes this afternoon, but struggled putting the ball in the back of the net. Give credit to their goalkeeper who did a really nice job of keeping them in the match with 10-plus saves, but if our finishing was a bit more precise she's not making all of those saves.

"The next step is for us to maintain this excellent level of effort, but improving our composure in finishing when we have goals within our reach. We've been putting in the work, we're bound to get a due result."

Next up for Navy is a matchup with Army in the annual Star Game. This year's Army-Navy Cup will be hosted by the Philadelphia Union at their stadium, Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon.