ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The intensity of service academy women's soccer will hit the big stage this Friday in Chester, Pennsylvania as Subaru Park, home of the Philadelphia Union of the MLS, will play host to the 2025 Army-Navy Cup. The annual star for women's soccer will be up for grabs between two highly competitive squads that are separated by less than a game in the Patriot League standings. This is the first time in the storied history of women's soccer matchups between the Mids (8-5-1, 1-2-1 PL) and Black Knights (8-4-1, 2-2-0 PL) that the teams will meet in a regular season contest at a neutral site as all previous Star Matches have been held on their respective campuses. Friday's game at Subaru Park is slated for a 4 p.m. kickoff with the Army-Navy men's game scheduled to be contested afterwards at 7 p.m.

Friday's women's soccer matchup between the service academies will be the second Army-Navy competition of the school year as part of the 2025-26 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. Going into Friday's soccer doubleheader, Army holds a 1-0 advantage over Navy in the early portion of the 26-contest showdown across the athletic departments.

The Navy-Army contest on Friday will have live stats provided online, as well as an accompanying ESPN+ broadcast. 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. Army
Friday will be the 39th meeting between the two schools in a series that began in Navy's second year of varsity existence in 1994 ... Over the first 38 matchups, Navy is 18-16-4 versus Army ... Starting on Sept. 20, 1994 and going through Nov. 8, 1997, Army took the first five games of the series ... Games six through 11 went the way of Mids from Oct. 30, 1998 through Oct. 26, 2001 ... After Navy won three straight between 2019 and 2021, Army has taken four straight over the Mids including three Star contests ... All-time, Navy has outscored Army, 45-37 ... The teams have met three times at neutral sites (all at Colgate) as part of the Patriot League Tournament with Army holding a 2-1 edge ... In dedicated Star matchups, Navy is 15-11-4 over Army.

Last Five Matchups
In the previous five meetings dating back to 2021, the Black Knights hold a 4-1 advantage and have outscored the Mids, 10-4
    Nov. 3, 2024 (A): Army 1 - Navy 0 **PLT-Quarterfinals
    Oct. 19, 2024 (A): Army 4 - Navy 0 
    Oct. 14, 2023 (H): Army 2 - Navy 1
    Oct. 15, 2022 (A): Army 2 - Navy 0
    Oct. 16, 2021 (H): Navy 3 - Army 1

Most Recent Navy-Army Matchup: November 3, 2024 at West Point *Patriot League Quarterfinals
The latest edition of the Army-Navy women's soccer rivalry had a postseason chapter written on Sunday afternoon. In a matchup of the sixth-seeded Mids and the third-seeded Black Knights at Malek Stadium at Clinton Field on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy, the two combatants played 83 minutes of scoreless nip-and-tuck action before the host Black Knights took advantage of a dangerous Cami Silvestro corner kick that saw Hannah Pohlidal connect for a header shot and goal at 83:49. That score held up as the only marker on the afternoon to advance Army into the semifinals of the 2024 Patriot League Tournament.

Navy's defense was stout throughout the 90 minutes of action on Sunday. Consisting a backline of Tatum Kelly, Emma Romano, Jordan Townsend and Kayana Adlam, with Rylee Rives serving as a defensive midfielder, the Mids' were back-stopped by freshman goalkeeper Natasha Stramrood. In her first postseason game, Stramrood was nearly lights-out as she turned aside seven shots on goal, including two leaping deflections on upper-90 shots and two more stops right at the goal line. Kelly, Townsend and Rives played all 90 minutes, while Adlam and Romano both played more than 77.

Early on, neither team was overly effective in the attacking third as over first 20 minutes as Army was credited with the only shot of this span. Navy's first opportunity came in the 21st minute when Alexa Riddle was played over the top and went one-on-one with Army's final defender. Late contact from that Black Knight was just enough as Riddle didn't strike her shot as clean as she would've liked and as such, Sage Strohman didn't have a problem denying the look on goal.

The final 20 minutes of the first half focused on fireworks up-and-down the pitch provided by Stramrood. In the 25th minute, the freshman goalkeeper left her box and struck a free kick that flew deep towards Army's net and the waiting head of Tatum Kelly; a late leap and punch away by Strohman kept Kelly from completely the scoring look. After her first official save of the game in the 27th minute, she was busy down the stretch with saves in the 37th, 44th (two) and 45th minutes of play. Her stop in the 37th was especially noteworthy as she extended her leg for a kick save on a bounding shot by Brigid Duffy before pushing a Kaelen Bradley shot over the cross with a dramatic leap to the far upper-90 in the 44th and repeating the same act on Duffy's second shot on goal with just seven seconds remaining in the half.

Coming out of the halftime intermission still knotted at 0-0 both teams came out hunting for that first goal. Over the initial 10 minutes of the period, Army was credited with four shots, while Navy had two. The Mids' second look in the 55th minute was extremely threatening as once again Riddle used her speed to break away behind the Black Knights' defense. Going one-on-one with Strohman, Riddle edged closer and closer inside the box, though Strohman played the angles and forced Riddle to curl a shot around her. Unfortunately for Navy that shot hit the inside of the post and rolled away from danger.

Both defenses flexed their respective muscles over the next 20 minutes as neither side registered a shot on goal over four combined attempts, three for Navy and one for Army. Stramrood continued to showcase her maturity in the face of postseason pressure with another enormous save in the 79th minute when she dove to her right to catch Grace Edvalds' point blank re-direct from inside the six-yard box.

Army finally broke through in the 84th minute when they took advantage of a corner kick that came after the referees deemed that Stramrood touched a ball that careened off the crossbar. On that corner kick, a high in-swinging ball by Cami Silvestro was headed in by Hannah Pohlidal for the go-ahead score.

A frantic final six-plus minutes saw Navy players sprinting throughout the pitch trying valiantly to get one more look on goal, though all opportunities were closed off by Army and the Black Knights secured the hard-fought 1-0 victory.

For the game, Army out-shot Navy, 17-7 with an 8-1 edge in shots on goal and a 10-1 advantage in corner kicks. A physical battle, the teams combined for 25 fouls.

Comparing the Teams

2025 Stats	Navy	Army
Record / League	8-5-1 / 1-2-2 PL	8-4-1 / 2-2-0 PL
Home / Away	6-1-1 / 2-4-0	4-1-1 / 4-3-0
Goals/Gm	1.93	2.23
Assists/Gm	1.64	1.69
Shots/Gm	14.5	16.1
Goals Against Average	0.86	1.38
GK Saves/Gm	3.86	4.23
Common Opponent(s):	Lehigh - T, 2-2 Boston U. - W, 3-1 Colgate - L, 1-2	Lehigh - W, 4-0 Boston U. - L, 2-3 Colgate - W, 3-0

Individual Leaders

	Navy	Army
Goals	Heaven, 7	Duffy, 10
Assists	Cosenza, 5	Cooke, 4
Points	Heaven, 15	Duffy, 20
Shots	Heaven, 23	Duffy, 53
GK Saves	Stramrood, 44	Dail, 47

Last Time Out: Sunday, October 5 at Holy Cross
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 led Navy's offensive effort with a season-high six shots, of which three challenged Haesche in goal. Defensively, goalkeeper Natasha Stramrood 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 and Chiara Cosenza. 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.

The final 15 minutes of the opening half saw even more threatening action with Navy's Lucy Gaines 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 nearly connected with Lauren Toms 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 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 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.