ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Earning its first victory of the season, the Navy men's soccer team moved its unbeaten start to four games with a 2-0 Labor Day win over Niagara on Monday afternoon at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
 
Powered by Duncan Sullivan's second three-point performance of the season and Andrew Schug pushing his point streak to four-straight contests, the Midshipmen also backed up Robert Eaton's first-career shutout, outshooting the Purple Eagles by a 19-5 margin and having the 8-3 corner-kick edge.
 
While Niagara got the first scoring chance of the game when Jeremie Truel put a long-range shot just past the cage at 3', Navy quickly pressured the Purple Eagles' end with Jalen Grant forcing a diving save from Julien Casimir at 5' and Will Cawlfield heading a ball into Casimir's grasp just over a minute later.
 
The Mids found the back of the net at 13' when Keane Brown sent a clearing pass into the midfield that Sullivan then headed up to Schug, with the forward then outracing a Niagara defender and picking the left corner past Casimir.
 
After Schug tried to get his second of the day in the 19th minute but was stopped by Casimir, a Niagara handball in the box at 32' brought Sullivan to the penalty line, where the midfielder used a hesitation move to fake out a diving Casimir and move the Navy lead to 2-0. Nearly going up 3-0 when Nate Stewart rigled a shot off the left post at 40', Navy also saw Gavin McBride put a pair of chances off-target as the first half wound down.
 
With Cawlfield forcing another Casimir save in the opening minutes of the second half, Eaton made his one stop of the afternoon by scooping up Truel's long-range effort at 54'. A Jalen Grant header then went just wide at 66' and Wyatt Stevens touched a shot wide one minute later, as the Mids continued to search for their third goal of the game.
 
Schug nearly got his brace multiple times as the half wore on, with Casimir denying the game's opening scorer at 75' and 79' to rack up his fifth and sixth saves of the afternoon, with a Luke Parker shot high at 88' being the final opportunity of the day for Navy.
 
Head Coach Tim O'Donohue Comments
"Today was a good performance with 19 shots and not giving up much to them. It's good to finish a game off and remain unbeaten as we move closer to league play. I have been very happy with the level of play by our guys over the first four games and I'm happy we put a full-90 together to close it out."
 
Match Notes
• Navy moved to 3-0-0 in the all-time series with Niagara.
• The 1-0-3 start is the Mids' longest unbeaten start to a season since a 5-0-1 start to the 2021 campaign.
• Sullivan is the first Navy player with multiple three-point performances in a season since Schuetz and David Jackson in 2023.
• Schug's four-straight games with a point marks the Mids' first such streak since Jackson had a pair of four-game point streaks in 2023.
 
Up Next
Navy will close out the homestand on Saturday, Sept. 6 with a noon kick against Stonehill.