ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A back-and-forth contest did not break the Midshipmen's way on Wednesday afternoon, as the Navy men's soccer team (1-2-3) suffered a 1-0 defeat to George Washington (2-3) at the GW Soccer Field in Washington, D.C.
 
Playing its first road game of the season, Navy had an impressive 10-save effort from goalkeeper Robert Eaton and several just-miss chances on the attacking end, but a counter-attack by the Revolutionaries at 74' found Joel Russ burying the match's lone goal.
 
A slow start picked up when a diving Eaton turned away Alex Nicholson's shot at 13' and then made another save on Nicholson off a counterattack at 24', while Duncan Sullivan's long-range shot at the other end less than a minute later was stopped by Tom Macauley.
 
After Andrew Schug's shot at 27' just missed the top-left corner, another chance for Nicholson saw Eaton smother the bouncing shot at 31'.
 
Coming out of halftime, A.J. Schuetz sent a shot wide at 48' in Navy's first chance of the half, while a pair of shots for Russ on the GW attacking end preceded Schuetz putting a shot just over the cage off a free-kick cross at 61'. After Macauley deflected away Nick Gallucci's shot from near the penalty line at 63', Schuetz forced another Macauley save in the 66th minute that was going for the right post and Gallucci kicked a shot wide of the left post at 67'.
 
After Eaton stopped Louis Crofts in the 72nd minute and another Gallucci shot was blocked at 73', the teams traded possession before a driving Navy team lost the ball and a GW defender passed it up to Russ, who raced past a slipping Navy defender on the wet turf and picked the low-left corner from the top of the penalty box at 74'.
 
Eaton had to work to keep the deficit at 1-0, stopping Liam Coffey at 79' and denying two more Russ shots at 80' and 82', while Navy had chance to tie it up at 84' when Sullivan launched a kick that Macauley swallowed up, but that would prove to be the last scoring opportunity of the afternoon for either side.
 
Macauley registered four saves in the shutout, while Eaton's 10 saves marked a career high.
 
Head Coach Tim O'Donohue Comments
"We had them where we wanted them in the second half – we were really dominating the run of play in a lot of ways and had three excellent chances to score – but we knew they're an athletic team that is dangerous on counters and they caught us in transition. It's a tough place to play and we played some really good stretches today. The important thing now is to learn the lessons we can from non-conference play, go after it and start getting good results in league games. We are playing really well for large portions of these games but, obviously, we have to finish our chances to get those results."
 
Match Notes
• Navy is now 13-14-5 in the all-time series with George Washington.
• Eaton's 10 saves are the most by a Navy goalkeeper since Pierce Holbrook made 10 stops at UMBC on Oct. 3, 2023.
• Schuetz and Gallucci paced the Mids with four shots each.
 
Up Next
Navy returns home to host Holy Cross in the Patriot League opener on Saturday afternoon, with action slated for 1:00 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.