HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Navy women's soccer team scored first on Friday night, but was unable to hold off Colgate in a road Patriot League contest as the Raiders came from behind for the 2-1 victory. The Mids (8-4, 1-1 PL) received an early goal by
Kayana Adlam (So., Orlando, Fla.) in the 13th minute before the Raiders (4-3-4, 1-0-1 PL) evened it in the 32nd minute and pulled ahead right after halftime in the 48th minute.
The action started out fast and furious as the teams combined for three shots on goal over the opening 100 seconds of play. Adlam and
Chiara Cosenza (Jr., Westfield, N.J.) tallied the Mids' shots on goal, while
Natasha Stramrood (So., Cypress, Texas) denied Ellie Stokes' shot on goal for Colgate.
Stramrood's number continued to be called upon early and often as she was active off her line and deflected away a Bianca Howitt shot inside the box in the eighth minute before leaping up to her left to push an Anna Keeling attempt over the crossbar in the 11th minute.
Invigorated by their goalkeeper's stellar play, Navy was able to flip the field as less than two minutes after Stramrood's most recent save, Adlam put the Mids up 1-0 at 12:40. The goal scoring play began with a
Marlee Heaven (Sr., Rockville, Md.) shot that ricocheted off a Colgate defender and forced the Raiders' Ella Poppinga into a diving save. With the ball still bouncing around the box, Adlam crashed onto it and banged home the goal.
A violent collision between Stramrood and Ari Bezanson in the 16th minute short-circuited the sophomore's fast start and saw her removed from the game due to an injury. Bezanson was shown a yellow card by the referee for her physical challenge.
Play slowed down a bit for the next 15 minutes with action in the midfield dominating. Colgate registered the only two shots of the contest; both off frame. The dynamic of the game changed when Bezanson put the Raiders' next shot in the back of the net at 31:05 to draw the score even.
Coming out of the locker room knotted at 1-1, the hosts immediately jumped out into the lead as Ana Schremp put home an Ellie Stokes shot that rang off the post at 47:01.
Just over seven minutes later, Navy nearly re-tied the contest with a quartet of high percentage looks over a span of eight seconds. Leading off the chaotic series of events was a
Hannah Mulholland (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) blast that Poppinga got a hand on. With the ball still alive inside the six-yard box, Cosenza put a shot on frame that was denied by a Colgate defender off the line via a team save before
Jessica Black (Fr., Cedaredge, Colo.) connected for a shot directly into another defender and Mulholland received a second opportunity, but saw her attempt sail over the crossbar.
Called upon to relieve Stramrood in the first half,
Talley Applewhite (Sr., Midlothian, Va.) gave a valiant effort to keep Navy in the contest as she stopped a Bezanson shot in the 59th minute that could've made it 3-1.
Trailing by one, Black had a pair of shots on target that forced Poppinga into action over the next 10 minutes. Her shot in the 68th minute came after a superb individual effort saw her dribble through Colgate's defense up the right wing before unleashing a shot.
Unfortunately for the Mids, that attempt by Black was the visitor's final shot on goal as the Raiders tallied the final three shots on goal, all of which were denied by Applewhite.
For the game, Colgate out-shot Navy, 21-17 with a 10-9 edge in shots on goal. The Raiders held a significant advantage in corner kicks, 8-1.
Applewhite tied her career-high with five saves, while Stramrood recorded three stops in her 15 minutes of action.
"We're disappointed with today's result," remarked head coach
Carin Gabarra. "We know how hard it is to play on the road and specifically here, but at the end of the day, the better team that was playing better soccer and won all of the 50/50 balls was victorious today. That falls on all of us, the coaches, leadership and the players, we have to be better across the board.
"We had some chances early on and put one of them away for a goal, but never really were able to play our style of soccer for the majority of the game. They [Colgate] found that next gear and we didn't match them. They valued the ball more than we did and it showed with their scoring chances. We haven't allowed this many opportunities against us all year; something was amiss today. We'll learn from today and turn our attention to Lehigh on Wednesday."
Next up for Navy is a home matchup with Lehigh on Wednesday evening in Annapolis. Kickoff between the Mids and Mountain Hawks is set for 7 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
