ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Climbing up the Patriot League standings game-by-game, the Navy women's soccer team ascended to second place on Saturday on the strength of a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Holy Cross. Winners of three straight contests, the Mids (10-4-1, 3-1 PL) overcame a goal by the Crusaders (5-5-2, 1-2-1 PL) in the 26th minute with three unanswered markers over a span of 17 minutes between 43:56 and 59:58 to flip the scoreboard and seal the win in an extremely physical contest at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
Navy's goal scoring began with a
Helen Bonner (So., McLean, Va.) tally near the end of the first half before
Chiara Cosenza (Sr., Westfield, N.J.) and
Jessica Black (So., Cedaredge, Colo.) completed the comeback with second half scores within 121 seconds of each other. In goal,
Natasha Stramrood (Jr., Cypress, Texas) was a standout for the Mids as she tied her career high with eight saves.
"Any win in Patriot League is a good win, so we're excited about that," remarked head coach
Carin Gabarra. "I don't think we had a great first half so we changed up a few things and had a good discussion at halftime. We came out a little bit stronger, a little bit better in possession and fighting a little bit more to keep the ball. We put shots on goal, we capitalized on chances and were calm in big moments, that led to us scoring goals.
The visitors from Worcester controlled the action out of the gates on Saturday as only 2:33 into the contest, Abigail Cushing juked around Stramrood and took aim at the wide-open net before
Ali Barrow (Sr., Alexandria, Va.) was there to make the team save and deny the no-doubt goal. The Crusaders continued making in-roads into the Mids' defensive third as they ultimately recorded the first six shots of the game over a span of the initial 29 minutes. Unfortunately for the Navy fans at Glenn Warner on Saturday, the fifth shot, a header by Ava Graham off an Adi Botet cross found the back of the net at 25:45 to give Holy Cross a 1-0 lead.
Still struggling to find their offensive footing, the Mids' first and only shot on goal of the first half was golden for the hosts as Bonner picked up a bouncing loose ball deep in box and lofted it over the goalkeeper to draw her squad even, 1-1 at 43:56.
In the first half, the shots were 8-2 in favor of Holy Cross with a 3-1 edge in shots on goal.
The Crusaders quickly increased that statistical advantage with a quintet of shots, including four on goal within the first seven-and-a-half minutes of the second half. Stramrood was extremely active and locked in during this run as she was constantly under pressure and up to the task with four saves.
Invigorated by the play of their goalkeeper, the Mids made it count as once again their first shot on goal of the period paid dividends. Tightly marking a Holy Cross defender, who was trying to play the ball out of her end, Cosenza dispossessed her and dribbled in unabated towards the goal before unleashing a shot into the upper right 90 from 20-plus yards away at 57:57.
Ahead 2-1, the Mids nearly saw its lead disappear in a matter of seconds as an attempt on goal by the Crusaders' Abigail Cushing had eyes for the top corner before Stramrood leapt off her line to make an athletic denial.
The breakneck back-and-forth action continued as less than a minute after that save, Navy had flipped the field and turned a potential 2-2 score into a 3-1 margin as
Sophia Ryan (Fr., Solon, Ohio) and Black worked a two-player game into the box before Ryan was tackled while in the process of taking a shot, but the loose ball made its way to foot of Black, who didn't hesitate and immediately slotted a shot into the low corner of the goal mouth at 59:58.
The final 30 minutes saw Navy's defense smother Holy Cross' offense to the tune of just three total shots with two making their way on goal. Stramrood was up to the task in both of those situations and made that 3-1 lead hold up as time expired.
For the game, Holy Cross out-shot Navy, 18-8 with a 10-4 advantage in shots on goal. The Crusaders also recorded seven more corner kick opportunities with a final margin of 8-1 on Saturday.
"That's a very good Holy Cross team. I feel they're going to be very successful this year," said Gabarra in closing. "I'm excited to move forward because next week will be a very big one."
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Mids will now turn their attention to the 2026 Star Match versus their service academy rival, the Army Black Knights on Saturday in Chester, Pennsylvania. Kick-off at Subaru Park, home of the MLS' Philadelphia Union is set for 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
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