ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With
Gavin McBride giving the Midshipmen their fourth and final lead of the night in the 85th minute, the Navy men's soccer team (3-5-4, 1-3-1 PL) pulled out the 4-3 Star victory over rival Army (1-6-3, 0-4-0 PL) at Subaru Park in Friday night's Army-Navy Cup XV, presented by Leidos.
Using four different goal scorers, Navy started the high-scoring affair with
Will Smith's team-leading third goal at 35' before an own goal sent the team into the half even. While a highlight-reel score from
Keane Brown at 54' and
Duncan Sullivan's header at 70' were answered, McBride got the star-winning goal in the waning minutes of the second half to put the Mids on top in front of 10,597 fans.
The win also gave the Mids another star in the all-sport 2026-27 Star Series presented by USAA, as the men's soccer and volleyball victories Friday puts Navy at 4-1 in the series.
Making his first start since his Aug. 23 injury,
Dylan Carmody caught Nicholas Berardi's shot at 13' for the first action of the night. Smith then had a pair of chances stopped by Army's Keanu Likewise at 16' while
Braedy Strothkamp fired a long shot off the left woodwork at in the 18th minute to continue the flurry of Navy opportunities.
The Mids finally broke through at 35' when
Jack Illig passed it up to Strothkamp, who crossed it to Smith for the header past Likewise. Unfortunately, a defensive lapse less than a minute later on a clearance attempt by Navy ended up in the back of the net, giving Army the equalizer.
Pushing play coming out of the half, Navy quickly regained its lead thanks to Brown, who got a back-kick pass from
Ryan Skandalis and ripped a highlight-reel strike bar-down in the 54th minute past Likewise.
Army again brought the game level at 68' when Jack De Simone got the ball in front after a scramble, cut inside to beat the defenders and beat Carmody to the left post. Navy answered back quickly in the 70th minute when Sullivan headed home
Nick Gallucci's cross, retaking the lead at 3-2.
The Black Knights fought back once again, as Army found a third equalizer at 81' when Owen Ennis' corner kick was knocked in by Jubril Bamgbala in the center of the box.
Not to be outdone, Navy took its final lead of the night in the 85th minute when Sullivan fed a pass to
Wyatt Stevens, and Stevens then sent a low cross into the box for McBride to tap home for the eventual game-winner.
With Carmody punching away a final Army chance at 90', the Mids held on for its first win over the Black Knights since 2021.
Carmody finished the night with three saves for the winning decision, while Likewise had one save in the losing effort.
Head Coach John Hackworth Comments
"This is a special game, two service academies going at it with 10,000-plus people and a beautiful stadium. Went back-and-forth, a wild and crazy game, but I'm so proud of our tams. The firsties hadn't tasted victory in this game until tonight, so for them I think its an incredibly special night for all of us."
"We scored some really good goals. Those goals had been coming, we'd been so close in recent games. To score four tonight is pretty amazing. That last one by Gavin is a thing of beauty. I just can't describe this game, it was wonderful. So many times I thought we had that game in hand and we didn't, but credit to our guys for showing great resilience and great character to keep fighting and searching for that winning goal."
Match Notes
• Navy now leads the all-time series with Army, 42-34-17.
• Navy is now 4-7-4 in Army-Navy Cup games.
• Sullivan's four points are the most by a Navy player in a game since
Andrew Schug against Howard on Sept. 1, 2023.
• Sullivan's four points are also the most by a Mid against Army since Jacob Williams' hat trick (six points) in the 2021 Army-Navy Cup.
• The goals from Brown and McBride marked the first of their Navy careers, respectively.
• The attendance of 10,597 marks the second biggest crowd in college men's soccer this season.
Up Next
Navy will head to William & Mary on Tuesday, Oct. 13 for its final non-conference contest of the regular season.
