TOWSON, Md. – Coming in as winners of five straight games, the Navy women's soccer team was riding high, unfortunately that momentum was derailed on Thursday night on the road at Towson as an early goal in the 12th minute by Sophie Thibeault was the deciding tally in a tight defensive game that went final by a score of 1-0 at Tiger Field.
Junior goalkeeper
Natasha Stramrood (Cypress, Texas) and the Mids' (6-3-1) defense stood tall for the final 78 minutes of play to give Navy a chance, but the visitors were unable to break through against the Tigers (3-2-2), who successfully defended their home turf.
"I thought that we had a good game plan, but we didn't have the discipline to play within that game plan," remarked head coach
Carin Gabarra. "Our possession and our speed of play was slow. We weren't connecting passes and we were missing open players. We wanted to get wide early and connect those passes to get our wide wingers forward and none of that happened. It affected our ability to generate good scoring chances. We definitely didn't have the number of opportunities that we have had in previous games. We played a little bit slow and deliberate and they read it and countered on us a bit."
The tone was set early by Towson as the Tigers recorded the game's first three shots and initial corner kick. That corner kick opportunity and third shot would be problematic for the Mids as the bouncing ball was flicked towards goal by Kale'a Perry and deflected late by Sophie Thibeault into the back of the net at 11:25.
Navy was unable to get a clean look at goal until the 21st minute when
Jessica Black (So., Cedaredge, Colo.) recorded her squad's first shot on frame of the contest; the shot was denied by Towson's goalkeeper Keagan Williams.
Stramrood was called up in the 29th minute to hold the Mids' deficit at 1-0 when she punched away a threatening cross and immediately had to recover to kick save away Angel Reid's ensuing shot.
The teams retired to the locker rooms 15 minutes later with that same 1-0 score. Overall, Towson outshot Navy, 8-4 in the period, though the Mids had a 3-2 edge in shots on goal.
Coming out after the intermission, Navy looked to turn up the heat offensively and did that as it increased its shot total to seven, though again Towson's goalkeeper was able to quell all three of those efforts that made it on frame.
The Mids' best look of the second half came in the 64th minute when
Helen Bonner (So., McLean, Va.) lofted a high hanging free kick into the box where
Chiara Cosenza (Sr., Westfield, N.J.) met the pass with her head and flicked the ball on net. Unfortunately for Navy, Towson's new goalkeeper Teagan Gardner was up to the task and smothered the shot to keep the score 1-0 in favor of the Tigers.
Stramrood continued give Navy a chance to find the equalizer, by holding the margin at one with two strong saves over the final 16 minutes of play, including a sprawling dive on an Angel Reid attempt in the 75th minute, but alas the clock stuck zero before the Mids were able to scratch out a goal on Thursday evening.
For the game, Towson outshot Navy, 19-11, though the Mids had a slight 6-5 edge in shots on goal. Navy also had a slim 4-3 advantage in corner kick opportunities.
Stramrood finished with four saves in defeat.
"This is the time of year where you have really got to dig deep and you've got to find the way to get the momentum with league play just a week away," said Gabarra in closing. "We will watch a lot of video, learn, and work to get a better from today."
Next up for Navy is the program's final regular season non-conference game of the season, a Sunday matinee meeting with Youngstown State. Kickoff between the Mids and Penguins is set for 1 p.m.
