WORCESTER, Mass. – An action-packed 90 minutes ended with the Navy men's soccer team (1-2-4, 0-0-1 PL) coming away with a 1-1 draw at Holy Cross (0-3-4, 0-0-1 PL) in the teams' Patriot League opener Saturday afternoon at the Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Sam Clark helped the Midshipmen weather an early storm from the Crusaders' offense, making four first-half saves, before
Duncan Sullivan buried a penalty-kick attempt at 57' to give Navy the lead. While Archie Hatcher equalized the game in the 71st minute, good fortune and Clark's continued brilliance in net late helped the Mids grab a road point in the Patriot League table.
Navy overcame an opening push from Holy Cross, as a pair of earlier off-target chances were followed by Clark batted away Jeb Snead's header off a 9' corner kick. The Mids nearly struck first when senior
Ryan Skandalis ripped a shot that rose just over the crossbar at 16', while the Crusaders had another two chances when Clark dove to stop Archie Hatcher on a 18th-minute free kick and Noah Moodey sent the rebound opportunity wide.
Clark continued to keep the game scoreless when he stopped Adric Rosato at 21', while his Holy Cross counterpart Caleb Klepacz had to punch a long
Will Cawlfield shot over the bar in the 42nd minute before Clark made another stop at 45' on Wade Johnson to close the half.
Navy got the first chance of the second half when junior
Keane Brown knocked down a bouncing ball in the box and fired on target at 48', but Klepacz collected the shot. Klepacz then had to deflect away senior
Alex Galloway's touch at 57' off rookie
Jack Illig's free kick, but a Holy Cross hand ball on the play put Sullivan at the penalty-kick line. Sullivan then went low-right after a stutter step, and Klepacz could not get enough of it as Navy took the lead.
Clark then stopped Griffin Collins at 63', while a drive the other way saw Illig set up Sullivan for a hard shot that Klepacz had to leave his feet to turn aside. Klepacz then denied Sullivan another chance at the brace in the 68th minute by laying out while parallel with Sullivan.
Looking to strike, Hatcher capitalized on a Holy Cross counter at 71' after Peter Borges passed it up, racing down the field on an odd-man rush and placing a shot low that Clark couldn't get to for the equalizer. Jude Jakes-McKay then touched the ball off the crossbar in the 74th minute after a throw-in ended up in front of him, nearly putting the Crusaders ahead.
Countering after Klepacz stopped Brown's header off a crossing pass at 79', Holy Cross thought it took the lead when Jack Fiedler beat Clark but a Liam Heneghan foul negated the goal after video review.
With both sides pressing offensively in the final 10 minutes, Clark made a stop on Luke Myers' shot from out wide at 88', snagged Moodey's blocked shot out of the air in the 90th minute and dove to stop Hatcher's last-ditch effort with eight seconds left to finish off the draw.
Match Notes
• Navy is now 14-16-8 in the all-time series with Holy Cross.
• Clark's seven saves marked a single-game career high.
• Sullivan is now 4-for-4 all-time on penalty kicks.
• Navy is now 12-18-5 in Patriot League openers all-time.
Up Next
Navy will finish its three-game road trip with a non-conference showdown at Longwood on Tuesday. Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m. in Farmville, Va.
