Oct. 2, 2009

Box Score

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's soccer team (9-2-2, 0-0-1 PL) played visiting Colgate (4-5-3, 0-0-1 PL) to a scoreless draw in the Patriot League opener for both teams on Friday evening at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.

Both sides generated quality scoring opportunities throughout the match, producing a combined 30 shots (12 on goal), but after 110 minutes of soccer it was some strong defensive play and some timely goalkeeping that had the final word.

"It was an exciting game," said Navy head coach Carin Gabarra. "Our passion was clearly back. We raised our level of play from where it's been the last few weeks. I thought we possessed the ball well and did good job attacking. We had a great chance early in the first overtime, but just couldn't put it home. We need to do a better job of finishing, but overall, I was encouraged by what I saw tonight."

Navy outshot the visiting Raiders by a 3-1 margin and had two golden opportunities to break the deadlock inside the first 10-minute overtime session. In the 91st-minute, sophomore Annie Kendzior (Southlake, Texas) made a skillful play to find senior Brittany White (Carmel, Ind.) in the middle of the box with a line drive cross from near the right sideline. White was able to get a good strike on the ball, but one-timed the volley over the crossbar and out of play.

Freshman Brittany Fruin (Reston, Va.) had a chance inside 93', but her strike from 15-yards out was gobbled up by Colgate's freshman Ashley Walsh, who made a lunging save at the near post. Walsh was on her game all evening, coming up with seven saves to keep the Mids off the scoreboard.

The best chance of the second overtime period came off the foot of senior Jillian Arnault, Colgate's team captain and 2008 First-Team All-Patriot League selection. With just 1:19 remaining in the contest, Arnault sent a hard-struck, left-footed attempt from the top of the box that Navy keeper Beth Reed (Indianapolis, Ind.) had to make an athletic play to get her hands on and just push over the crossbar and out of play. That attempt led to two late corner opportunities for the Raiders, but neither would yield anything of substance.

Reed, who entered the week ranked 15th in the nation in save percentage (88.7), made three saves to record her sixth solo shutout and Navy's eighth in 13 games this season.

Navy seemed to hold the better of the play in the first half, but it was Colgate who produced the most memorable chances. In the 29th minute, a Colgate forward sent a cross from the right side to the center of the six-yard box. Sophomore Danielle Wessler was there to put it home, but her one-timer was deflected by a Navy defender and in the ensuing scramble ricocheted just over the bar.

With less than five minutes to play in the opening half, Reed was caught out of position after losing a race to a 50-50 ball at the top of the box and the Raiders had a wide open shot at the goal, but luckily for the Mids, sophomore back Kate Herren (Auburn, Wash.) was there to clear the ball off the line and out of harm's way.

In the second half, Colgate outshot the Mids by a 9-4 margin, but this time it was Navy, who came closest to finding paydirt. In the 57th minute, senior Jen Grijalva (Pleasanton, Calif.) sent a right-footed serve across the field from the left side to the far post. There, the ball just eluded junior Carissa Youker's (Potomac, Md.) sliding attempt and was pushed out by the Colgate keeper to the foot of Navy freshman Stephanie Strine (Cornwall, N.Y.), who was trailing the play. Strine softly touched the ball back across the goal and just missed wide left of the post.

Navy was outshot by a 16-14 margin on the evening, but put seven shots on target compared to the Raiders' five. Corner kicks were 6-3 in favor of the visitors while fouls were 11-7 against Colgate.

Navy returns to action next Friday when it plays host to arch rival Army in the annual Star Game. The always, much-anticipated matchup is set for a 7 p.m. start at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.

Match Notes:

*Navy is unbeaten in its last six matches (5-0-1) versus Colgate.

*Dating back to 2007, the Mids are 9-0-5 in their last 14 Patriot League regular season contests.

*Navy is now 7-7-2 all-time in Patriot League openers (6-2-1 when playing at home).

Faces in the Crowd: Former US Women's National Team star Julie Foudy was among the season-high 963 fans in attendance at Friday's contest. Foudy, a longtime friend and teammate of Navy head coach Carin Gabarra on the U.S. World Cup championship team in '91 and Olympic gold-medal winning squad in '96, spoke to the Midshipmen during the halftime intermission.

## GO NAVY! ##