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10/29/2025 | 6:00 p.m.
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Oct. 29 (Wed) / 6:00 p.m.
at Loyola (Md.)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women’s soccer team fell by a score of 2-0 in its 2025 regular home season finale to Lafayette on Friday at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. Taking on the Leopards (4-7-6, 2-3-3 PL) in a Senior Day contest, the Mids (9-6-3, 2-3-3 PL) had a plethora of quality looks to break onto the scoreboard first, but their inability to find the back of the net eventually spelled trouble as the visitors notched a goal in the closing minutes before halftime and later added an insurance marker in the second half.
Navy’s offense was active throughout the contest as it out-shot Lafayette, 21-11 and posted 11 shots in the first half and 10 in the second half. The Mids tested the Leopards’ goalkeeper Catherine Apker with five shots on goal in each period.
“I feel like we did a good job of creating chances in the first half and that led to multiple opportunities to put us into the lead,” remarked head coach Carin Gabarra. “If we connect on a few of those for goals we feel like we could’ve put the game away. We didn’t do that and then they caught us on the counter-attack and scored. That deflated us a bit going into halftime. In the second half, we didn’t connect passes the way we know how to and played a bit more panicked. That resulted in less quality looks and less scoring chances.”
Friday’s matchup opened with Navy pressing the action out of the gate with the first seven shots over the initial 19 minutes of play. Four of those attempts made their way on goal, including a long well-struck shot by Helen Bonner (Fr., McLean, Va.) in the 12th minute and a pair of Jessica Black (Fr., Cedaredge, Colo.) and Chiara Cosenza (Jr., Westfield, N.J.) connections in the box as the duo flipped facilitator and finisher roles as Black received a pass and put a shot on goal in the 14th minute before Cosenza took the final touch with a threatening shot in the 16th minute. Marlee Heaven (Sr., Rockville, Md.) completed this action-packed run of play in the 19th minute as her shot towards goal was deflected away late and resulted in a corner kick for the Mids.
Defensively, Navy held Lafayette at bay as the visitors registered just two total shots in the opening 30 minutes.
The Mids’ next high-level look at goal came in the 35th minute when Hannah Mulholland (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) unleashed a rocket on frame that forced Apker to punch the ball over the crossbar for another corner kick.
As the score stayed deadlocked at 0-0, a swift counter-attack by the Leopards starting in the midfield resulted in the game’s first score. Ashley Martinho kick-started the scoring possession as she fed Nadia Zaffanella with a lead pass and within a matter of seconds Lafayette was up 1-0 at 42:07.
With the momentum that Navy had built up throughout the first half extinguished with that goal before the halftime intermission, the hosts struggled to get back into a rhythm for much of the second half. In fact, Lafayette was the first team to record a shot on goal in the second half as April McDonald tested Natasha Stramrood with an attempt as part of a series of pinball shots and passes in the boxes coming from a corner kick in the 56th minute.
Unfortunately for the Mids, the Leopards’ second shot on frame didn’t miss as Katrina Santelli dribbled in from midfield and deposited an unassisted goal at 56:28 to make it 2-0.
Navy continued its comeback effort with shots on goal by Cosenza and Heaven in the 62nd and 63rd minutes, but to no avail. Cosenza would later take aim at getting her squad on the scoreboard with two more shots on goal in the 84th and 90th minutes, though both were turned away by Apker as part of her 10-save performance on Friday.
For the game, Navy out-shot Lafayette, 21-11 with a 10-5 advantage in shots on goal. The Mids also held a 5-2 edge in corner kick opportunities.
“The goal of the game is to win the battle in the boxes,” commented Gabarra. “We were creating opportunities in the first half, but couldn’t find the composure to put away the shots when it mattered. Sometimes that comes down to decision making, sometimes its technical ability and sometimes its choosing who and when to shoot the ball. We just needed better composure to finish in that final third and put away these opportunities that we worked so hard to create.”
Prior to the contest, the program honored and celebrated its seven-player Class of 2026: Mimi Abusham, Talley Applewhite, Marlee Heaven, Emma Romano, Isabella Romano, Mori Sokoloff and team captain Jordan Townsend.
“It was nice to celebrate the Class of 2026 before today’s game,” said Gabarra. “They’re a fantastic group of leaders, who all have different and unique personalities. They have a lot of love for this program and all of the players that they lead. It’s been fun to have them represent our program, but we’d really love to have a chance to extend their final season with a run into the postseason.”
Looking to stay on the inside of the Patriot League playoff picture, Navy will round out its regular season at Loyola on Wednesday, Oct. 29. Coming into Friday, the Mids and Greyhounds were separated by one point in the league standings. Kick-off between the two local rivals is set for 6 p.m. in Baltimore.
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