Navy Downs Lafayette 1-0, 7th Consecutive Shutout Recorded
Annapolis, MD. – With a cool breeze blowing off the Che
sapeake Bay, the Navy Midshipmen looked to continue their commanding performance against conference rival Lafayette Wednesday night.
After tying Army 0-0 this past Friday night, Navy was looking to remain undefeated in Patriot League Conference play and Lafayette was looking to play the spoiler.
With a first half that saw both teams with plenty of scoring opportunities slip by, the score was tied 0-0 at halftime.
But, as in many of Navy’s (13-3-1; 6-0-1 Patriot League) second half performance this season, the Midshipmen would nearly dominate the entire half in Lafayette (3-8-2; 1-5-1 Patriot League) territory.
The Midshipmen controlled nearly all the shots in the second half (17 total to 1 for the Leopards). But, the one thing that seemed to be elusive, was putting the ball into the net for a goal.
Sophomore M Cadie Higginson’s shot in the 50th minute sailed just slightly over the net, squandering Navy’s first real threat of the half. Just a short time later, this time in the 53rd minute, Junior F Ash Farrow, sped past her defender and sent a laser toward the net, but Leopards Junior GK Kelly O’Brien snagged it out of the air for the save.
Higginson had a header that was blocked in the 66th minute and only three minutes after that, in the 69th minute, Junior M Karli Sottung took aim at scoring the first goal of the game, only to have O’Brien come up with another great save.
The difference in the game came in the 77th minute, when Senior M Natalie Dzhandzhapanyan broke free and her shot made it past O’Brien into the back right corner of the net for a Navy goal and a 1-0 that would hold up for the rest of the game.
Another streak the continue was the superior play of Sophomore GK Sydney Fortson. Since Holy Cross M/F Jenna Barnes scored a goal against Fortson at the 41:53 mark of the first half on September 15, 2017, not one goal has been allowed by Fortson. Tonight was her seventh consecutive shut-out, continuing an NCAA Women’s Soccer record. Exactly 678 minutes and 7 seconds of game time has elapsed since Fortson was scored upon. She also has recorded 12 shut-outs this season alone and 11 of the 13 goals she has allowed in the 2017 season came against three schools (Tennessee -1; Maryland – 3 and Stanford – 7).
Only two more conference games remain in the regular season before the 2017 Patriot League Tournament starts on Halloween. Next up for Navy is their final road game against Colgate on Saturday evening (7:00 PM). They close out the regular season at home the following Saturday, October 28th, against Bucknell (7:00 PM). If Navy can hold out for two more wins, they will guarantee themselves the top seed in the upcoming tourament.
