Navy Plays To 0-0 Tie Against Army
On a damp, cool Fridy the 13th night at West Point, one str
eak for Navy came to an end while another record-breaking performance continued.
The Midshipmen (12-3-1; 5-0-1 Patriot League) saw their eight-game winning streak end but GK Sydney Fortson continued her streak of minutes played without allowing a goal as they played to a 0-0 (2OT) tie against Army Black Knights (3-9-2; 1-4-1 Patriot League). The tie, unfortunately, temporarily knocked Navy out of first place in the Patriot League standings. Bucknell now stands alone in first place with a 5-0 league record.
For Fortson, this was her sixth consecutive game that she has not allowed a goal. If you go back to the last ball that got by her (41:53 1st Half when Jenna Barnes of Holy Cross scored), she has gone 588:07 of game time being perfect. The Black had their chances, with four shots on goal and had the last scoring opportunity in the 110th minute but to no avail.
Navy had their scoring chances as well. Their first good chance came in the 30th minute when Claire MacAdam’s shot went wide of goal. That would be their only shot on goal in the first half.
One of the strengths of Navy’s offense has been how they start the second half of games. Tonight was no exception. In the span of five minutes, they had three chances to take the lead. A header by Cadie Higginson in the 55th minute went wide, Nat Dzhandzhapanyan’s shot was blocked in the 57th minute and MacAdam’s second attempt at scoring a goal was blocked in the 58th minute.
After Fortson saved a shot Army’s Kayleigh Stallings in the 89th minute, Navy had two chances to win the game in the final minute of the second half but shots by Meghan Hagarty was blocked and four seconds later, Higginson’s attempt was saved by Army GK Sydney Cassalia to force overtime.
During the first overtime period, Fortson faced no shots on goal while Navy had two more scoring opportunities that did not find the back of the net.
With the second overtime, Army had the last chance to score a goal and win the game, but in the 110th minute with nine seconds left, a shot by Sarah Chamberlain went high and the game ended in a tie.
Navy’s next game will be on Wednesday, October 18th, when they play host to Lafayette (3-6-2; 1-3-1 Patriot League) at 7:00 PM.
