Navy Women’s Soccer Team Clinches Patriot League Regular Season Title
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Two players scored their first goal of the season a
nd it was just enough as Navy defeated Bucknell Saturday night, 2-1 at Glenn Warner Soccer Facility and clinched the 2017 Women’s Patriot League Soccer’s regular season title.
For the Midshipmen (15-3-1; 8-0-1 Patriot League) they also finished the regular season undefeated for the first time. By winning the regular season title, both semi-final games and the championship game for the 2017 Patriot League title will be played in Annapolis next week (5:00 pm & 7:30 pm – Friday semis; 12 pm – Sunday championship). The Bison (10-8-0; 7-2-0 Patriot League) will enter the tournament as the #2 seed.
The two players for Navy who scored their first goals were Sophomore M Cadie Higginson and Junior D Mary August.
In a game that saw four shots (three for Navy; one for Bucknell), Navy jumped onto the scoreboard first, when at the 7:31 mark, a header by Higginson (assist from Senior F Claire Macadam) from eight yards out gave Navy a 1-0 lead.
With 1:48 left on the clock before halftime, Bucknell would tie the score when Senior F Kendall Ham’s shot made it past the #1 ranked goalie in the Patriot League this year, Navy Sophomore GK Sydney Fortson.
Coming out strong in the second half, Navy had the only shots in the second half and on their fourth shot, August scored her first goal of the season, that would also prove to be the game-winning goal, giving Navy the 2-1 advantage. The Midshipmen defense was so powerful that Bucknell did not have a single shot the entire second half.
All eyes now will be focus the see who wins the Patriot League championship and the automatic bid into the 2017 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament.
The match-ups are set and in the first round it will be #6 seed Lafayette Leopards at #3 seed Boston U Terriers in one game while the other features #5 seed Lehigh Mountain Hawks at #4 seed Colgate Raiders. The highest seed remaining for those two games will play #2 seed Bucknell in one semi-final game while the lowest seed remaining takes on #1 seed Navy.
