Navy women’s soccer sophomore defender Helen Bonner was named to the 2026 Preseason All-Patriot League Team on Thursday, one of 13 players selected as the Mids prepare to open their season next week against Robert Morris.
Bonner, a McLean, Virginia, native, earned the preseason nod coming off a rookie campaign that landed her on the 2025 All-Patriot League Third Team. She broke into Navy’s starting lineup immediately last August, playing 84 minutes in a 3-0 season-opening win over Robert Morris before stringing together three straight complete games and finishing with 10 full games and a team-high 1,436 minutes on the season.
She added an offensive dimension from her defensive wing spot, scoring three goals — against Sacred Heart on Aug. 31, Boston University on Sept. 20, and at Bucknell on Oct. 19 — and assisting on another against the Terriers in a 3-1 win over the team that went on to win the regular-season conference title. Bonner and classmate Jessica Black were two of just four freshmen to earn All-Patriot League recognition anywhere in the conference last season.
The Patriot League also released its preseason coaches’ poll Thursday, and the league’s 10 coaches picked Navy to finish sixth with 41 voting points, two behind fifth-place Holy Cross. Army West Point was picked to win the league with 77 points and six first-place votes, narrowly ahead of Boston University’s 76 points and four first-place votes.
Navy enters its 34th season under head coach Carin Gabarra, a former U.S. women’s national team forward and 1991 Women’s World Cup champion who has led the program to 10 Patriot League regular-season titles and 26 appearances in the conference tournament since taking over the Mids. The team is coming off a 9-6-4 season in which a 2-3-4 conference record left Navy just one point short of a tournament berth. This year’s roster returns five of the program’s top seven goal scorers and nine of 11 starters, while blending in nine incoming freshmen.
Navy opens its 2026 season at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, against Robert Morris at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility in Annapolis — the same venue that has hosted Patriot League tournament semifinals and finals in past seasons, including Navy’s fourth conference tournament title in 2019 under Gabarra. The Robert Morris game is the first of six home non-conference matches the Mids will play at Glenn Warner during August before conference play begins.
The Naval Academy’s athletic programs draw a following well beyond Annapolis, with fans across the Chesapeake region, including Southern Maryland, regularly making the drive up Route 2 or across the Bay Bridge for Navy home games given the academy’s relatively close proximity and deep ties to the region’s military community.
2026 Patriot League Women’s Soccer Preseason Poll
- Army West Point, 77 (6 first-place votes)
- Boston University, 76 (4 first-place votes)
- Colgate, 62
- Loyola Maryland, 51
- Holy Cross, 43
- Navy, 41
t-7. Bucknell, 35
t-7. Lafayette, 35 - American, 16
- Lehigh, 14
2026 Preseason Major Awards
- Preseason Forward of the Year – Bella Conti, Army West Point
- Preseason Midfielder of the Year – Nadia Zaffanella, Lafayette
- Preseason Defender of the Year – Helene Tyburczy, Boston University
- Goalkeeper of the Year – Ella Poppinga, Colgate
