The Navy women’s soccer team fell to Air Force 4-0 on Thursday night at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, dropping to 1-2 on the season in just the Midshipmen’s second meeting with the Falcons since 2002.
Navy controlled much of the opening 19 minutes, with Sophia Ryan, Hannah Mulholland and Chiara Cosenza all putting shots on frame in front of a large home crowd. Goalkeeper Natasha Stramrood kept the game scoreless with a diving save on Air Force’s Addie Doyle early on, but the Falcons (3-0) broke through in the 25th minute when Ashley Yenawine set up Annika Jost inside the box. Air Force nearly doubled the lead five minutes later, forcing another Stramrood save, but the score held at 1-0 through halftime.
Air Force pulled away quickly after the break. Kendall Rippley scored off a Maddy Walsh assist in the 51st minute, and Jordan Dillingham made it 3-0 in the 56th minute off a feed from Jost, giving the Falcons goals on each of their first two second-half shots on frame.
Navy pushed for a response but couldn’t beat the frame. Helen Bonner’s shot hit the near post in the 60th minute, and Lauren Toms was denied by the far post in the 70th minute; Jessica Black gathered the rebound and got off a shot from inside the box, but Air Force goalkeeper Sydney Nelms made the save. Navy tested Nelms twice more over the final 20 minutes without success, and Elizabeth McCarron closed out the scoring for Air Force in the 88th minute.
Navy out-shot Air Force 19-14 and held an 8-4 edge in corner kicks, but the Falcons were more clinical, putting eight shots on goal to Navy’s six.
Head coach Carin Gabarra said the difference came down to execution. “You need to execute in the big moments,” she said after the game, adding that missed decisions in the final third — the right pass, the right shot, the right space — added up against a quality opponent like Air Force. She said the roster has the pieces needed to turn results around but will need to respond to Thursday’s loss with better finishing in similar moments going forward, calling it a game the team needs to learn from as it looks to build more consistency scoring goals.
Gabarra is in her 34th season leading the Navy program, the only head coach the varsity team has had since it moved up from club status in 1993. Since then, she has led the Midshipmen to at least a share of 10 Patriot League regular-season titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances. She won her 400th career game during the 2025 season and was a member of the U.S. women’s national team that won Olympic gold in 1996 and the 1991 World Cup, where she finished as the tournament’s second-leading scorer.
Navy will play its first true road game of the season Sunday at the University of Delaware, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. in Newark.
