The Navy men’s soccer team rallied from two separate one-goal deficits to salvage a 2-2 draw at San Diego State on Sunday, closing out a season-opening West Coast trip that began three days earlier with a lopsided loss.
Freshmen Jack Illig and Cohen Nance each scored their first career goals in the comeback, with sophomore Nick Gallucci recording two assists — the first multi-assist game of his career. Goalkeeper Dylan Carmody made three saves before exiting with an injury in the 73rd minute; sophomore Sam Clark, making his collegiate debut, came on and made four saves over the final 18 minutes to preserve the tie.
Sunday’s result came two days after new head coach John Hackworth’s debut ended in a 7-0 loss at UC San Diego on Thursday — his first game since being hired in December following four years as director of coaching and technical director for MLS side St. Louis CITY SC. Hackworth, who has also served as a U.S. men’s national team assistant, head coach of the USMNT U17 team, and previously led USL’s Louisville City FC, MLS’s Philadelphia Union and the University of South Florida, became the seventh head coach in Navy soccer’s 106-season history.
Against SDSU, San Diego State took the lead in the 28th minute when Gio Aguirre redirected a Greyson Moreno cross past Carmody. Navy pushed for an equalizer before the half — Duncan Sullivan had a shot punched away by Nic Diana in the 32nd minute, and an offside call wiped out another chance in the 39th — but went into the break down 1-0.
The Midshipmen leveled it four minutes into the second half: Will Cawlfield fed Gallucci, who lofted a long cross into the box for Illig to head home for Navy’s first goal of the season. Illig nearly gave Navy the lead in the 67th minute, ringing a shot off the left post, but SDSU answered in the 71st when Aguirre scored his second of the match off a scramble that started with a Brecken Bowers clearance and a run down the right side by Kian McCusker.
Carmody left the game shortly after, and Clark settled in immediately, stopping Dylan Presto less than two minutes into his debut. Navy tied it again in the 79th minute when captain Nate Stewart intercepted an Aztec giveaway and set up Gallucci, who found Nance in the left corner; Nance beat his defender and finished into the low left corner for the equalizer. Clark closed it out with two saves in a 30-second span after the restart and a fourth stop on Aguirre in the 85th minute.
“That was a tough battle,” Hackworth said. “The one biggest thing for me is that we showed good character in that game. Coming off a very hard loss on Thursday and facing a good San Diego State team, we put on a great performance. Unbelievable that we were down twice in that game and looked like we were on fumes but we kept fighting to even it.”
Navy is now 0-2-1 all-time against SDSU. Sunday marked the first time since October 18, 2025 — when Gallucci and Luke Parker both scored against Lafayette — that two Navy freshmen recorded their first collegiate goals in the same game. SDSU held a wide edge in shots, 16-6, and shots on goal, 9-4, but Navy’s goalkeeping tandem combined for seven saves to SDSU’s two.
Navy (0-1-1) returns to Annapolis for its home opener against George Washington on Friday, August 28, at 7:05 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.
