The Navy women’s soccer team earned a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Delaware on Sunday, a result head coach Carin Gabarra called a positive bounce-back just three days after the Midshipmen were shut out 4-0 by Air Force at home.
Navy (1-2-1) took on a Delaware team (2-0-1) that had lost just two games all of last fall and came in unbeaten this season. The Mids got goals in both halves and leaned on four second-half saves from junior goalkeeper Natasha Stramrood to hold on for the tie on the road.
“This was a really good college soccer game,” Gabarra said. “Both teams were competing extremely hard and 2-2 is a fair result. They [Delaware] are quite explosive offensively so we had to play really good defensive soccer today. We took a big stride forward with our team defending, but there are still improvements to be made and breakdowns to clean up.”
Navy took a fortunate 1-0 lead in the 21st minute when Helen Bonner’s free kick deflected off a Delaware defender’s head and into the net. The Mids’ defense held that edge into halftime despite pressure, with Stramrood coming up with a diving stop in the 33rd minute and combining with Ali Barrow five minutes later to clear a dangerous rebound off the goal line.
Delaware tied it in the 50th minute after a lengthy video review determined a Navy defender had committed a handball in the box; Gabby Riley converted the resulting penalty kick. Sophomore Emmalea Sidorsky then made a defensive save of her own in the 54th minute, covering the back post to deny Olivia Bley from putting the Blue Hens ahead. Navy retook the lead about 10 minutes later when Chiara Cosenza’s shot off another Bonner free kick rang off the post, and Barrow crashed the loose ball home for her first goal of the season — the second of her college career. Delaware answered again in the 77th minute on a Maggie Groh goal assisted by Brooke Vogel, setting the final score.
Navy actually outshot Delaware 16-13 (per the play-by-play) or 15-13 (per the final box score), though the Blue Hens held the edge in shots on goal and corner kicks. Cosenza led Navy with four shots, while Bonner and Kayana Adlam each had two shots on goal.
“We had a host of really good individual efforts and were impressed with our two underclassmen Emmalea Sidorsky and Stella Jones stepping up in their first starts of the season,” Gabarra said. “Chiara Cosenza continues to lead us on offense and had a major impact once again.”
Sunday’s result came after Navy’s 4-0 loss to Air Force on Thursday, in just the program’s second meeting with the Falcons since 2002, according to Southern Maryland Chronicle’s coverage of that game. Gabarra is in her 34th season at Navy — the only head coach the program has had since it moved from club to varsity status in 1993 — and has led the Midshipmen to at least a share of 10 Patriot League regular-season titles. She’s a 1996 Olympic gold medalist and the Patriot League’s all-time leader in coaching victories.
“Delaware’s going to win a lot of games this year, so to head back to Annapolis with a draw is a positive result that we can definitely build on,” Gabarra said. “This is a good bounce-back result, and now we’ll turn our attention to a busy three-game week.”
Navy hosts three straight matches at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility: Marywood on Tuesday at 5 p.m., Maryland on Thursday at 7 p.m., and Marist on Sunday at 1 p.m.
