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Navy women’s soccer beat Colgate in penalty kicks Saturday afternoon, 4-1, to clinch their second consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament.
This marks the Mids’ first back-to-back titles in Patriot League women’s soccer since the 2006-07 season.
Earlier in the year, the two would face-off to open up Patriot League play in a thriller. Colgate got the best of the Midshipmen in a monsoon by the water, 2-1 in double overtime.
The teams would come out much more aggressive in the championship, but tournament MVP — Kristina Dzhandzhapayan — would chip the ball in the opening minutes to take the lead via a beautiful pass by Victoria Tran.
GOAALLLLLL!!!!
— NavyWSoccer (@NavyWSoccer) April 17, 2021
Our captain takes it to the house!
Kristina Dzhandzhapanyan puts Navy up 1-0 over Colgate in the 13th minute.
Tune in to ESPN+: https://t.co/7uTGes2Yze pic.twitter.com/4xw1NuVpCp
To close out the first half, Colgate’s Lauren Rougas would head the equalizer in. This came after the Raiders played the majority of the first half in their own half of the pitch.
In total during the first half, there were only three shots on-goal, and the Midshipmen had no corner kicks. They would have two in the second half, but neither team scored on five shots, forcing overtime.
Coming into this game, Colgate played two consecutive double-overtime games, winning both. Navy hadn’t faired all that well in added time, finishing 1-1-2 in overtime on the season.
Maddie Gallagher would continue a great performance on the afternoon, opening up the first added period with a big save. She would get help to close out double overtime as Sadie McCaleb would get a huge deflection, forcing a penalty shootout.
Head coach Carin Gabarra would make a huge change heading into it, removing Gallagher and putting in senior Molly Swiger in net.
The first three shots were all to the right and untouched. Swiger would save the next two, and an Emily Keast goal ultimately gave the Mids the title.
It's OVER!!!!!
— NavyWSoccer (@NavyWSoccer) April 17, 2021
The Patriot League is coming back to Annapolis!
Molly Swiger came off the bench and made two saves on Colgate's first three penalty kicks to set the scene for
Emily Keast, who calmly sank the winning PK in the fourth round! pic.twitter.com/zT5PVA2y65
Postgame, Molly Swiger, Kristina Dzhandzhapayan, Katie Herrmann, and Carolyn Ming would all be named to the all-tournament team.
The Midshipmen now find out their draw for the NCAA Tournament on Monday at 1:00 p.m. on NCAA.com. The whole tournament will be played in North Carolina, and the 48-team field will begin action on Tuesday, April 27.