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Navy women’s soccer wins second straight Patriot League Tournament title

They will find their NCAA Tournament opponent out on Monday.

By Nick Lorensen
Navy Athletics

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.

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.

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.