Navy women stay unbeaten in Patriot League, down Colgate 3-1
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (via Navy) – Navy women’s soccer freshman Kay Jo Gansrow (Holtsville, N.J.) scored the game-winning goal in the 73rd minute to lead Navy past Colgate, 3-1, on Saturday at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. Navy improved to 2-0-4 in the Patriot League while Colgate fell to 2-3-1.
“We love playing Colgate because of how talented they are and it motivates our players ever time,” Navy head coach Carin Gabarra said. “We were able to put together a full 90 minutes on both sides of the ball today. We have been taking a little while to play this way and we were finally able to show our intensity from the first whistle until the final seconds of the game.”
Navy (8-4-4, 2-0-4 PL) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 11th minute. Sophomore forward Clare MacAdam (Palmyra, N.J.) opened up the offense as she dribbled inside Colgate territory and dished it off to her left for classmate Megan Rogers (Orange Park, Fla.) on the far side. Rogers picked up possession in stride, beat one defender and passed up to freshman Ash Fairow (Jacksonville, N.C.) inside the 18-yard box. Fairow took the ball from the corner of the box, beat her defender to the middle of box and sent a liner to the near post to beat Colgate goalkeeper Erin Cummings for her third goal of the season.
“It was a great goal against a great team,” Gabarra said about Fairow’s goal to end a two-match scoring drought. “However, I liked our reaction and poise afterwards because we did not celebrate knowing the game was still early and continued to put pressure.”
Colgate (4-8-2, 2-3-1 PL) responded with a goal of its own in the 24th minute. One of the Raiders offensive players was able to draw a foul on top of the 18-yard box to earn a free kick. Defender Emily Pullen was given the honors of the free kick, launched a hard shot over the Navy wall and bounced off Navy goalkeeper Dayton Wetherby’s hand into the net to even the score at 1-1.
Navy’s Gansrow found the back of the net to put the Mids up, 2-1 in the 73rd minute. Navy began to put pressure inside Colgate’s defensive third with senior Lizzy Rullan (East Setauket, N.Y.) dribbling inside the 18 and ripping a hard shot at the net, where Cummings made the initial save. With the ball bouncing back into play, Gansrow crashed into the six-yard box and tapped in her first career goal.
With eight minutes remaining, Navy found its insurance goal to go up 3-1. The Mids found themselves inside the 18 again with Fairow crossing the ball to the middle for Rullan. Fairow’s pass was unable to connect with Rullan because a Raider defender was able to beat her to the spot. The Colgate defender looked to clear the ball over the net, but the play ended up in the back of the net for an own goal in the 83rd minute to seal the victory.
Colgate outshot Navy, 13-11, but the Mids had the advantage in shots on net, 7-3. The Raiders edged the Mids in corners, 6-1.
Wetherby finished the match with two saves on three chances to improve to 6-4-4 in net. Colgate’s goal in the 24th minute ended Wetherby’s scoreless streak at 356:02. Colgate’s Cummings tallied four saves on seven chances in the loss.