Navy women’s soccer releases 2016 schedule
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Via Navy) – The 2016 Navy women’s soccer 20-match schedule will feature a rigorous 11-game non-conference slate that features three NCAA Tournament participants to help prepare the Mids for Patriot League play, which was announced by 24th-year head coach Carin Gabarra on Friday.
Navy welcomes 2015 Pac-12 champion and NCAA Quarterfinalist Stanford (Fri., Aug. 19) and the Big 12’s TCU (Sun., Aug.21) in its opening weekend at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. Stanford finished last season with a 19-2-2 overall mark, earned the Pac-12 crown and won three NCAA Tournament matches before falling to 2015 runner-up Duke, 1-1 (3-2 PKs), in the quarterfinals.
After a two-game homestand, the Mids hit the road for four matches, beginning with the state of North Carolina for two games. Navy opens up with NCAA Tournament participant UNC-Wilmington (15-7-1, 6-2-1 CAA) on Friday, Aug. 26 and then heads to North Carolina State (4-15-0, 0-10 ACC) on Sunday, Aug. 28.
Navy heads back up the East Coast for two matches at Niagara University during the weekend of September 2-4. The Mids face off against Niagara (8-8-2, 6-4-0 MAAC) on Friday, Sept. 2 then play Buffalo (11-7-3, 7-3-1 MAC) on Sunday, Sept. 4. Navy will be facing both teams for the first time in program history.
The Mids return to Annapolis to start a four-game homestand, beginning with a mid-week match against in-state rival Maryland (6-12-1, 1-9-1 BIG TEN) on Wednesday, Sept. 7. The Terrapins own a 9-0-1 advantage against the Mids.
On the weekend of September 9-11, the Mids will host the Navy Invitational, welcoming Bowling Green (7-11-1, 3-8-0 MAC), Drake (7-9-2, 4-0-2 MVC) and Towson (7-8-4, 1-6-2 CAA) to the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. Bowling Green and Towson will begin tournament at 4 p.m. on Friday with Navy and Drake capping the night with a 7 p.m. kickoff. Drake and Towson will open Sunday with a 12 noon start, while Navy and Bowling Green will conclude the tournament at 2:30 p.m.
To open up the Patriot League slate, Navy will host archrival Army West Point (4-12-2, 2-5-2 PL) on Friday, Sept. 16 in the annual Star match. The Mids own a 13-11-3 overall mark and an 11-8-3 record in Star matches versus the Black Knights. Navy and Army finished in a 2-2 deadlock after 110 minutes in West Point, New York last season.
Navy will take a quick break from its league schedule to travel to Mount St. Mary’s (3-14-2, 2-4-2 NEC) on Sunday, Sept. 18 for a 1 p.m. start.
The Mids return to league play with back-to-back road matches against Loyola (6-10-2, 4-4-1 PL) on Saturday, Sept. 24 and then at Lehigh (7-8-3, 2-5-2 PL) on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
Continuing with the league schedule, Navy will host Holy Cross (5-8-4, 2-4-3 PL) on Sunday, Oct. 2 and then Bucknell (11-6-3, 6-1-2 PL) tentatively on Saturday, Oct. 8.
The Mids will finish their nonconference action at Howard (13-8-2, 7-3-0 SWAC) on Tuesday, Oct. 11. The Bison won the 2015 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament title to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Navy then concludes the regular season with two road and two home league contests. The Mids travel to Colgate (6-9-3, 4-4-1 PL) on Saturday, Oct. 15 before hosting American (5-11-3, 2-4-3 PL) and Lafayette (8-7-1, 2-6-1 PL) during the week of October 19-23.
The Mids end the regular season with a trip to Boston, Massachusetts to face off against two-time defending Patriot League Champion Boston University Terriers (13-6-3, 8-0-1 PL) on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m.
The Patriot League Tournament begins on Tuesday, Nov. 1 with two quarterfinal matches at highest seed campus sites. The two quarterfinal winners will play the top two seeds on Friday, Nov. 4, which will be hosted by the league’s regular-season champion. The championship match will be on Sunday, Nov. 6.
Navy finished 2015 with an overall record of 11-7-4, earning a spot in the Patriot League Tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons with a 3-2-4 conference mark. The Mids return 19 letterwinners, nine of which were in the starting lineup last year.