Navy, the only unbeaten and untied team in the NCAA Division I women's ranks, extended its winning streak to a 19 in a row with a 1-0 victory over No. 10 Penn State Thursday night before a Glenn
Warner Soccer Facility record crowd of 2,412
Sophomore
Kristen Laraway's goal off a lead pass from captain
Molly Burd in the 80th minute was the difference for the Mids, who posted their 10th consecutive shutout.
Penn State had a 16-10 edge in shots, but
the Mids' defense led by goalie
Lizzie Barnes held firm. Freshman
Shelly Moeller played a stellar game at center
back, heading out two balls that were making their way toward the net.
"Defense has been our staple for a long time," said Navy coach
Carin
Gabarra."I tell our team that it takes 11 people to defend and 10 to attack. Lizzie doesn't have to make a lot of saves because of how strong our defense is in front of her. Tonight, she
stepped up and made some big-time saves."
Asked if this was the program's biggest win, Gabarra grinned and said, "I would say so. We've never beaten a Top 10 team."
Navy still
hasn't clinched the Patriot League's regular-season crown, however. It needs to beat or tie Bucknell on Sunday to host the league tournament Nov. 3-5.
THURSDAY WOMEN'S ACTION
#24 LOYOLA MARYMOUNT 4 UTAH VALLEY STATE 1. Jamie Bell scored twice to lead LMU to victory in non-conference action
at Sullivan Field. The Lions now are off to face Gonzaga on Sunday in a critical WCC match.