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Navy men drop season finale to Army, 1-0

7 Nov, 2008

Army's Tanner Robertson scored just 51 seconds before halftime to lift the Army men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Navy in the annual Star Game between the two teams. Navy ended the season with a 4-11-3 record and went 0-6-1 in the Patriot League. Army improved to 3-14-0 overall and 1-6-0 in the Patriot League.

With the win, Army tied up the Star Game series at 3-3-1 on the season. Navy still leads the overall series with the Black Knights, 4-3-1.

"I thought we actually played pretty well tonight. We told the players that it was going to make a mistake to win the game, and unfortunately, we made the mistake," said Navy head coach Rich Miranda. "Both teams battle hard and we had plenty of chances. We just couldn't connect."

Both teams had solid chances in the first half. Fifteen minutes into the contest, sophomore Sam Lepley (Des Moines, Iowa) took a pass from freshman Wes Powell (Jackson, N.J.) and found some space in the left slot. His shot, however, was cut off by Army goalie A.J. Glubzinski to keep the Mids off the board.

The Black Knights had a pair of good chances with about 12 minutes to play, as Michael Leach and Bryan Connolly both had headers sent just over the net.

Army broke through with just 51 seconds left in the first half, as Tanner Robertson sent a shot from the right baseline that deflected off traffic and into the net for his first career goal in the 45th minute. Despite outshooting the Black Knights, 7-5, the Mids found themselves trailing 1-0 at intermission.

The Mids turned up the offensive pressure in the second half, nearly getting the equalizer twice in the first 27 minutes of the second half. Mike Porcelli (West Islip, N.Y.) had a shot 15 minutes in that was headed for the left post that John-Michael Gallogly turned aside. Twelve minutes later, Andrew Garcia (Garland, Texas) sent a shot towards Gallogly from about 15 yards out that hit the top of the crossbar and deflected high.

The Mids kept the pressure on in the last 10 minutes, but couldn't get the draw, and Army held on for the 1-0 victory.

Navy outshot the Black Knights, 10-9, but managed just three shots in the second half. The Black Knights had 16 fouls to Navy's 10, and both teams had one corner kick. Nolan Grebb (Woodbury, N.J.) recorded three saves in goal.

The Mids managed to score just 11 goals all year, the second fewest in school history.

"We have to find goal scorers. That is the bottom line. We feel good about the class coming in," said Miranda. "We're looking forward to next year already."

Navy will return all but two players for next year's team, graduating seniors Adam Pennnington (Tampa, Fla.).and Grebb.

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