Gabarra announces 2008 Navy Women\'s Soccer Schedule

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July 7, 2008

2008 Schedule | 2008 Prospectus | Season Ticket Form
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Thirteen home dates and an early-season West Coast tripfeaturing a matchup with Pac-10 power Stanford highlight the 2008Navy women's soccer schedule, as announced by head coach Carin Gabarra . The Mids return eight starters and 15 letterwinners from lastyear's squad that posted a 14-5-4 mark and carried the PatriotLeague banner into the 2007 NCAA Tournament, marking the program'ssecond consecutive NCAA appearance and third in the last fiveseasons.
Navy opens its 16th season of varsity competition when it hostsVermont on August 23 at 1 p.m. The match marks the first of 13 homegames the Mids will host at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, wherethey turned in an undefeated home mark (9-0-1) in 2007 and boast animpressive 23-1-1 record (.940) over the last two seasons.
"As we have always tried to do in the past, this year's schedule isvery challenging," said Gabarra. "We try to play the top levelDivision I teams to peak at the right time near the end of theseason. We will have a talented team, and we will aspire to winPatriot League and go to NCAA's again, but our league opponents arealso all very talented and share the same goals. I am excited tokick off another season with a new group of seniors leading theway, and a very competitive group of incoming freshmen."
The following weekend Gabarra's squad will make the program'seighth trip to the Golden State, where they will meet up withStanford (Aug. 29) and UC Davis (Aug. 31). The date with theCardinal marks the second time the squads will have faced eachother in school history as Stanford claimed a 2-1 victory inAnnapolis in 2005. The Cardinal return 18 letterwinners, includingits leading scorer, from a 2007 squad that posted a 15-3-5 mark andearned a trip to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.
The Mids return home where they will host to a pair of first-timeopponents at the Navy Soccer Invitational during the weekend ofSept. 5-7. Navy, Central Connecticut State, Delaware and Winthropwill be featured in the two-day, four-game tournament. Navy kicksoff tournament play Friday against Winthrop (Sept. 5) and closesout the weekend action on Sunday against Central Connecticut (Sept.7).
After facing Liberty (Sept. 12) and VMI (Sept. 14) on a weekendroad-swing through Virginia, Navy returns to Annapolis for thefirst of a program-record 10-consecutive home dates beginningSeptember 19 against in-state rival Mount St. Mary's. Themonth-long stretch includes visits from VCU (Sept. 21), Division Iupstart Francis Marion (Sept. 26), and the NEC's Saint Francis(Pa.) (Sept. 28) before the Mids open up league play againstBucknell (Oct. 4) in a rematch of last year's Patriot LeagueChampionship. The Mids and the Bison split the season series in2007 with Bucknell winning the league opener for both squads inLewisburg, 1-0. With the stakes at their highest, however, Navyreturned to the site of its only league loss and turned the tableson the regular season champions with a 1-0 victory to claim itssecond straight NCAA berth.
Navy will entertains first-time opponent Delaware State (Oct. 6)prior to a critical three-game league stretch on which they willhost Lafayette (Oct. 10), Lehigh (Oct. 12), and American (Oct. 17).The Mids posted a 2-0-2 record against this trio of leagueopponents in `07, topping Lafayette by a 3-0 margin and earningdraws with both Lehigh (0-0) and American (2-2) in regular seasonplay. Navy later ousted the Eagles in a 2-0 decision in the PatriotLeague semifinals. American returns six conference all-stars fromlast year's squad that posted a 10-5-3 mark.
The longest home stand in program history comes to a close as theMids wrap up their 13-game non-conference slate when regional rivalUMBC visits Annapolis for a Senior Day affair on October 19.
Navy closes out the regular season with a string of difficult roadtests beginning with the annual Star Game against archrival Army(Oct. 24) and followed by contests with Holy Cross (Oct. 26) andperennial league contender Colgate (Nov. 1). More than 1,000Midshipmen flooded the gates to help cheer on the Navy women to amemorable 2-0 victory over Army in `07. The Mids enter 2008 owninga 9-2-1 record in the last 11 matches against the Black Knights.Navy's recent success against league foe Colgate has been equallyas impressive. The Mids have amassed a 7-3-1 mark in its last 11meetings against the Raiders, including last season's 1-0 win thatclinched the Navy's Patriot League Tournament berth and shut out a10-win Raiders squad from qualifying for postseason play.
The top four teams at the end of the regular season will competefor the league championship to be held at the regular seasonchampion and No. 1 seed's home field the weekend of November 7-9.The winner of the tournament receives the league's automatic bid tothe NCAA Tournament.
Navy soccer season tickets are available for just $60 for adultsand $30 for youths (17 & younger). Season tickets include all 20regular-season men's and women's home games at the Glenn WarnerSoccer Facility. The men's team will play a seven-game slate at theGlenn Warner Soccer Facility. Tickets may be purchased online byclicking on the ticketing section of www.navysports.com or bycalling 1-800-US4-NAVY. In addition, fans may mail in a printableseason-ticket form also found on www.navysports.com.