ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's soccer team (7-1) captured the Navy Invitational by defeating Towson (0-6-1), 2-1, on Sunday at Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The Mids also defeated Rider, 3-0, on Friday evening to go 2-0 at their annual home tournament.

Navy scored a goal in each half and held Towson scoreless until the 90th minute to win its seventh straight game. The seven-game winning streak is Navy's longest since the 2006 season.

"Our attacking has been pretty good and I am proud of our production," head coach Carin Gabarra said. "Going 2-0 over a weekend is always a good thing but I was also proud of our team's reaction to not be happy with the way we played. We still have a little ways to go until we get to where we want to be for Patriot League play."

Towson committed a hand ball infraction in the 16th minute and senior midfielder Fallon Puppolo (Sankt Leon, Germany) stepped up to take the free kick from 20 yards out. Puppolo bent the ball around the Towson wall for Navy's first goal of the contest.

Navy tallied its second goal of the game in the 74th minute, when junior Brittany Fruin (McLean, Va.) sent sophomore forward Caprice Ketly (Odenton, Md.) on a nice run into the box and Kelty finished well with a strike to the far post to beat the Towson keeper.

Navy junior goalkeeper Elizabeth Hoerner (Lititz, Pa.) just missed out on the first solo shutout of her career as Towson's Katyln Axenfeld scored a goal in the 90th minute, with just 43 seconds remaining on the clock

Hoerner did make five saves in the contest to earn her seventh win. Hoerner made a pair of nice saves in a 30-second span early in the second half.

Towson out shot Navy by a 22-13 margin in the game but Navy held an 8-6 edge in shots on goal. Towson led in corner kicks, 4-3.

Gabarra won her 250th career game on Sunday, becoming just the 26th coach in NCAA women's soccer history to reach the milestone. Gabarra owns a career record of 250-123-33 in 21 seasons as a head coach.

Junior forward Paloma Perez (Mobile, Ala.) was named the Most Valuable Player of the Navy Invitational. Perez scored two goals in Navy's win over Rider on Friday evening. Perez was joined on the all-tournament team by Jade Seabrook (St. Paris, Ohio), Lexi Ricketts (The Woodlands, Texas) and Lily Kraemer (Pitman, N.J.).

Rider was represented on the all-tournament team by Jenn Nichols, Claire Thompson and Kaitlin Wylie. George Washington saw Adriana Moya, Amanda Gaggioli and Samie Cloutier make the team and Towson was represented by Katie Ponce and Cheyenne Skidmore.

Rider defeated George Washington, 1-0, in the other Navy Invitational game on Sunday. Navy went 2-0, Rider and GW were 1-1 and Towson was 0-2 at the invite.

Navy will continue its season-long five-game homestand next week, taking on James Madison on Friday night and VMI on Sunday.

---

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Men's NCAA Tournament First Round Recap

Men's NCAA Tournament Round Two Preview

TeamRank Presented By TeamSnap - Boys