ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Sophomore midfielder Meghan Hegarty (Richmond, Va.) scored the game-winning goal in the 84^th minute to lead the Navy women’s soccer team past VMI, 2-1, Friday night at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility.

“We just had to play our game tonight by connecting passes and taking good shots,” Hegarty said. “We were not playing our style of play in the first half, so we came out in the second half determined and strung together good passes to get through their defense for good shots.”

Navy (2-1) came out strong in the first half, outshooting VMI, 17-1 and held a 7-0 advantage in corner kicks. Senior defender Lexi Ricketts (The Woodlands, Texas) gave the Mids a 1-0 lead with 34 seconds left in the first half as she tipped in a one-timer off a pass from freshman Abby Goodrich (York, Maine) inside the six-yard box.

VMI (1-2) responded in the 77^th minute with a counterattack. Sophomore Kayla Blake began the offensive opportunity from midfield and sent a through ball into Navy’s 18-yard box where teammate Olivia Cotton gained possession. Cotton took two touches inside the 18 before she sent a liner past Navy goalkeeper Taygan Grundy (Fremont, Calif.) to the far post for the equalizer.

With the score knotted 1-1, Navy used a well-timed give-and-go as Hegarty passed to freshman Eleanor Pratt (New Orleans, La.), who led Hegarty just atop the 18. Hegarty took one touch and struck a hard shot to the upper corner of the net past VMI goalie Darien Dunham for the game-winning goal in the 84^th minute.

“Tonight’s game was a good teaching moment for the players, especially because we had the ball the majority of the time and a ton of chances but we did not finish as well as we should have,” Navy head coach Carin Gabarra said. “We need to be more disciplined, smarter with the ball and can not allow teams to disrupt us when we should be focused on playing our type of soccer.

Navy overwhelmed VMI on the stat sheet, holding advantages in shots, 29-6, shots on goal, 12-4 and corner kicks, 9-3. Grundy earned her first win of the season in net, recording three saves on four chances. Dunham fell to 1-2 as she tallied 10 saves on 12 chances.

Navy will look to take its nine-match home winning streak against No. 25 UConn on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The match can be seen live and for free on PatriotLeague.TV with Joe Miller on the call.

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