ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy head women’s soccer coach Carin Gabarra announced the 19-match 2014 schedule Tuesday. The Mids will welcome nine opponents to the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, including Delaware, Marist and Ball State for the annual Navy Invitational.

“We are very excited to play what we consider a very challenging schedule,” Gabarra said. “We play nationally recognized programs, who play at a very high level, and will test us early in the season. We want to be prepared for quality conference games and be playing better soccer throughout the year.”

Before Navy begins its 2014 regular-season schedule, the Mids will head to Morgantown, West Virginia for an exhibition match against West Virginia on Saturday, August 16. The Mountaineers will be a good test for the Mids having won the Big 12 Conference Tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Following its exhibition against West Virginia, Navy opens its 19-game slate on the road for five-straight matches, beginning with the defending America East Conference Champion UMBC on Friday, August 22 (7 p.m.). The Retrievers (13-6-2) won their regular-season and conference title before falling to Virginia Tech, 2-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Mids then travel north to Storrs, Connecticut to face the University of Connecticut on Sunday, August 24 (1 p.m.). The Huskies finished the 2013 season 11-9-0 and 5-4-0 in the American Athletic Conference.

Navy heads to Florida the following weekend to play South Florida on Friday, Aug. 29 (7:30 p.m.) and Stetson on Sunday, Aug 31 (TBD). The Bulls of USF finished their season 9-4-5 overall, 4-3-2 in the AAC and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. Led by first-year head coach Manoj Khettry, the Hatters of Stetson finished 6-10-2 overall and made it back to the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament for the first time since 2010.

Navy’s five-match road trip concludes in Harrisonburg, Virginia against James Madison on Friday, September 5 (7 p.m.). The Dukes capped off their 2013 season with a 15-5-1 overall record and a runner-up finish in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.

Navy will host Maryland (10-10) in its home opener on Monday, September 8 (TBD) at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. The Mids and Terrapins faced off last season in College Park, as the Terrapins squeaked out a 2-0 win in the final 20 minutes of the match.

Navy will host its annual invitational the weekend of September 12-14. Delaware and Marist will begin the invitational on Friday, Sept. 12 at 4 p.m., as Navy will follow against Ball State (11-7-4) at 7 p.m. Ball State and Delaware will battle on Sunday, Sept. 14 at Noon and Navy versus Marist (8-10-2) will conclude the invitational at 3 p.m.

Navy and Boston University (15-4-4, 8-1-0) will open Patriot League play on Saturday, Sept. 20 in Boston, Massachusetts (12 p.m.). The Mids and Terriers battled each other for the first two times in program history last season, both matches ended in thrilling 1-0 finishes. Navy grabbed the regular-season 1-0 victory in Annapolis off a Boston own-goal. The Terriers defeated the Mids in the conference championship game, which was also played in Annapolis, to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

The Mids return home for a three-match homestand, beginning with Northeast Conference foe Mount St. Mary’s (4-10-3) on Monday, September 22 (7 p.m.). Navy holds a perfect 12-0 record over The Mount.

Navy then welcomes Patriot League members Lafayette (5-10-2, 1-7-1) and American (6-12-2, 4-4-1) on Friday, Sept. 26 (7 p.m.) and Wednesday, Oct. 1 (7 p.m.). The Mids are a combined 4-0 against the two opponents in the last two seasons.

Navy will alternate home and away for the next four matches, starting with a trip to Hamilton, New York to face Colgate (10-6-3, 6-2-1) on Saturday, Oct. 4 (7 p.m.). The Raiders are the only Patriot League foe to own an above .500 record over the Mids, holding a 14-12-4 mark against Navy. Navy however took last season’s match, 1-0, in Annapolis.

Navy hosts Bucknell (7-9-2, 4-4-1) on Friday, Oct. 10 (7 p.m.), travel to Penn (12-1-4) on Sunday, Oct. 12 (1 p.m.) and return back to Annapolis versus Holy Cross (2-12-4) on Friday, Oct. 17 (7 p.m.). The Mids will look to extend its three-match winning streak against the Bison in Annapolis at 7 p.m. The Quakers of Penn ended Navy’s 10-game winning streak and 740:22 minute scoreless streak in a 1-0 overtime thriller off a penalty kick in the 93rd minute last season. Navy will look to improve its perfect 10-0 home record over the Crusaders.

The Mids will hit the road for two matches, first against Lehigh (5-10-2, 3-6-0) on Wednesday, Oct. 22 (6 p.m.) then against Loyola (2-11-4, 1-6-2) on Sunday, Oct. 26 (TBD).

Navy will wrap up the 2014 regular-season slate against archrival Army (8-7-4, 4-3-2) in the annual Star Game on Friday, Oct. 31 (7 p.m.) at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. Both service academies have met 25 times with Navy holding a slight edge, 12-11-2, in the all-time series. The Black Knights took last year’s meeting, 2-0, in West Point.

The six-team Patriot League Tournament will be held from Nov. 4-9. Two quarterfinal games will be played on Tuesday, November 4 and the regular season champion will host the league semifinals and championship game on Nov. 7 and 9. The NCAA First Round is November 14-16.

Despite losing Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year Elizabeth Hoerner and three other key starters, Navy returns two-time NSCAA All-American and the league’s defender of the year Jade Seabrook (St. Paris, Ohio), the league’s offensive player of the year Morgan Dankanich (Glenmoore, Pa.) and 82 percent (32 of 39 goals) of its goal production back to the pitch in 2014.

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