EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette women's soccer hosted Navy on Friday evening for its final home match of the 2026 season at Mike Bourger '44 Field at Oaks Stadium, but the Mids escaped with a tight 1-0 victory to move to a 13-4-2 overall record.
Midfielders
Era Methoxha and
Nadia Zaffanella led the Leopards' offense with four shots apiece as the hosts tallied 15 total shots compared to the Mids' 11.
The opening five minutes of the match provided spectators with a physical start before the first chance fell to the Maroon and White. Lafayette won a corner kick in the sixth minute and Methoxha was set to swing the ball into the box. A Mids' defender made first contact in the penalty area, but the ball then fell kindly to junior defender
Ava Fix. The St. Louis, Mo. native didn't think twice before firing a shot towards goal, but Natasha Stamrood made a comfortable save at her near post.
Following a back-and-forth battle in midfield, Lafayette broke down Navy's back line with a through ball that left
Ava Murphy with room to run. The senior forward did well to drive towards goal and release a strike, but Stamrood stood tall and made a routine save to keep the match scoreless.
Now settled into the contest, Navy looked to attack on the counter to keep the Leopards' back line honest. Despite the Mids' pace up front, head coach
Mick Statham's defense was calm and collected at the back following a short wave of pressure from the visitors.
Zafanella nearly broke the deadlock in the 18th minute with a superb effort. Lafayette had just won the ball back in midfield prior to the Ellington, Conn. native picking up the ball. She was nearly 40 yards from goal before she spotted Stamrood off her line and attempted the spectacular. The senior's long-range strike had Stamrood beaten, but it whizzed just wide of the goal to keep the match level.
After 35 minutes in Easton, Lafayette gained more momentum from its bench and looked more likely to open the scoring Saturday evening. However, the Mids only needed one chance in the 42nd minute to break the deadlock. The Leopards were attempting to clear their penalty area when a wayward clearance saw the ball fall to Katia Katsari-Hoefer at the top of the box. The midfielder took once touch to set herself before rifling a left-footed shot towards goal that beat Apker to her right-hand side.
At the intermission, Navy maintained its narrow 1-0 advantage.
Following the restart, both teams came out of the locker room with high intensity and physical play. However, Lafayette registered six shots in the opening 20 minutes of the half, but Navy did well to throw bodies in front to block the attempts.
Mids' forward Jessica Black nearly made it 2-0 in the 71st minute. Navy was breaking on the counterattack when one of Black's teammates spotted her darting run in behind the hosts' back line. She drove with the ball all the way into the box, but Apker was quick off her line to smoother the opportunity.
The visitors made 14 substitutions in the second half which provided them with an abundance of fresh legs to see out the result.
With 20 minutes to go, the match opened up significantly. Both sides traded offensive counterattacks, but neither could find the final pass in their offensive third.
There were three seconds remaining in Friday's contest when head referee Dave Breckner called an indirect free kick in the box in favor of Lafayette. A Navy defender fell on top of the ball when trying to clear its defensive zone which resulted in the free kick. The Leopards set up Methoxha to shoot, but Stamrood dashed off her line and collected the ball to end the match.
At the final whistle, the visitors escaped with a 1-0 victory to advance to a 6-1-1 mark in Patriot League play.
Lafayette returns to the pitch at 6 p.m. on Wednesday as they travel to Bethlehem, Pa. for the final match of the regular season against archrival Lehigh.
To keep up with the Lafayette women's soccer team, follow its social media pages.
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