Navy men’s soccer to open season at West Virginia and Penn State
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Via Navy) – The Navy men’s soccer team will open its 95th season of varsity play this weekend at West Virginia and at #23 Penn State. Navy will play at West Virginia on Friday at 7 PM and will play at Penn State on Sunday at 3 PM. Free live video and live statistics will be available for both games.
Navy played two exhibition matches this preseason, falling to #2 Virginia, 1-0, and tying #24 Old Dominion, 1-1. Virginia is the defending NCAA National Champion.
Navy returns 12 letterwinners, nine starters and five All-Patriot League honorees from last season. Navy was picked as the favorite to win the Patriot League in the conference’s preseason poll.
Senior Jamie Dubyoski was named to the All-Patriot League First Team last year and seniors P.J. Suess and Jackson Morgan were named to the second team. Senior captain Derek Vogel and junior Daniel Camuti were named to the third team.
Vogel and Dubyoski were also named to the NSCAA All-Northeast Region Team in 2014. Both were named to the 2015 Patriot League Preseason All-League Team.
Dubyoski has been named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List and is the Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
Dubyoski scored 24 points to lead the team in scoring for the second straight season. Dubyoski’s six game-winning goals were the third most in the NCAA last year.
Seventh-year head coach Dave Brandt is the NCAA Division I winningest active head coach with an .800 winning percentage. Brandt is 302-63-33 in 18 seasons as a head coach.
Navy will face six teams this year that qualified for the 2014 NCAA Tournament and five schools that competed in the NCAA Tournament Second Round (Penn State, Maryland, Oakland, Ohio State and UMBC).
Navy is currently on one of the best two-year stretches in program history. Navy’s 27 wins in the last two seasons are tied for the most in a two-year period in school history.
Navy was 11-4-5 overall last year and 6-1-2 in the Patriot League, placing second behind Boston U. Navy finished the 2014 season on an 11-game unbeaten streak (7-0-4). Navy led the Patriot League in both scoring offense and goals-against average in 2014.
West Virginia was 11-7-1 overall last season. The Mountaineers compete in the Big 12 in most sports, but are in the Mid-American Conference in men’s soccer, where they were 3-1-1 last season.
Navy is 4-2-1 all-time against West Virginia. The teams last met in 2007, with Navy posting the 1-0 win in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers return nine starters from last season and their leading returning scorer is senior Jamie Merriam (9 goals, 5 assists).
Penn State was 13-6-1 overall last season and 5-3-0 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round in 2014. Junior Connor Maloney is the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year after scoring 10 goals with three assists in 2014.
Navy’s last match against a Big Ten opponent was a 2-1 win over #10 Maryland last season. Navy was 2-0-1 against Top 25 opponents last season and has three opponents ranked in the NSCAA Preseason Top 25 this season. In addition to #23 Penn State, Navy will also play at #13 Maryland on September 14 and at #12 UMBC on October 20.
Penn State leads the all-time series against Navy, 36-20-5, but the teams have not met since 1987. Navy won nine straight games in the series from 1961-1969, but Penn State is 14-2-1 against Navy since 1969. Navy defeated Penn State, 2-1, in a preseason exhibition match in 2013.