Nov. 5, 2008
Mids Close 2008 Season With Star Game at Army on Fox Soccer Channel
• The nation's best collegiate rivalry takes center stage yet again this weekend as the Navy men's soccer team will travel to the Banks of the Hudson to battle arch-rival Army in the annual Star Game on Friday night. Kick-off is slated for 8:00 pm and will be carried live by the Fox Soccer Channel.
• The Mids enter the contest with a 4-10-3 overall record and are 0-5-1 in the Patriot League. Army is 2-14-0 overall and 0-6-0 in league play.
• Friday's contest serves as the Star Game between the two teams. The winner of the Star Game receives special recognition on their respective letter sweaters. Army has won the last two Star Games, both coming in overtime.
Army-Navy Series
• Navy leads the all-time series with Army, 35-26-13, but Army has won the last two meetings, both coming in overtime. Navy has not won in West Point since a 1-0 victory in 1996, and is just 12-15-9 all-time in West Point. Navy is just 1-5-3 at West Point since joining the Patriot League in 1991.
• This will be the seventh Star Game already in 2008 between the two teams, with Navy holding a 3-2-1 Star Game advantage. The Mids' Star Game wins have come from the women's cross country, golf and sprint football teams. Overall, Navy is 4-2-1 against Army in all competitions.
• All-time, Navy is 887-673-39 (.567) in competitions against Army and over the last 13 years, is 182-82-6 (.684) in Star Game events. Last year, Navy won the overall series (17-13) and Star Game series (15-7). The Mids have won the Star Game series 12 straight years against Army.
The Book on Navy
• Navy is coming off a 3-0 loss to Lafayette, in which it likely played its best half of soccer in the first half. However, the Leopards scored three goals in a 20-minute span in the second half to keep the Mids winless in Patriot League play. Navy had three great chances in the first half and outshot Lafayette, 8-5, in the first half, but was outshot, 9-3, in the second half and wilted under the Lafayette pressure.
• Navy is led by sophomore Mike Porcelli with four goals and eight points. Juniors Chris Marino (2 g, 1 a) and Mark Garcia (1 g, 3 a) have five points each.
• Nolan Grebb has played all but 201 minutes in goal, registering a 1.61 GAA, a .737 save percentage and four shutouts.
• The Mids are being outscored, 29-11, on the season, including 15-2 in Patriot League play. The Mids scored eight goals in the team's first five games, but have scored just three goals over the last 12 contests. Defensively, opponents have scored 22 goals in the last 12 games.
• In addition, Navy has been outshot by almost 4.5 shots per game, and have just 64 shots on goal to opponents' 121. Foes have drawn 79 corner kicks to Navy's 57.
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The Book on Army
• Army enters the contest with a 2-14-0 overall record and is 0-6-0 in the Patriot League. The Black Knights have lost five straight games by a combined margin of 10-1, and have lost nine of their last 10 games. The Black Knights' wins came against Birmingham Southern (3-1) and NJIT (2-1). As a team, Army is getting outscored, 29-13, and out shot, 189-143. In Patriot League play, Army has been outscored 11-1 in their six games. The Black Knights have recorded no shutouts on the season, and have been blanked seven times.
• Bryan Connolly leads Army with nine points (3 g, 3 a) and Patrick McVey (3 g, 1 a) and Cole Dietz (2 g, 3 a) have seven points each. In goal, A.J. Glubzinski has a 2.06 GAA and a .685 save percentage.
Navy Stock Tips
• The Mids won three straight overtime games for the first time in school history on Sept. 5-12. Navy's three overtime wins came off the feet of players scoring their first career goals, all coming in the last minute of the respective overtime session. Freshman Wes Powell scored in the 100th minute against Adelphi. Porcelli scored in the 110th minute against Lipscomb, and freshman Sam Miller tallied a goal in the 110th minute against Saint Joseph's.
• Navy is 3-1-3 in its seven overtime games this year.
• The Mids are 3-2-3 when allowing one or fewer goals.
• Navy is 3-2-0 when outshooting its opponents this year. However, Navy hasn't outshot an opponent in the last five games, with the last time coming against Longwood (Oct. 7).
• Navy is 4-5-1 away from Annapolis, but finished 0-5-2 in games played in Annapolis.
• Nolan Grebb needs to play just 97 minutes to move into fifth place on the single-season goalkeeper minutes played list.
• Sophomore Mike Porcelli is the only Navy player to score a goal in the last 12 games. The last Navy player to score a goal other than Porcelli was freshman Sam Miller against Saint Joseph's on Sept. 12. That is a span of 1,137 minutes.
# GO NAVY #
