Air Force Comes Up Short at Navy, 2-1

ANNAPOLIS – The Falcon men's soccer team came up shy of an equalizer in a 2-1loss to service academy rival Navy, Tuesday evening, at Glenn Warner Soccer Facility. Air Force finalizes the 2025 non-conference record at 1-6-2, while the Midshipmen improved to 3-3-4 with the win.

Air Force was the clear aggressor for most of the match, outshooting Navy 15 shots to six, and setting a season-high shot total for the young Falcons— who also doubled up their opponent in shots (15-6) for the first time this season.

Despite the pressure, Navy was first to light the scoreboard via penalty kick in the 10^th minute. Sophomore co-team captain and linchpin defender Andrei Bulankou contested the ball just inside the penalty box. The tackle, determined a foul, yielded Navy the PK opportunity.

Duncan Sulivan, the primary foot for Navy PKs, made the attempt. Sulivan beat an outstretched Brody Smith to the low right for the goal. Sulivan is now 3-3 in PKs this season.

Air Force responded with a quality attempt in the 18^th minute via a freshmen buildup. C4C Sean Odle connected with C4C Ben Brophy who one-touched it to C4C Tucker Kern who shot and missed narrowly right while Navy was on their heels.

C3C keeper Brody Smith made a pair of impressive stretching saves between the 20' and 24' marks to keep the match within one goal. Air Force, fending off Navy's momentum, was unable to equalize before the halftime horn.

Out of the break, Kern was the first to take a quality attempt, taking a shot on target in the 47^th minute. Kern, with fire in his eyes, took another shot on goal in the 57^th minute. Navy goalie Robert Eaton was good for both saves.

Navy, fed up with the bullying, extended their lead to 2-0 behind Nate Stewart's foot via touch from JP Torres in the 71^st minute. Air Force outshot Navy 10-1 in the second half.

In the 76^th minute, Maximilian Perez played a long ball from the far side into the box where Marcos Goni, deep in enemy territory, made a sliding strike to ignite the Air Force Falcons. With time in the Midshipmen's favor, the Falcons pushed hard for an equalizer. Despite three quality attempts to tie, Navy was able to fend off the equalizer and secure a win.

When the dust settled, Air Force held an advantage in shots (15-9), shots on goal (5-3), and corner kick opportunities (6-2).

Next up, Air Force will have a bye weekend before opening Western Athletic Conference play against San Diego State, October 4, at Cadet Soccer Stadium. Action is scheduled to kick off at 7pm MT.

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Team Stats

Marcos Goni

Maximilian Perez

Tucker Kern

Attila Toth

Players Mentioned

Ben Brophy

Andrei Bulankou

Marcos Goni

Tucker Kern

Sean Odle

Maximilian Perez

Brody Smith

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