WASHINGTON — Despite playing on a rain-soaked Reeves Field, the American University men's soccer team looked energized and took three valuable points in the Patriot League standings, defeating Navy, 3-0, on Wednesday afternoon. 

"This was a huge win for us today," said head coach Todd West. "Navy was selected as the PL preseason favorite and to get three goals on them is a great feeling." 

With the win, American moves up to 13 points in the PL standings with Boston University and Colgate still to play tonight. 

Junior Panos Nakhid and sophomores Vinny Barone and Nick Sifrin scored for the Eagles, who jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the 10th minute on a set piece. 

AU punished the Midshipmen with a 19-11 edge in shots and forced keepers senior Jackson Morgan and sophomore Mac Burke to make eight saves on 11 shots on goal. 

Defensively, AU continues its impressive streak of 653 minutes without conceding a goal. Senior Dylan Hobert made five saves in the contest. Hobert's biggest test came in the 33rd minute, when Sam Bascom found himself with space to shoot, but the keeper came away with the diving save. 

"Credit our back four for another great performance. I told them that even though Michael Cherry won the PL Defensive Player of the Week, that it's a team award," said West. 

Minutes before the end of the half, junior Chris Fanet sent over a header to Sifrin, who sent a blast from 15 yards away. 

"We played a more direct first half. With the wet conditions, we changed in the second to stay out of the puddles in the midfield," said West. 

In the 75th minute, junior Kibu Mbaluku had two chances at goal, but his second chance was stopped by Navy senior defender P.J. Suess. 

Later in the second half, junior Joe Iraola dribbled the ball down the sideline and laid the ball off to Nakhid for the one-timer goal. 

American will head north to take on Holy Cross on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Eagles will return for their final regular season contest on Nov. 7 at noon.