ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 18 Navy women's lacrosse team (2-1) improved to 2-0 at home with a 14-13 victory over No. 19 Towson (0-3) on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corp Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The Midshipmen used hat tricks by Kelly Larkin (Alexandra, Va.), Kayla Harris (Annapolis, Md.), and Annalise Heyward (Charlotte, N.C.) to earn their first victory over a ranked opponent this season.
 
"Towson is a physical team who plays really good defense," head coach Cindy Timchal said after the game. "They played us tough with great zone defense, led by a solid goaltender. They had solid returning players. Win or lose, I think it all comes back to resilience. Last week, we were behind, while this week we were ahead and Towson came back. It was a character building game. We came up with a big defensive play and forced a turnover. Then we had to secure the victory by running out the last minute of the game, which is a tribute to the players. They played with a tremendous amount of poise against a well-coached, seasoned Towson team."
 
As a team, Navy tallied 14 goals with eight assists for 22 total points. The Mids were led by Larkin who scored a team-best four goals. Harris and Heyward also recorded hat tricks netting three goals apiece. Larkin led the way with three assists, while Harris chipped in a pair of helpers.
 
Defensively, Heyward caused a team-best five turnovers, which is the second most caused turnovers by a Navy player and marks the fifth time a Midshipmen has had five or more caused turnovers in a game. As a team, the Mids caused nine of the Tigers 20 turnovers.
 
Navy picked up 18 of the game's 28 draw controls. Harris grabbed a game-high 10 draw controls while Reagan Roelofs (Apple Valley, Minn.) contributed four and Andie O'Sullivan (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) snagged three. Heyward picked up six ground balls in the game, while Larkin added four GBs.
 
The Midshipmen were the first to score as Heyward took a pass from O'Sullivan to put Navy up 1-0 early. The Tigers answered with a goal but back-to-back goals by Larkin and Harris gave the Mids a 3-1 advantage. Following a Towson goal, Roelofs scored on consecutive possessions to push the advantage to 5-2 with 9:34 to play. Towson closed out the half with a pair of goals to trim the deficit to 5-4 at halftime.
 
In the second half, Heyward opened up the scoring with a free-position goal, but Towson answered. Larkin pushed the lead to 8-5 with back-to-back goals, giving the junior her first hat trick of the season and the 25th of her career. Two goals by the Tigers closed the gap to one, but Harris and Heyward responded with goals to extend the advantage back to three, 10-7. Following a Towson goal, Larkin and Harris scored on consecutive possessions to give Navy its largest lead of the game, 12-8. The Tigers scored five of the final seven goals of the game. Moriah Snyder (Westminster, Md.) and O'Sullivan netted goals for Navy down the stretch.
 
With Navy leading 14-13 with under two minutes to play, Towson won the final draw control of the game. The Mids' defense stiffened and caused an errant pass by the Tigers, and Larkin was able to pick up the ground ball. The Midshipmen were able to run out the final 60 seconds of the clock to secure the victory.
 
Navy returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 27, as the Mids head to Philadelphia, Pa. for a nonconference game against Villanova. The game is slated for 3:00 p.m.