CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 14 Navy women's lacrosse team (16-4) posted a 16-5 victory over No. 24 High Point (15-5) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday evening at Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. With the win, the Midshipmen advance to the second round to take on No. 6 Virginia on Sunday, May 12 at noon.
The win gives Navy six NCAA Tournament victories in the past three seasons. In addition, the 11-point is the second-largest postseason win in program history, falling just shy of matching the 12-point victory Navy had over UMass (W, 23-11) in the 2017 Final Four run.
"I want to give out a shout out to my coaches
Gabby Capuzzi,
Aly Messinger, and Kelly Devlin," head coach
Cindy Timchal said after the game. "They put together a wonderful game plan. Obviously, it goes without saying that the players were certainly bought into what we needed to do in this first round NCAA game. It is a blessing for us. We did not win a conference title, but we were recognized and valued by the NCAA. We wanted to come out and prove that we deserved to be here. With that, I am pleased with the execution. It wasn't perfect, but with that we wanted to work hard no matter what. I am proud of the coaching staff and the team. Our goal is to stay together as long as we can as a team for 2019."
The Navy defense limited the potent High Point offense to just five goals on the night. The Midshipmen caused seven of the Panthers' 13 turnovers on the day.
Marie Valenti (Bechtelsville, Pa.) and
Annalise Heyward (Charlotte, N.C.) each recorded two caused turnover apiece.
Anne Richter (Hinsdale, Ill.) picked up seven of Navy's 21 ground balls on the day. It was a career high for the senior and the third-best individual performance in program history. She was joined by
Gil Eby (Towson, Md.) and
Nicole Victory (Issaquah, Wash.) who picked up three and two ground balls, respectively.
The defense helped stymie the High Point attack, disrupting shots and holding the Panthers without a free-position goal (0-for-4).
Gab Harchelroad (Pittsburgh, Pa.) picked up her 15th victory of the season, working 53:33 between the pipes. She allowed five goals, while recording seven saves. She gave way to
Abbi Young (Alamo, Calif.) who closed out the final 6:27 with a pair of stops and no goals allowed.
Offensively, Navy had four players –
Kayla Harris (Annapolis, Md.),
Kelly Larkin (Alexandria, Va.),
Reagan Roelofs (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Victory – record hat tricks on the night. In addition,
Natalie Irwin (Annandale, Va.) added a pair of goals, while Heyward and
Ellie Lecker (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) each added a score.
Andie O'Sullivan (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) paced the team with three assists, while Roelofs added a pair of helpers.
Roelofs pulled down a game-high nine draw controls, while Harris, Heyward, and O'Sullivan added two apiece.
Navy opened up the scoring with a goal by Irwin, but High Point matched the score with a goal of its own. The Midshipmen responded with a 6-0 run to take control of the game. On the run, Victory and Larkin scored goals, while Roelofs and Victory chipped in two goal each. Following a Panther goal, the Mids once again answered with three straight goals to close out the half. Harris, Larkin and Irwin found the back of the net on the run to put Navy up 10-2 at intermission.
In the second half, Navy continued its run added three goals to open the period. Heyward, Roelofs, and Victory pushed the advantage to 13-2 before High Point scored back-to-back goals to close the gap to 13-4. Victory and Larkin pushed the advantage back to double-digits (15-4) with goals. High Point scored a goal to trim the margin to 10, but Lecker found the back of the net to provide the final margin of 16-5.
