ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 16 Navy women's lacrosse team (2-2) dropped a 12-9 decision to Villanova (2-1) on Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The Mids were never able to get into a consistent rhythm and ultimately fell short to the Wildcats.
 
"I really give Villanova credit," head coach Cindy Timchal said after the game. "They came out and really played inspired lacrosse. I feel like we came out a little flat, but there is really no excuse. I give credit to Villanova for playing inspired lacrosse and for us coming out today being flat. We could talk about a lot of different things, but emotionally, we weren't ready to go when the whistle blew, which is on us.
 
"That being said, we fought to the very end," Timchal added. "Their goalie played really solid. We had some shots that we figured would be goals, but their goalie played lights out. We came up with some defensive stops, but on the offensive end we struggled to put up a solid offensive front. We really struggled on our draws. Villanova was really good on the draws today. Tough lesson for Navy women's lacrosse."
 
The Wildcats' goalie Alexa Moro came up big with 12 saves on the day to pick up the win. The Mids' Abbi Young (Alamo, Calif.) helped keep Navy in the game, posting a career-high 16 stops in the loss. Young has 46 saves in four games this season, including three consecutive games with double-digit stops. Defensively, Navy caused six of Villanova's 11 turnovers with six different Mids registering a CT. The Midshipmen tallied 17 ground balls of afternoon with Kayla Harris (Annapolis, Md.), Natalie Irwin (Annandale, Va.), and Gil Eby (Towson, Md.) leading the team with three GB apiece, while Erin Carson (New Albany, Ohio) added a pair.
 
Villanova won the draw control battle, 14-9, helping the visiting Wildcats control possession. Reagan Roelofs (Apple Valley, Minn.) led Navy with four draw controls, while Karoline Nease (Richmond, Va.) added a pair.
 
When Navy did have the ball, they were unable to generate the offensive prowess the Mids have grown accustom to over the last few seasons. Navy scored just nine goals on 32 shots. Roelofs and Harris paced the offense with two goals apiece, while five others chipped in one goal each. Nicole Victory (Issaquah, Wash.) and Kelly Larkin (Alexandria, Va.) combined for all five of the Mids' assists on the day. Victory dished out three helpers, while Larkin added a pair.
 
The loss snapped a streak of 38 consecutive victories for the Midshipmen over unranked opponents. Navy's last loss to an unranked opponent came against Loyola in 2017 (L, 13-9). The Mids rallied from that game to win 13 of the final 15 games that season, including the Patriot League Championship, before ultimately ending the season in the Final Four.
 
The game started off with the Wildcats taking an early 2-0 lead. After a goal by Ellie Lecker (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) cut the margin in half, Nova responded with a goal to push the advantage back to two. Larkin trimmed the deficit back to one, but three straight goals by Villanova gave the visitors a 6-2 advantage. Navy used goals by Victory and Roelofs to cut the lead in half, but the Wildcats closed out the half by scoring three of the final four goals to take a 9-5 advantage into intermission.
 
Goals by Harris and Irwin cut the margin to 10-7, but back-to-back scores gave Nova its biggest lead of the day at 12-7. Navy was able to close the gap to 12-9 thanks to scores by Marina Lazarides (Reisterstown, Md.) and Roelofs, but could not generate enough offense to complete the comeback.
 
Navy returns to action against Maryland on Wednesday, March 4 in College Park, Md., as the Midshipmen begin a three-game road swing. The Mids will play at Maryland, at Florida, and at Bucknell, before returning home on Wednesday, March 18 against Mount St. Mary's.