ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's lacrosse team (13-3, 7-1 Patriot League) concludes the regular season at No. 8 Loyola (15-1, 8-0) at the Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+. The winner of the game will earn the Patriot League regular-season title and host the upcoming conference tournament.
 
Patriot League Championship
Entering the final regular season games of the season, there is still a lot to be determined for the upcoming Patriot League Championship. Loyola (8-0), Navy (7-1), Army (6-2), Lehigh (5-3), and Colgate (4-4) have all earned berths into the tournament, while American (3-5) and Bucknell (3-5) are in contention for the remaining spot.
 
Holy Cross (2-6), Lafayette (1-7), Boston University (1-7) have been eliminated from postseason contention.
 
The winner of the Navy at Loyola game will clinch the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Championship. The Greyhounds clinch the outright title with a victory, while the Midshipmen would secure a share of the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed with a victory over Loyola.
 
If the Greyhounds defeat the Mids, Navy can still earn a first-round bye and the No. 2 overall seed if Lafayette defeats Army on Friday (4:00 p.m.) in West Point.
 
The Midshipmen will be the No. 3 overall seed and host the quarterfinals on Sunday, May 1, if Loyola and Army both win. If Navy is the No. 3 seed, they will play either Colgate, Bucknell, or American.
 
Lehigh plays at Colgate (Thursday, 4:00 p.m.), while American travels to Boston University (Friday, 4:00 p.m.) and Holy Cross hosts Bucknell (Friday, 4:00 p.m.).
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Offensively, Navy has tallied 296 points on 217 goals and 79 assists in 15 games. Of the 18 players who have scored points, 10 have been upperclassmen (juniors / seniors) and eight have been underclassmen (freshmen / sophomores). Through 16 games, the upperclassmen have registered 133 goals, accounting for 61.3% of the goals scored, while the underclassmen have tallied 84 scores. The upperclassmen have accounted for 62.2% of the total points scored with 64.6% of the team's assists.
 
The Mids are led by Reagan Roelofs (Apple Valley, Minn.), Gil Eby (Towson, Md.), Kasey Dietzel (Warrington, Pa.), Leelee Denton (Nashville, Tenn.), Charlotte Ryan (Tully, N.Y.), and Lindsay Beardmore (Annapolis, Md.).
 
Roelofs paces the offense with a team-high 51 points on a team-best 37 goals and team-high 14 assists. Eby and Dietzel are next with 37 points apiece. Eby boasts 31 goals with six assists, while Dietzel registers 24 goals and 13 helpers. Denton (29g 6a), Ryan (24g 7a), and Beardmore (16g 14a) round out Navy's 30-point scorers with 35, 31, and 30, respectively.
 
The Mids have picked up 328 ground balls, won 246 draw controls, caused 130 turnovers, and tallied 141 saves.
 
Christine Fiore (Darian, Conn.) has grabbed a team-high 36 ground balls, while Grace Loughery (Perkasie, Pa.) added 32 and Eby has picked up 30 GBs. Roelofs leads the team with 94 draw controls, while Dietzel is second with 64. Alexis Bell (Johns Creek, Ga.) leads the team with 21 caused turnovers, while Loughery, Fiore, and Erin Carson (New Albany, Ohio) follow with 18, 15, and 14 CTs.
 
Jo Torres (Prince Frederick, Md.) leads the team with 128 of Navy's 141 saves in 884 and a half minutes of action. Torres has earned 12 victories with a 51.0 save percentage and 8.34 goals against average.
 
Scouting the Opponent
Loyola enters the final week of the regular season 15-1 overall with an 8-0 mark in the Patriot League. The Greyhounds enter the game on a 6-game winning streak, including a 20-2 victory over Lafayette in their last outing.
 
Since joining the Patriot League for the 2014 season, the Greyhounds have posted an unblemished 65-0 record in regular-season conference contests to break UMass' previous record of 61-straight games won in Atlantic 10 play from 2011-18.
 
Loyola is 77-3 (.963) against Patriot League opponents since joining the conference. Navy is the only Patriot League school to defeat Loyola, besting the Greyhounds in the conference tournament twice (2017, '18) and NCAA Tournament once (2018). All three victories for Navy occurred at Loyola.
 
Offensively, Loyola is led by Livy Rosenzweig, Georgia Latch, and Sam Fielder. Rosenzweig leads the team with 79 points on a team-best 52 goals, while adding 27 assists. Latch paces the Greyhounds with 30 helpers, while chipping in 25 goals for 55 points. Fielder rounds out Loyola's 50-point scorers with 51 points on 28 goals and 23 assists.
 
In goal, Kaitlyn Larsson has started every game for Loyola between the pipes. She has tallied 831 and a half minutes with 122 saves and 126 goals allowed for a .492 save percentage and 7.88 goals against average.
 
Loyola head coach Jen Adams (Maryland '01) played collegiate lacrosse at the University of Maryland for current Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. Under Timchal's direction, Adams and the Terrapins went 83-4 (.954) in four seasons with two perfect seasons and four National Championships. Adams was the first recipient of the Tewaaraton Trophy in 2001.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the 14th meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse. Loyola holds a 10-3 advantage in the series.
 
Navy is the only Patriot League team to post a victory against Loyola, defeating the Greyhounds three times.
 
The Midshipmen picked up a win over Loyola in the 2017 Patriot League Championship (W, 15-5), snapping the Greyhounds' 41-game winning streak against conference opponents.
 
The Mids followed the 2017 PL Championship win with a second win in 2018 (W, 17-10), while also defeating the Greyhounds in the second round of the NCAA Tournament (W, 19-15) the same year.
 
Navy or Loyola has claimed the Patriot League Tournament title the last 11 seasons with the Midshipmen claiming six and the Greyhounds earning five.
 
Navy vs. Ranked Opponents
Loyola will be the third ranked opponent that Navy will face this season. Since earning their first victory over a ranked opponent in 2017, the Midshipmen have defeated at least one ranked opponent in five of the last six seasons (2017, '18, '19, '20, '22). The Mids are 2-0 this year against ranked foes, defeating No. 15 Drexel (W, 13-6) and No. 16 Johns Hopkins (W, 13-12 in overtime) in back-to-back games in early March. Navy is 13-34 all-time against ranked opponents.
 
Last Time Out: Army 14, #24 Navy 9 (April 23, 2022)
For the first time in program history, the No. 24 Navy women's lacrosse team fell to rival Army in the annual Star Game, which is part of the overall Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. The Mids received a career-high four goals from Gil Eby (Towson, Md.), but fell 14-9 to their rivals at Navy-Marine Corp Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss snapped Navy's unbeaten streak against Army, and gave the Black Knights their first Star in the series. The Midshipmen entered the game 6-0 all-time against the Black Knights and 3-0 in Star competitions. 
 
The Mids outshot the Black Knights, 42-25, but just 26 of Navy's shots, compared to 24 by Army, were on goal. Army had a 17-10 advantage over Navy in saves, helping to keep the Mids' offense off of the scoreboard. Navy struggled from eight-meters, finishing the game 1-for-8 on free-position opportunities, while Army went 4-for-5 from the eight-meter arch.
 
Navy was led by Eby who finished the game four goals, tying her career-best, set earlier this year against Colgate. Eby was joined by Kasey Dietzel (Warrington, Pa.) who finished with a pair of scores. Alexis Bell (Johns Creek, Ga.), Lola Leone (Bay Shore, N.Y.), and Reagan Roelofs (Apple Valley, Minn.) rounded out the scoring for Navy. Lindsay Beardmore (Annapolis, Md.) provided both of the Mids' two assists.
 
Defensively, the Mids caused 11 of the Black Knights' 16 turnovers. Beardmore, Bell, and Athena Corroon (Greenwich, Conn.) paced the team with two caused turnovers apiece. Navy picked up 22 ground balls as a team. Christine Fiore (Darien, Conn.) led the way with three ground balls, while Dietzel, Roelofs, Leelee Denton (Nashville, Tenn.), Bobbie Haney (Woodbine, Md.), Grace Loughery (Perkasie, Pa.), and Jo Torres (Prince Frederick, Md.) added two GB each. Torres finished the game with 10 saves in a losing effort. She surrendered 14 goals in 60-minutes of action with two ground balls.
 
Navy won the draw control battle, 16-11. The Mids trailed 7-2 in draw controls before switching to Charlotte Ryan (Tully, N.Y.) in the circle. With Ryan taking the draws, Navy won 14-4. Roelofs led the way with seven draws, while Ryan won four. Dietzel and Caroline Stefans (Coral Springs, Fla.) chipped in a pair of draws each.