ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's lacrosse team (13-4, 7-2 Patriot League) earned the No. 3 seed in the Patriot League Championship and will play host to sixth-seeded American (9-8, 4-5) on Sunday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Opening draw is slated for 12:00 p.m. on and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
 
Patriot League Championship
Navy is making its 14th appearance in the Patriot League Championship. The Midshipmen have qualified for the conference tournament each season since joining the Patriot League in 2008. The Mids are 17-7 (.708) in the tournament all-time with six conference titles.
 
Navy opens up the 2022 Patriot League Championship at home against American. It is the third time the two teams will meet in the conference tournament and the first time the Mids and Eagles will meet in the quarterfinals. The other two meetings between Navy and American came in the semifinals with each team claiming a victory on its home field – American in 2008 (W, 17-15) and Navy in 2012 (W, 14-7).
 
Navy is 1-1 (.500) all-time in the Patriot League Championship quarterfinals. The Mids defeated Holy Cross, 17-5, in the quarterfinals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in 2015, while dropping an overtime decision to Lehigh, 13-12, in Bethlehem, Pa. last year.
 
The winner of the Midshipmen and Eagles advances to the semifinals against No. 2 seed Army (12-5, 7-2). Navy is 10-2 all-time in the Patriot League semifinal games, winning its last five appearances in the semis.
 
Navy is 5-0 (1.000) all-time in the Patriot League Championship Tournament at home.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Offensively, Navy has tallied 305 points on 222 goals and 83 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 17 games, the upperclassmen have registered 137 goals, accounting for 61.7% of the goals scored, while the underclassmen have tallied 85 scores. The upperclassmen have accounted for 62.6% of the total points scored with 65.1% of the team's assists.
 
The Mids are led by Reagan Roelofs (Apple Valley, Minn.), Kasey Dietzel (Warrington, Pa.), Gil Eby (Towson, Md.), Leelee Denton (Nashville, Tenn.), Charlotte Ryan (Tully, N.Y.), and Lindsay Beardmore (Annapolis, Md.).
 
Roelofs paces the offense with a team-high 55 points on a team-best 41 goals with 14 assists. Dietzel is next with 39 points on 24 goals and a team-high 15 assists. Eby is next with 37 points, boasting 31 goals with six assists. Denton (30g 6a), Ryan (24g 8a), and Beardmore (16g 15a) round out Navy's 30-point scorers with 36, 32, and 31, respectively.
 
The Mids have picked up 341 ground balls, won 259 draw controls, caused 135 turnovers, and tallied 149 saves.
 
Christine Fiore (Darian, Conn.) has grabbed a team-high 38 ground balls, while Grace Loughery (Perkasie, Pa.) added 34, while Eby and Jo Torres (Prince Frederick, Md.) have picked up 30 GBs apiece.
 
Roelofs leads the team with 99 draw controls. She is one draw shy of recording the ninth 100-draw performance in school history. The senior had 146 draws as freshman and just missed the 100-draw plateau last season, finishing with 94. Dietzel is second on the squad with 69 draws, while Eby has chipped in 27.
 
Alexis Bell (Johns Creek, Ga.) leads the team with 23 caused turnovers, while Loughery, Fiore, and Erin Carson (New Albany, Ohio) follow with 19, 15, and 15 CTs.
 
Torres leads the team with 136 of Navy's 149 saves in 944 and a half minutes of action. Torres has earned 12 victories with a 50.0 save percentage and 8.64 goals against average.
 
Scouting the Opponent
American enters the Patriot League Championship Tournament with a 9-8 overall record.
 
Paced by a nine-goal effort from fifth-year senior attacker Emma Vinall, the American University lacrosse team secured its first Patriot League Tournament berth since 2013 on Saturday with a 16-12 win over Boston University.
 
Offensively, American is led by four student-athletes – Emma Vinall (65 points), Stefanie Walsh (56), Kendall Goldblum (55), and Maddy Spratt (50) – who have registered 50 or more points this season.
 
Vinall, Goldblum, and Walsh pace the team with 53, 40, and 38 goals, respectively. Spratt is balanced with a team-high 25 assists to go along with 25 scores.
 
In goal, Mary Alice Collins has played a lion-share of the minutes between the pipes. She has tallied 788 minutes with 137 saves and 170 goals allowed for a .446 save percentage and 12.94 goals against average.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the 17th meeting between the two teams. Navy holds a 15-1 (.938) overall record against American with an 8-0 mark at home. The Midshipmen have won 14 in a row against the Eagles.
 
Navy and American have met on the lacrosse field at least once every season since the Midshipmen became full Division I with the exception of 2020 when the conference season was canceled due to COVID.
 
The Mids defense has held AU to single digits eight times, including a series low one goal in 2014, while the Navy offense has registered 15 or more goals in the last five contests.
 
The game marks the third time the two teams have met in the Patriot League Tournament – both times in the semifinals. American won a 17-15 decision in 2008 in Washington, D.C., while Navy claimed a 14-7 victory in Annapolis in 2012.
 
Last Time They Met: #24 Navy 16, American 10 (April 20, 2022)
The No. 24 Navy women's lacrosse team registered a 16-10 victory over American on Wednesday evening at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to remain unbeaten in Patriot League play.
 
Offensively, the Midshipmen tallied 16 goals on 40 shots. Seven different Mids scored goals in the game with five athletes registering multiple goals, including three hat tricks. Freshman Tori DiCarlo (Rosemont, Pa.) led the team with a career-high four goals, marking her first collegiate hat trick. Lindsay Beardmore (Annapolis, Md.) and Leelee Denton (Nashville, Tenn.) finished with three goals apiece. For Beardmore, it was the sophomore's first collegiate hat trick. Kasey Dietzel (Warrington, Pa.) and Gil Eby (Towson, Md.) chipped in a pair of scores each, while Christine Fiore (Darien, Conn.) and Bobbie Haney (Woodbine, Md.) added one goal apiece.
 
The Mids won 18 of 28 draws on the night. Reagan Roelofs (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Dietzel paced the team with five draws apiece, while Caroline Stefans (Coral Springs, Fla.) added a pair.
 
Defensively, Navy held American to 10 goals on 22 shots, while recording nine saves with 23 ground balls. The Mids' backline caused 13 of the Eagles' 19 turnovers. Jo Torres (Prince Frederick, Md.) finished the game with nine saves and a ground ball with eight goals allowed in 57 and a half minutes of work. Emma Richardell (Bethesda, Md.) closed out the final two and a half minutes allowing two goals. Alexis Bell (Johns Creek, Ga.) led the team with a career high four caused turnovers, while Grace Loughery (Perkasie, Pa.) paced the squad with four ground balls, adding two CT. Fiore added three ground balls with a pair of caused turnovers, while Haney picked up three ground balls.
 
For American, Alyssa Apuzzo (4 goals) and Bella Frank (3 goals, 1 assist) led the team with four points apiece. Goalie Mary Alice Collins finished the game with 11 saves in a losing effort.