ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's lacrosse team (4-2) welcomes Mount St. Mary's (1-3) to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, March 8 for a midweek nonconference game. Opening draw between the Mids and Mountaineers is slated for 6:00 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available throughout the game.
All-Time Series
The game between Navy and Mount St. Mary's will mark the fourth meeting between the two teams. The Mids are 3-0 (1.000) all-time against the Mountaineers and 10-0 (1.000) against current members of the Metro Atlantic Conference.
The two teams first met in 2011 with the Midshipmen posting a 14-4 victory in Annapolis. The next meeting occurred ten years later in 2021 with the Mids earning a 10-8 win over the Mountaineers. Last season, the two teams met in Emmitsburg for the first time with Navy edging the home team, 13-11.
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy enters the week 4-2 on the season after posting a pair of victories last weekend. The Midshipmen bested Pac 12 opponent Oregon (W, 15-9) in the home opener before closing out the week with a 20-9 win at No. 18 Richmond. The 11-point win tied for the largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent in program history, while the 20 goals scored were the most scored against a ranked foe in school history.
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 85 goals with 42 assists, while picking up 97 ground balls, winning 91 draw controls, and causing 49 turnovers.
Entering the week, freshman
Ava Yovino (Parkland, Fla.) leads the NCAA in assists (27) and assists per game (4.50), while ranking second in points per game (6.17), and third in total points (37). The rookie sits atop the Patriot League in all four categories. In addition, Yovino has 10 goals with 15 draw controls, four ground balls, and four caused turnovers to her credit.
Yovino is joined by
Emily Messinese (Manchester, Md.) who is second on the team with 21 points. The sophomore leads the team with 16 goals, while adding five assists with three hat tricks.
Lola Leone (Bay Shore, N.Y.),
Maggie DeFabio (Summit, N.J.),
Leelee Denton (Nashville, Tenn.), and
Charlotte Ryan (Tully, N.Y.) round out Navy's double-digit point scorers through six games. Leone and DeFabio each have 12 goals with Leone adding an assist for 13 total points. Denton has 11 points on nine goals and a pair of helpers with Ryan closing out the top performers with 10 goals.
Defensively,
Emma Richardell (Bethesda, Md.) has logged nearly 360 minutes between the pipes for the Midshipmen. The sophomore goalkeeper has notched 38 saves with 11 ground balls and two caused turnovers. The sophomore registered her first double-digit save performance against No. 18 Richmond, finishing with 10 stops against the Spiders.
Athena Corroon (Greenwich, Conn.) leads the team with 18 ground balls, followed by
Grace Peterson (Mound, Minn.) and Richardell who have picked up 12 and 11 GB, respectively. Corroon leads the team with nine caused turnovers, while
Erin Carson (New Albany, Ohio) and Peterson follow seven and six.
Additionally, Messinese and
Maura Murphy (Woodbine, Md.) lead the team with 26 draw controls apiece, while Yovino has added 15 DCs.
Scouting the Opposition
The Mountaineers enter the week with a 1-3 record on the season. The Mount started the season 0-3 before claiming an 18-7 victory at home against La Salle. Mount St. Mary's opened the season at home, falling to Towson, 11-4. The Mountaineers dropped a pair of road games to High Point (L, 10-8) and UMBC (L, 15-10) before earning their first win of the year against the Explorers.
Dani Donoghue and Abby Osmeyer lead the Mountaineers through the first four games of the season. Donoghue paces the squad with 14 points on a team-high 11 goals with three assists. Osmeyer is three back with 11 points on 10 goals and an assist. Abigail Zeigenfuse and Erin Anderson are the team's key contributors, dishing out six and five assists, respectively.
Madison Bradley has played and started each game for the Mountaineers at goal. The senior keeper has 38 saves with a 46.9 save percentage and 10.78 goals against average. Zeigenfuse leads the team with 12 ground balls and six caused turnovers, while ranking second on the squad with 12 draw controls behind Logan Cook who has a team-high 13 draws.
Messinese, Yovino Claim Patriot League Weekly Honors
The Patriot League announced its weekly women's lacrosse awards and Navy student-athletes
Emily Messinese (Manchester, Md.) and
Ava Yovino (Parkland, Fla.) earned Midfielder and Rookie of the Week, respectively.
The duo helped Navy win a pair of games over the weekend, including a 15-9 victory over Pac 12 opponent Oregon and a 20-9 win at No. 18 Richmond. The 11-point win over the Spiders tied for the largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent in program history, while the 20 goals scored were the most scored against a ranked foe in school history.
Messinese finished the weekend with eight points on seven goals and an assist with four ground balls, two draw controls, and a caused turnover. The sophomore began the weekend with two goals, three ground balls, and a draw control against the Ducks in the Mids' home opener. Messinese led the team with six points on a team-high five goals and an assist in a road victory over the Spiders. She added a ground ball, draw control, and caused turnover against Richmond.
Yovino, who claimed her second Rookie of the Week honor of the season, ended the weekend with 13 points on 13 assists with four draw controls, two ground balls, and a caused turnover. On Friday night against the Ducks, she registered eight assists tying with Jenna Collins ('18) for the third most helpers in a game in program history; falling two helpers shy of tying Jasmine DePompeo ('13) for the school record (10) and one assist back of Erin Rawlick ('10) for second place (9). Yovino followed that performance by pacing the squad in assists on Sunday, leading the way with five of the team's eight assists against the nationally-ranked Spiders.
Up Next
Following Wednesday's game, Navy hosts No. 22 Jacksonville on Thursday, March 16 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
