ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 25 Navy women's lacrosse team (12-4, 6-2 Patriot League) hosts No. 9 Loyola (14-2, 8-0 Patriot League) on Friday evening at 6:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network with Jason Knapp and Leah Secondo calling the action.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy enters the week 12-4 overall and 6-2 in the Patriot League. As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 243 goals with 110 assists, while picking up 283 ground balls, winning 246 draw controls, and causing 157 turnovers. In Patriot League games, the Mids have scored 129 goals with 51 assists with 154 ground balls, 126 draw controls, and 92 caused turnovers.
 
Entering the week, Ava Yovino (Parkland, Fla.) ranks in the top five in the NCAA for her performance on the field. Yovino is third nationally in points (85), while ranking fourth in assists (46), assists per game (2.88), and points per game (5.31).
 
Yovino leads the team with 85 points with a team-best 46 assists while adding 39 goals. She is joined atop the Navy leaderboard by Emily Messinese (Manchester, Md.) who leads the squad with 41 goals, while adding 10 helpers for 51 points. Leelee Denton (Nashville, Tenn.) is third on the team with 41 points on 36 goals and five helpers. Maggie DeFabio (Summit, N.J.) sits three points back of Denton with 38 total points on 28 goals and 10 assists. Yovino paces the team with eight hat tricks this season, while Denton and Messinese add six each and DeFabio is one shy with six. Denton is the team's active leader with 14 career hat tricks.
 
Charlotte Ryan (Tully, N.Y.), Lola Leone (Bay Shore, N.Y.), Tori DiCarlo (Rosemont, Pa.), Lindsay Beardmore (Annapolis, Md.), and Isabelle Thornburg (Alexandria, Va.) round out Navy's double-digit point scorers. Ryan has 23 goals and nine assists for 32 points, while Leone (24g 1a) and DiCarlo (21g 4a) have 25 points apiece. Beardmore (11g 6a) and Thornburg (4g 7a) close out the double-digit point performances with 17 and 11, respectively.
 
Defensively, Emma Richardell (Bethesda, Md.) has logged over 935 minutes between the pipes for the Midshipmen. The sophomore goalkeeper has notched 107 saves with 33 ground balls and seven caused turnovers.
 
Athena Corroon (Greenwich, Conn.) and Grace Peterson (Mound, Minn.) lead the team with 36 ground balls each. The duo is followed by Richardell who has picked up 33 GBs. Corroon leads the team with 25 caused turnovers, while Yovino follows with 17. Erin Carson (New Albany, Ohio) and Katie Golbranson (Newport Beach, Calif.) have caused 14 turnovers apiece, with Gabby Lavin (Gambrills, Md.), Peterson, and Messinese have registering 11, 11, and 10 CTs, respectively.
 
Additionally, Alyssa Daley (Walkersville, Md.) leads the team with 60 draw controls, while Messinese is second with 49 DC and Yovino adds 46.
 
Scouting the Opposition
Loyola enters the final week of the regular season 14-2 overall with an 8-0 mark in the Patriot League, earning the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament. The Greyhounds enter the game on a nine-game winning streak.
 
Since joining the Patriot League for the 2014 season, the Greyhounds have posted an unblemished 74-0 record in regular-season conference contests.
 
Loyola is 88-3 (.967) 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.
 
The Greyhounds have seven players with 32 or more points, including a pair with 40 or more goals and two with 30-plus assists.
 
Georgia Latch leads the team with 75 points on a balanced 38 goals and team-high 37 assists. Jillian Wilson leads the team with 45 goals, adding 15 helpers for 60 total points. Chase Boyle adds 40 goals while Emily Wills has chipped in 30 assists. In addition, Wilson, who has won four consecutive Patriot League Midfielder of the Week honors, leads the team with 155 draw controls.
 
In goal, Lauren Spence has played and started in all 16 games, logging 109 saves in nearly 900 minutes of action. The sophomore keeper has a .529 save percentage and a 6.83 goals against average – both tops in the Patriot League.
 
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 16th meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse. Loyola holds a 12-3 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 PL 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 consecutive conference title 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 last 12 Patriot League Tournament titles with the Midshipmen claiming six and the Greyhounds earning six. (NOTE: No tournament held in 2020 due to the corona virus pandemic)
 
Women's Lacrosse Remains Ranked in ILWomen / IWLCA Division I Poll
The Navy women's lacrosse team remains ranked in the latest ILWomen / IWLCA Division I Poll, coming in at No. 25. In addition, the Mids are also receiving votes according to US Lacrosse Magazine. The Midshipmen entered the polls at No. 25 on March 20 before moving up the following week to No. 24 and coming in No. 20 on April 3. The Mids held the No. 23 spot on the top 25 poll April 10 and 17, while moving to the No. 25 spot on April 24.
 
In its history, Navy has been ranked 76 total weeks, including a stretch of 46 weeks from the final poll of 2017 (May 30) to April 5, 2021. The Mids' first appearance in the national rankings came on March 11, 2013, coming in at No. 20. The Midshipmen's highest ranking – sixth – came in the final polls of the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Last season, the Midshipmen were in the top 25 poll for seven weeks, rising as high as No. 17.
 
Up Next
Following the game, Navy opens up Patriot League Tournament play, hosting a quarterfinal game against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. The game is slated for 12:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.