ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's lacrosse team (12-5, 6-3 Patriot League) earned the No. 3 seed in the Patriot League Championship and will play host to sixth-seeded Boston University (9-8, 4-5 Patriot League) 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 Tournament
Navy is making its 15th appearance in the Patriot League Tournament. The Midshipmen have qualified for the conference tournament each season since joining the Patriot League in 2008. The Mids are 19-8 (.704) in the tournament all-time with six conference titles.
Navy opens up the 2023 Patriot League Tournament at home against Boston University. It is the third time the two teams will meet in the conference tournament and the first time the Mids and Terriers will meet in the quarterfinals. The other two meetings between Navy and BU came in the semifinals in Baltimore with each team claiming a victory – Boston in 2014 (W, 13-12) and Navy in 2016 (W, 10-7).
Navy is 2-1 (.667) 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. in 2021. Last season, the Midshipmen bested American, 23-13, in Annapolis to advance to the semifinals.
The winner of the Midshipmen and Terriers advances to the semifinals against No. 2 seed Army (14-2, 8-1). Navy is 11-2 (.846) all-time in the Patriot League semifinal games, winning its last six appearances in the semis.
Navy is 6-0 (1.000) all-time in the Patriot League Tournament at home.
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy enters the weekend 12-5 overall and 6-3 in the Patriot League. As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 250 goals with 111 assists, while picking up 298 ground balls, winning 255 draw controls, and causing 162 turnovers. In Patriot League games, the Mids scored 136 goals with 52 assists with 169 ground balls, 135 draw controls, and 97 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 42 goals, while adding 10 helpers for 52 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 two points back of Denton with 39 total points on 29 goals and 10 assists. Yovino paces the team with eight hat tricks this season, while Denton and Messinese add seven 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.),
Tori DiCarlo (Rosemont, Pa.),
Lola Leone (Bay Shore, N.Y.),
Lindsay Beardmore (Annapolis, Md.), and
Isabelle Thornburg (Alexandria, Va.) round out Navy's double-digit point scorers. Ryan has 23 goals and 10 assists for 33 points, while DiCarlo (24g 4a) and Leone (26g 1a) have 28 and 27 points, respectively. Beardmore (11g 6a) and Thornburg (4g 7a) close out the double-digit point performances with 17 and 11.
Defensively,
Emma Richardell (Bethesda, Md.) has logged over 995 minutes between the pipes for the Midshipmen. The sophomore goalkeeper has notched 116 saves with 36 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
Athena Corroon (Greenwich, Conn.) leads the team with 41 ground balls, while
Grace Peterson (Mound, Minn.) and Richardell follow with 36 GBs each. Corroon leads the team with 26 caused turnovers, while Yovino follows with 17.
Erin Carson (New Albany, Ohio) and
Katie Golbranson (Newport Beach, Calif.) have caused 15 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 61 draw controls, while Messinese is second with 53 DC and Yovino adds 48.
Scouting the Opposition
The Terriers enter the weekend with a 9-8 overall record, including a 4-5 mark in the Patriot League. After opening the conference season 1-4, Boston University finished 3-1, including a 19-15 victory over American on Thursday, to earn a spot in the 2023 Patriot League Tournament.
Boston is led by Claire Gola and Jennifer Barry. The duo has 40-plus points each. Gola leads the team with 47 total points on a team-best 36 goals and 11 assists. Barry tops the squad with 19 assists, adding 26 goals for 45 total points.
Maddie Macmaster (24g 13a), Matty Spaeth (29g 4a), and Hannah Tillier (15g 13a) round out BU's top five in points with 37, 33, and 28, respectively.
At goal, Reilly Agres has played and started 16 of 17 games between the pipes for BU. The junior has logged nearly 870 of the team's 1020 minutes at goal, leading the team with 125 saves with a 43.7 save percentage and a 11.12 goals against average.
In addition, Agres is second on the team in ground balls with 24, behind team-leader Gola who has 28. Barry paces BU with a team-high 137 draw controls.
All-Time Series
The game marks the 11th meeting between the two teams and the fifth competition in Annapolis. Navy holds a 7-3 (.700) overall record against Boston with a 3-1 mark at home. The Midshipmen had won seven in a row against the Terriers prior to BU's one-goal victory on April 8 (W, 12-11).
Despite the Mids holding a 7-3 advantage in the series, seven of the 10 games played between the two teams have been decided by three goals or less with five games decided by one goal. All four contests played in Boston have been decided by three goals or less.
The two teams met last season in Annapolis with Navy notching a 16-6 victory over BU.
Prior to the 2022 game, the Mids and Terriers did not meet the prior two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Patriot League season was canceled and the 2021 season saw the conference split into divisions. Navy was in the South Division and did not play Boston who was in the North Division.
