ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 20 Navy women's lacrosse team (10-2, 4-0 Patriot League) hits the road for a Patriot League game at Boston University (6-6, 1-4 Patriot League) on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. at Nickerson Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy enters the week 10-2 overall and 4-0 in the Patriot League. The Midshipmen have won eight consecutive games, including three straight road contests. As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 182 goals with 86 assists, while picking up 205 ground balls, winning 181 draw controls, and causing 109 turnovers. In Patriot League games, the Mids have scored 68 goals with 27 assists with 76 ground balls, 61 draw controls, and 44 caused turnovers.
 
Entering the week, Leelee Denton (Nashville, Tenn.) leads the NCAA in shot percentage. In her last five games, the junior has converted 21 of 27 shots for a shot percentage of .714. In addition, freshman Ava Yovino (Parkland, Fla.) is third nationally in assists (41), assists per game (3.42), points (69), and points per game (5.75).
 
Yovino's 69 points and 41 assists lead the team, while her 28 goals are third most on the team. Denton leads the squad with 30 scores, while Emily Messinese (Manchester, Md.) is second with 29 goals. Messinese adds eight assists for 37 total points. Denton is third on the team with 34 points, adding four helpers to her team-best 30 goals. Denton is the team's active leader with 13 career hat tricks, including a team-high six in 2023.
 
Maggie DeFabio (Summit, N.J.), Charlotte Ryan (Tully, N.Y.), Lola Leone (Bay Shore, N.Y.), Tori DiCarlo (Rosemont, Pa.), and Lindsay Beardmore (Annapolis, Md.) round out Navy's double-digit point scorers. DeFabio has 22 goals and five assists for 27 points, while Ryan has 23 points on 18 scores and five helpers. Leone (21 points) boasts 20 goals and an assist, while one point back is DiCarlo (20) who has notched 16 goals with four helpers. Beardmore has a balanced seven scores and five assists for 12 points.
 
Defensively, Emma Richardell (Bethesda, Md.) has logged 705 minutes between the pipes for the Midshipmen. The sophomore goalkeeper has notched 88 saves with 25 ground balls and five caused turnovers.
 
Athena Corroon (Greenwich, Conn.) leads the team with 32 ground balls, followed by Grace Peterson (Mound, Minn.) and Richardell who have picked up 26 and 25 GB, respectively. Corroon leads the team with 15 caused turnovers, while Erin Carson (New Albany, Ohio) follows with 13. Katie Golbranson (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Yovino have caused 11 turnovers apiece.
 
Additionally, Messinese leads the team with 39 draw controls, while Alyssa Daley (Walkersville, Md.), Yovino, and Maura Murphy (Woodbine, Md.) have each won more than 20 draws this season. Daley has 36 draws, while Yovino has 31. Murphy has won 29 draws on the year. Golbranson adds 12 draws to close out Navy's double-digit draw control winners.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the 10th meeting between the two teams and the fourth competition in Boston. Navy holds a 7-2 (.778) overall record against Boston with a 3-0 mark in Beantown. The Midshipmen have won seven in a row against the Terriers.
 
The two teams met last season 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.
 
Navy won the last meeting between the two teams in Boston, 13-12, in 2019. No current members of the women's lacrosse team were on the team the last time the two teams met in Boston.
 
Despite the Mids holding a 7-2 advantage in the series, six of the nine games played between the two teams have been decided by three goals or less with four games decided by one goal. All three contests played in Boston have been decided by three goals or less.
 
Scouting the Opposition
The Terriers enter the weekend with a 6-6 overall record, including a 1-4 mark in the Patriot League. After opening the season 5-0, Boston University is 1-6 over its last seven games. Most recently, BU dropped an 11-9 decision at home to UMass Lowell on Wednesday.
 
Boston is led by Jennifer Barry and Claire Gola. The duo has 30-plus points each. Barry leads the team with 35 total points on 19 goals and a team-best 16 assists. Gola tops the squad with 24 points, adding seven assists for 31 total points.
 
At goal, Reilly Agres has played and started 11 of 12 games between the pipes for BU. The junior has logged nearly 608 of the team's 720 minutes at goal, leading the team with 85 saves with a 45.5 save percentage and a 10.07 goals against average. Arielle Hammer has played in six goals with a start at goal, registering 15 saves, a 33.3 save percentage, and 16.06 GAA. In addition, Agres is second on the team in ground balls with 18, behind team-leader Gola who has 21. Barry paces BU with a team-high 99 draw controls.
 
Women's Lacrosse Continues to Move Up in ILWomen / IWLCA Division I Poll
The Navy women's lacrosse team moved up to No. 20 in the latest ILWomen / IWLCA Division I Poll. In addition, the Mids are also ranked No. 20 according to US Lacrosse Magazine.
 
The Midshipmen, who are currently on an eight-game winning streak, entered the polls two weeks ago at No. 25 before moving up to No. 24 last week.
 
In its history, Navy has been ranked 73 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.
 
Student-Athlete Spotlight: Emily Messinese
Sophomore Emily Messinese (Manchester, Md.) from the Navy women's lacrosse team is the subject of this week's Naval Academy Student-Athlete Spotlight, presented by Northrop Grumman. Watch the video by clicking HERE.
 
Women's Lacrosse Duo Claim Patriot League Honors
The Patriot League announced its weekly women's lacrosse awards and Athena Corroon (Greenwich, Conn.) and Emma Richardell (Bethesda, Md.) were named Defensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Week, respectively. It is the third weekly honor of the season for Corroon and the second consecutive for Richardell.
 
The duo anchored Navy's defense in a pair of victories over the week, defeating Lafayette, 17-6, on Wednesday before taking down Colgate, 15-10, on Saturday to improve to 4-0 in Patriot League play.
 
Corroon led the Midshipmen with seven ground balls over the week, while also adding three caused turnovers. She helped the Navy defense limit Lafayette to six total goals to open the week. The senior defensive captain caused a pair of turnovers, while picking up three ground balls against the Leopards. Corroon just missed being the first Navy defensive player of the year to score a goal, putting a shot on goal against Lafayette. She closed out the week with four ground balls and a caused turnover against the Raiders. In addition, Corroon held Colgate's leading scorer Caroline Panzirer to just one goal, limiting the Raiders' top shooter to just one shot.
 
Richardell finished the week with 18 saves and 13 goals allowed for a 6.85 goals against average with a 58.1 save percentage. Additionally, the sophomore picked up four ground balls. She opened the week with eight saves and three goals allowed – no more than one per quarter – in 54 minutes of action against the Leopards (3.34 GAA; 72.7 save%), while picking up a ground ball. Richardell earned her second win of the week and 10th of the season with 10 saves against Colgate, marking the fourth time this season she notched double-digit stops. She registered six of her 10 stops in the second half, limiting the Raider offense to just two goals in the second half.
 
Up Next
Following Saturday's game, Navy continues Patriot League with a pair of games next week. The Midshipmen play on the road against American on Wednesday, April 12 at 4:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C. before returning home to host Holy Cross on Saturday, April 15 at 12:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game against the Crusaders will be Senior Day for the Midshipmen. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+. NOTE: Saturday's game is part of a doubleheader with the Navy men's lacrosse team (vs. Lafayette – 3:30 p.m.).