ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 25 Navy women's lacrosse team (0-0) is set to open the 2024 campaign at home against No. 24 Duke (0-0) on Friday, Feb. 9 at 4:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.
 
Navy is 12-4 (.750) all time in season openers. The Midshipmen are 10-1 (.909) when opening the season at home, but 2-3 (.400) in road games to start the year.
 
The game will mark the fifth time in program history Navy will open the season against an ACC opponent. The Mids are 1-3 (.250) in season openers against the ACC defeating Virginia Tech in 2016 (W, 12-6), while falling to Virginia in 2019 (L, 15-12) and 2020 (L, 14-13) and Duke last season (L, 15-10).
 
All-Time Series
The game between Navy and Duke will mark the eighth meeting between the two teams. Duke has a 6-1 advantage in the series; however, the Midshipmen claimed the last meeting between the two teams in Annapolis, posting a 16-15 victory over the nationally-ranked Blue Devils during the 2020 season.
 
Last season, the Midshipmen dropped a 15-10 decision to the No. 11 Blue Devils in Durham, N.C. in the 2023 season opener.
 
Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel, who is a 1993 graduate of the University of Maryland, played for Navy head coach Cindy Timchal while with the Terps. During Kimel's playing career (1990-93), she and Timchal led the Terrapins to four consecutive national semifinal appearances and the 1992 NCAA National Championship.
 
Anne Culicerto (Charlotte) is the only Midshipmen on the roster to North Carolina home. Conversely, Duke has eight players on the roster from Maryland – Madison Beale (Ellicott City), Cameron Christie (Arnold), Lena Doreen (Middletown), Izzy Marsh (Reisterstown), Delaney Ott (Severna Park), Sydney Smith (Mt. Airy), Ellie White (Lutherville), and Reese Woodworth (Baltimore).
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Entering the 2024 season, the Navy women's lacrosse team is looking to build off of an 13-6 campaign a year prior. The Midshipmen return 21 letterwinners, including nine starters, while welcoming 16 newcomers into the squad. The Mids are relatively balanced with nine seniors, nine juniors, 12 sophomores, and 16 freshmen.
 
Offensively, the Midshipmen return nine of their top-10 point scorers from last season. The nine Mids combined for 347 total points on 242 goals and 105 assists, accounting for 86.1-percent of the team's goals, 84.0-percent of the assists, and 85.5-percent of the points.
 
Navy returns starters Leelee Denton, Emily Messinese, and Ava Yovino who earned 2023 First Team All-Patriot League distinction, while also claiming Preseason All-Patriot League honors.
 
Denton is a three-year letterwinner at attack for Navy. The senior has played in 48 games, making 23 starts. In her career, Denton has tallied 86 points on 75 goals with 11 assists. Last season, the Nashville native recorded a career-high 40 goals with a 57.1 shot percentage. Additionally, she has picked up 23 ground balls with five draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers in her three years with the Midshipmen.
 
Messinese completed her first full season in 2023 after a season-ending injury during her rookie campaign in 2022. The Manchester, Md. native has played and started in 24 games, including all 19 in 2023, amassing 66 total points on 54 goals and 12 assists. She has won 74 draw controls, while picking up 35 ground balls and causing 15 turnovers in just over a full season of competition at Navy.
 
In 2023, Yovino completed one of the best freshman seasons in program history, leading the team with 92 points on 42 goals and a team-best 50 assists during the 2023 season. Additionally, she finished her inaugural season with 51 draw controls, 25 ground balls, and 20 caused turnovers. She etched her name into the Navy freshman record book finishing the top 5 of the rookie annals in points per game (1st), assists per game (1st), points (2nd), assists (2nd), caused turnovers (2nd), caused turnovers per game (3rd), draw controls (4th), draw controls per game (4th), and goals (5th).
 
In addition to the three preseason award winners, the Midshipmen return Lindsay Beardmore, Maggie DeFabio, Tori DiCarlo, Emma Kennedy, Lola Leone, and Isabelle Thornburg who all finished the 2023 season in the top 10 for scoring.
 
DeFabio tied with Denton for third on the team with 45 total points finishing with 33 goals and 12 assists. DiCarlo (28g 5a) and Leone (30g 2a) finished with 33 and 32 points, respectively. Beardmore finished the year with 12 goals and seven helpers for 19 points, while Thornburg, who is making the transition from midfield to defense in 2024, tallied four scores and nine assists for 13 points. Kennedy was 10 among Navy scorers last season with a balanced four goals and three assists for seven points in her rookie campaign.
 
On defense, Navy returns starters Katie Golbranson and Grace Peterson who finished last season with 55 combined ground balls and 29 caused turnovers. Golbranson was balanced with 18 GB and 18 CT, while Peterson finished with 37 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers. Additionally, Golbranson added 20 draw controls. Megan Marengo, who made 12 starts last season, also returns on defense, finishing last season with 14 ground balls, three caused turnovers and a draw control.
 
Goalkeeper Emma Richardell played and started every game last season, finishing with 133 saves in roughly 1125 minutes of action. She is expected to split time with freshman goalie Felicia Giglio.
 
Draw control specialist Alyssa Daley returns to the circle in 2024. The junior finished the 2023 season with a team-high 77 draw controls, helping the Mids win a total of 290 draws a season ago.
 
Scouting the Opposition
The Blue Devils are coming off of an 8-10 season that ended in the second round of the 2023 ACC Tournament. Duke enters the season No. 24 according to the Inside Lacrosse / IWLCA Division Preseason Poll, just one spot ahead of Navy.
 
Duke was picked to finish seventh in the ACC by a poll of the ACC's 10 head coaches. Boston College was selected the preseason favorite to win the conference with a total of 98 points, followed by Syracuse (83), North Carolina (80), Notre Dame (78), Virginia (55), Clemson (46), Duke (43), Virginia Tech (35), Louisville (20), and Pitt (20) to round out the preseason rankings.
 
The Blue Devils' roster, which lists 39 total student-athletes, features 11 graduate students, three seniors, six juniors (two redshirts), eight sophomores (four redshirts), and 11 freshmen (three redshirts).
 
Duke returns six of its nine double-digit goal scorers from a year ago. Katie DeSimone (48g 18a) and Caroline DeBellis (21g 21a) finished first and second on the team in points scored, while Carly Bernstein (20g 15a) and Lexi Schmalz (30g 4a) were third and fourth on the squad.
 
The Blue Devils used three goalies last season with each keeper registering nearly identical minutes and saves. Madison Drebing is the lone goalkeeper returning for Duke. She led the team with just over 426 minutes played over 17 competitions with 45 total saves.
 
Senior Team Captains
Navy women's lacrosse head coach Cindy Timchal officially announced that seniors Leelee Denton and Katie Golbranson would serve as team captains for the 2024 season. Denton will serve as the offensive captain, while Golbranson will captain the defense.
 
Entering 2023, Denton has appeared in 48 games, making 23 starts in her career. She has recorded 86 points on 75 goals with 11 assists. She entered her final year of play as Navy's active leader in hat tricks with 14, while boasting five game-winning goals. In addition, the Nashville native picked up 23 ground balls, won five draw controls, and caused a pair of turnovers. For her efforts in 2023, she was named First Team All-Patriot League.
 
Golbranson has persisted throughout her Navy career, going from a walk on to a starter in her three seasons at the Academy. The California native worked her way into a starting role as a junior, finishing the 2023 season with 18 starts in 19 games played. The defender won 20 draw controls, while picking up 18 ground balls and causing 18 of her 19 career caused turnovers in 2023. Additionally, Golbranson helped the Navy offense, serving as a primary figure in the Midshipmen's transition game, while also finishing last season with a pair of assists.
 
Class of 2027
The Navy women's lacrosse team added 16 members to its 2024 roster with the addition of the Class of 2027. The freshmen joined the roster over Plebe Summer and have competed with the team throughout the fall season.
 
The Class of 2027 includes Sydney Beitler, Ellery Bowman, Landen Cain, Ari Foreman, Caroline Gage, Felicia Giglio, Reagan Hart, Jalin Jenkins, Jaclyn Johns, Mollie Kemp, Rowan Kimmel, Grace Koch, Sophia Neitzell, Natalie O'Neill, Lily Strohecker, and Mikayla Williams.
 
Patriot League Preseason
In a vote cast by the league's coaches and sports information directors, Navy women's lacrosse picked to finish third in the 2024 Patriot League Preseason Poll.
 
Loyola secured 18 of the 20 first-place votes (eligible for only 18 due to not being able to vote for your own team) and amassed 162 points to top the poll, while Army was second with 140 points and the two remaining first-place votes. Navy (132) and Lehigh (118) placed third and fourth, respectively, in the preseason poll after advancing to the League semifinals in 2023. Boston University (92) and Holy Cross (74) ranked fifth and sixth, with Colgate (59), American (53), Bucknell (51) and Lafayette (19) rounding out the preseason poll.