ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 16 Navy women's lacrosse team (5-0) welcomes Drexel (3-2) for a home game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, March 6 at 6:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.
 
The Midshipmen, who improved to 5-0 with a 14-5 win over No. 20 Richmond on Saturday, are off to their best start since 2014 when the team opened that season 9-0.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the third meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse. The series is tied 1-1 with each team winning on the other team's home field.
 
Drexel won the inaugural meeting 17-8 in 2021 in Annapolis. The No. 18 Dragons jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back as the visitors defeated the No. 21 Midshipmen at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
 
The following year, Navy traveled to Philadelphia and posted a 13-6 victory over No. 15 Drexel. The Mids flipped the script from the previous season, jumping out to a 7-0 through the first quarter and a half of play. The Midshipmen matched the Dragons the remainder of the game, coming away with the seven-goal victory.
 
Navy is 9-3 all-time against current members of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA). The Mids are 5-0 against Monmouth; 1-0 against Towson; 2-2 all-time against William & Mary; and 1-1 against Drexel.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
The No. 16 Navy women's lacrosse team enters the weekend 4-0 overall. Last weekend, the Mids posted a 14-5 victory over No. 20 Richmond at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. With the win, the Midshipmen improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2014 when the team opened that season 9-0.
 
The win over the nationally-ranked Spiders gives the Midshipmen its second win over a ranked opponent this season. Navy has defeated two or more ranked opponents in the same season six times (2017, '18, '19, '22, '23, and '24) in program history.
 
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 76 goals with 28 assists, while picking up 101 ground balls, winning 90 draw controls, and causing 45 turnovers.
 
Entering the week, Emily Messinese leads the team with 21 points with a team-best 19 goals, while adding a pair of assists. The junior has registered a career-long five consecutive hat tricks to start the season.
 
Messinese is joined atop the Navy leaderboard by Tori DiCarlo who has 18 points on 16 goals and two assists. DiCarlo enters the game against Drexel with career-long four consecutive hat tricks, including a seven-goal performance against Villanova.
 
Maggie DeFabio is tied with Kat McAteer with 13 points apiece. DeFabio has nine goals with four assists, while McAteer has a balanced six goals and seven helpers. McAteer's seven assists lead the team. Lola Leone rounds out Navy's double-digit point scorers with 12 points. The junior has eight goals and four assists. Mikayla Williams (6g 3a) and Emma Kennedy (2g 4a) are just outside of the Midshipmen's top five with nine and six points, respectively.
 
McAteer boasts seven assists to lead the team, while DeFabio, Kennedy, and Leone are tied with four helpers apiece.
 
Defensively, Felicia Giglio has logged over 265 of the 300 minutes between the pipes for the Midshipmen. The freshman goalkeeper has notched 27 saves with nine ground balls and three caused turnovers. Emma Richardell has recorded a pair of saves in just under 32 minutes of action, while Anne Culicerto has added a stop in under three minutes in the cage.
 
Following a seven-ground ball performance against Richmond, DeFabio leads the team with 15 GB. Her seven GB tied for the second most ground balls by a Navy player in a game in school history, falling one shy of tying Gab Harchelroad (vs. St. Joseph's in 2019) and Jenna Collins (vs. Virginia in 2018) who hold the record with eight ground balls. DeFabio is followed by Williams who has picked up 13 ground balls in the young season.
 
Giglio has picked up nine ground balls, while Caroline Stefans follows with eight. Caroline Gage caused a team-high four turnovers against the Spiders, tying for the sixth-best performance in program history. It was the most caused turnovers since Athena Corroon had four CT against Holy Cross last season. The four caused turnovers gave Gage a team-high five on the season. She is followed by Jaclyn Johns, Stefans, and Williams who have four CT each.
 
Alyssa Daley leads the team with 47 draw controls. The junior registered three consecutive games with double-digit draw victories – East Carolina (11), Mount St. Mary's (13), and Villanova (10). She enters the week ranked 10th in Navy's career draws list with 124. Daley is three back of Annalise Heyward (127 draws) for ninth. Messinese and Williams follow with 13 and 10 draws, individually. Messinese has 87 total draws and is just 13 shy of becoming the 13th Midshipmen with 100 or more career draws controls.
 
Scouting the Opposition
The Dragons enter the week with a 3-2 record on the season. After opening the season with wins against Binghamton (W, 14-6) and Wagner (W, 15-3), Drexel dropped games against No. 14 Penn (L, 11-8) and No. 5 Maryland (L, 14-7) before rebounding with a win against No. 25 Penn State (W, 10-8). Navy will be the fourth consecutive ranked opponent Drexel will face.
 
Corinne Bednarik leads the team in goals (18), assists (16) and points (34), while coming in second on the squad with 14 draw controls. Kate Marano has 10 points on seven goals and three assists, while Alex Wall has eight points on eight goals. Anna Maria Gragnani leads the team with 17 draw controls.
 
Jenika Cuocco has logged all 300 minutes between the pipes for Drexel. She has 65 saves with 42 goals allowed for an 8.40 goals against average and a 60.7 save percentage. Ryan Camryn and Alli VanSlyke lead the team with six caused turnovers while VanSlyke and Cuocco pace the Dragons with 15 and 12 ground balls, respectively.
 
National Rankings
The Navy women's lacrosse team moved up one spot to No. 16 in the ILWomen / IWLCA Division I Poll this week. In addition, the Mids are ranked 16th in the US Lacrosse Magazine poll.
 
In its history, Navy has been ranked 83 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.
 
The Midshipmen opened the year ranked No. 25 in the preseason ILWomen / IWLCA Poll.
 
Gage Named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week
The Patriot League announced its weekly award winners for women's lacrosse and Navy freshman Caroline Gage was tabbed the conference's Defensive Player of the Week. Gage's selection continues the Mids' streak of Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week awards to four in a row as Caroline Stefans (Feb. 12, Feb. 26) and Jaclyn Johns (Feb. 19) were honored earlier.
 
Gage helped the Midshipmen improve to 5-0 for the first time since 2014 when the team opened that season 9-0 with a 14-5 victory over #20 Richmond on Saturday. The nationally-ranked Spiders entered the game averaging 17.00 goals per game, but Gage and the Navy defense held the potent offense to just five scores. She marked Richmond's second leading point scorer, Alexis Morton, holding her to no points in the game.
 
The freshman caused a season-best four turnovers, tying for the sixth-best performance in program history. Additionally, Gage was a major factor in the transition game, helping Navy convert 20 of 23 total clear attempts.
 
Up Next
Following the game with Drexel, Navy hits the road for a nonconference matchup with Jacksonville at Rock Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday, March 9 at 12:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.