ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 16 Navy women's lacrosse team (5-1) travels to Florida for a nonconference game against Jacksonville (2-4) on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. at Rock Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the third meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse. The Navy holds a 2-0 series lead, claiming both matchups by a final score of 13-12.
 
In the first meeting between the two teams, Jasmine DePompeo ('13) scored the game-winning goal in the sudden-victory second overtime as No. 14 Navy downed Jacksonville, 13-12, on Senior Day at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in 2013. The Mids overcame an 11-7 second-half deficit with a 5-0 run before Jacksonville scored the final goal of regulation to force overtime. After a scoreless period-and-a-half of overtime, Navy's Lindsay Rheiner ('15) controlled the draw to start the second three-minute stanza of double overtime. Loren Generi ('15) received the ball and sent DePompeo on a curl around the back of the cage and the senior co-captain scored with 2:24 remaining to give Navy its 15th win of the season.
 
Last season in a game that featured seven ties and five lead changes, the Navy edged No. 19 Jacksonville, 13-12, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. The Midshipmen used career games by Leelee Denton and Emma Richardell to earn their second victory over a ranked opponent this season. Denton led the team offensively, notching a career-high six goals that included the game-winning goal, while Richardell finished with a career-best 11 saves with eight stops in the second half.
 
Navy is 7-0 all-time against current members of the Atlantic Sun. The Mids are 5-0 against Liberty and 2-0 against Jacksonville.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
The No. 16 Navy women's lacrosse team enters the weekend 5-1 overall. In their last outing, the Midshipmen were edged 13-12 to Drexel on a rainy Wednesday night in Annapolis for the first blemish on the Navy overall record. The Dragons used a 6-0 run to take a three-goal second-half lead, 10-7, but the Midshipmen fought back to tie it at 10 before ultimately falling by one.
 
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 88 goals with 33 assists, while picking up 116 ground balls, winning 105 draw controls, and causing 50 turnovers.
 
Entering the weekend, Emily Messinese leads the team with 24 points with a team-best 21 goals, while adding three assists. The junior registered a career-long five consecutive hat tricks to start the season, while notching multiple goals in all six games on the year.
 
Messinese is joined atop the Navy leaderboard by Tori DiCarlo who has 21 points on 19 goals and two assists. DiCarlo enters the game against Jacksonville with career-long five consecutive hat tricks, including a seven-goal performance against Villanova.
 
Following a four-point performance against Drexel, Kat McAteer moved into third place on the team with 17 total points. McAteer has seven goals with a team-high 10 assists to her credit.
 
Lola Leone is third on the team with 11 goals, while adding four assists for 15 points. Maggie DeFabio has nine goals with four assists for 13 points, while Mikayla Williams rounds out Navy's double-digit point scorers with 12, registering eight goals and four assists.
Defensively, Felicia Giglio has logged over 323 of the 360 minutes between the pipes for the Midshipmen. The freshman goalkeeper has notched 33 saves with 10 ground balls and three caused turnovers. Emma Richardell, who had 11 saves against Jacksonville a season ago, has recorded a pair of saves in just under 34 minutes of action in 2024.
 
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 14 ground balls. Caroline Stefans (11 GB) and Giglio (10) close out the Mids' double-digit ground balls.
 
Stefans has caused a team-high seven turnovers, just ahead of freshman Caroline Gage who has caused five turnovers. Gage is followed by fellow freshmen Jaclyn Johns and Williams who have four CT each.
 
Alyssa Daley leads the team with 55 draw controls. The junior ranks ninth in program history with 132 career draws and is 18 draws back of Caitlin Mandrin Hill (150 draws) for eighth. Messinese and Williams follow with 18 and 10 draws, individually. Messinese has 92 total draws and is just eight shy of becoming the 13th Midshipmen with 100 or more career draws controls.
 
Scouting the Opposition
The Dolphins enter the weekend with a 2-4 record on the season. After opening the season with three straight losses – vs. No. 12 Michigan (L, 19-1), vs. Lehigh (L, 8-7), and vs. No. 2 Boston College (L, 17-3) – Jacksonville has won two of its last three game. Jacksonville defeated Marquette (W, 18-14) for its first win of the season. Following a loss to No. 11 Florida (L, 21-4), the Dolphins won their most recent game, defeating Gardner-Webb (W, 21-4) last weekend.
 
Mackenzie Boyle leads the team in goals (7), assists (6) and points (13). Ainsley Scruggs is tied with Boyle with a team-high seven goals, while ranking second on the squad with nine points. Lauren Ellis is third on the team with eight points, netting five goals and coming in second on the team with three helpers.
 
Abby Moran leads Jacksonville with 31 draw controls, while Ellis (17) and Kaila Stasulli (13) follow with double-digit draw wins. Stasulli, Maggie Cuddy, and Hailey Blachly lead the team with eight ground balls apiece, while Maggie Foster paces the Dolphins with six caused turnovers.
 
JU has used four goalkeepers throughout the season. Paige Pagano has worked a lion share of the minutes (202:59) between the pipes in six games, leading the team with 26 saves. She has allowed 40 goals for an 11.82 goals against average. Addy Tysdal is second on the team with nearly 133 minutes in five games with 10 saves and a 17.21 goals against average.
 
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 Jacksonville, Navy begins Patriot League competition with a road contest at Colgate. Opening draw in Hamilton, N.Y. is slated for 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 16. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.