EASTON, Pa. – Thirty-seven Midshipmen saw action on Saturday as the No. 20 Navy women's lacrosse team (13-3, 7-1 Patriot League) posted a 17-5 victory over Lafayette (4-11, 1-7 Patriot League) at Fisher Stadium in Easton, Pa. Win the win, the Mids secure the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and a first-round bye.
 
"Today was a great victory on the road for Navy women lacrosse," head coach Cindy Timchal said after the game. "The offense had four people score hat tricks, including EK who had her first hat trick. Emily Mess once again shined with five goals and Kat had a career-high in assists. The defense continued to play hard and held another opponent to under 10 goals. We battled hard and set the tone today, which allowed us to get a lot of people into the game. This was an all-around team effort, and I couldn't be prouder of the way Navy women's lacrosse played today."
 
Seven different Midshipmen scored goals in the game, including four hat tricks. Emily Messinese and Kat McAteer led the team with six points apiece. Messinese had a team-high five goals with an assist, while McAteer registered a career-high five helpers to go along with a goal. Tori DiCarlo, Emma Kennedy, and Lola Leone also added hat tricks in the game, finishing with three scores apiece. For Kennedy, the hat trick was the first of her career. Lindsay Beardmore and Bella Paradiso rounded out the scoring for the Mids with one goal apiece.
 
In addition to McAteer's five assists, Mollie Kemp, Natalie O'Neill, Beardmore, Leone, and Messinese were all credited with assists.
 
At goal, Felicia Giglio finished with five saves in a winning effort. The freshman worked nearly 51 minutes before giving way to Emma Richardell, who finished with six minutes in the cage. Anne Culicerto closed out the final three minutes, registering a clean stat sheet and picking up a ground ball.
 
As a team, Navy registered 28 ground balls on the day, tying for sixth most in a game in program history. Landen Cain, Maggie DeFabio, Jaclyn Johns, Rowan Kimmel, and Grace Peterson all picked up three ground balls apiece, while Caroline Gage, DiCarlo, and Messinese each added a pair.
 
Cain and Caroline Stefans led the team with two caused turnovers apiece, while Morgan Lewis, DeFabio, Gage, McAteer each recorded takeaways.
 
The Midshipmen won the draw control battle, 15-to-8. Alyssa Daley led the team with five draws with Williams following with four. Messinese added three with Sophia Neitzell, McAteer, and Stefans winning one draw each.
 
For Lafayette, Clare Culligan scored three of the team's five goals on the day. Abby Romano and Sara Rogers finished with two assists apiece to pace the Leopards. Kyra O'Driscoll led the team with five ground balls, while Lindsay Geiger notched a team-high three draws for Lafayette. Goalkeeper Lexi Coldiron, who finished with 10 saves, recorded the team's only caused turnover of the game.
 
Navy started the game with a 5-0 run to set the tone of the game early. Leone converted a free-position goal to put the Midshipmen on the scoreboard. DiCarlo buried a pass from Leone to put Navy up two. Messinese scored back-to-back goals to push the advantage to four and McAteer netted a goal to extend the advantage to 5-0. The Leopards would get a goal back with a score with under a minute to play in the first quarter to trim the margin to 5-1.
 
In the second quarter, the Midshipmen once again used a 5-0 run to extend their advantage. Messinese completed her hat trick to start the run with Kennedy following with her first goal of the game. DiCarlo converted a diving shot for her second goal of the game with Messinese following with her fourth score of the first half. Leone pushed the advantage to 10-1 with her second goal of the game. Lafayette scored its second goal of the day to send the game into halftime with Navy in front 10-2.
 
The third quarter saw the Midshipmen once again outscore the Leopards, 5-1, in the period. Leone opened the quarter with a goal to complete her hat trick. Following a Lafayette goal, Navy scored the next four goals of the period. Messinese and DiCarlo each had a goal in the run with Kennedy notching a pair of scores to register her first collegiate hat trick.
 
The two teams played even in the fourth quarter with schools scoring a pair of goals. Beardmore and Paradiso notched the goals in the quarter for the Midshipmen with O'Neill and Kemp getting the assists.
 
Navy concludes the regular season on Thursday, April 25 at home, as the Midshipmen welcome American to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game is slated for 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.