ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 20 Navy women's lacrosse team (13-3, 7-1 Patriot League) closes out the regular season at home against American (7-8, 3-5 Patriot League) on Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game will be broadcast on
ESPN+ and
live stats will be available.
All-Time Series
The game marks the 19th meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse. Navy holds a 17-1 (.944) overall record against American. The Mids are 9-0 (1.000) against the Eagles in Annapolis.
The two teams have met every season since Navy joined the Patriot League with the exception of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic as no Patriot League games were played that season.
The Midshipmen claimed the first meeting between the two teams, 13-12, at home in 2008. The Eagles evened the season later that season with a 17-15 victory in Washington, D.C. at the Patriot League Tournament. Since the American victory, Navy has won 16 consecutive meetings between the two teams.
Last season, No. 23 Navy used a total team effort to post a 17-8 victory over American at the Jacobs Recreational Complex. The defense tied a season-high with 15 caused turnovers, while the offense posted the third most goals of the season in the win.
The last time the two teams met in Annapolis, Navy advanced to the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament with a 23-13 victory over American in the quarterfinals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. With the win, Navy advanced to take on No. 2 seed Army in the semifinals at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore.
Scouting the Midshipmen
The No. 20 Navy women's lacrosse team enters the weekend 13-3 overall with a 7-1 mark in Patriot League play. In their last outing, thirty-seven Midshipmen saw action on Saturday as Navy posted a 17-5 victory over Lafayette at Fisher Stadium in Easton, Pa. Win the win, the Mids secured the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and a first-round bye.
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 252 goals with 102 assists, while picking up 269 ground balls, winning 296 draw controls, and causing 120 turnovers.
Entering the week,
Emily Messinese and
Tori DiCarlo lead the team with 73 and 62 points, respectively. Messinese has 73 points with on 58 goals, while adding 15 assists. DiCarlo is second on the team with 62 points on 51 goals with 11 helpers. Messinese has posted a team-best 14 hat tricks in 16 games, while DiCarlo has registered 12 hat tricks to this point.
Kat McAteer is third on the team with 45 total points. The sophomore has a balanced 21 goals with a team-high 24 assists to her credit. In her last outing, McAteer recorded a career-high five assists at Lafayette.
Lola Leone is fourth on the squad with 40 points on 34 goals and six assists, while
Mikayla Williams follows with 20 goals and 13 assists for her 33 points.
Maggie DeFabio has 20 goals with 11 assists for 31 points to round out Navy's 30 or more-point scorers.
Emma Kennedy, who recorded her first collegiate hat trick against the Leopards, has posted 14 goals and seven assists for 21 points, while
Lindsay Beardmore also has double-digit points (18) with 11 goals and seven assists. In her career, Beardmore has two collegiate hat tricks with both coming against American.
Anna Gotterup has 13 points this season on 12 goals and a helper.
Defensively,
Felicia Giglio has logged 787:51 of the 960 minutes between the pipes for the Midshipmen. The freshman goalkeeper has notched 83 saves with 24 ground balls and nine caused turnovers.
Emma Richardell has recorded 18 stops with four caused turnovers and three ground balls in 156:25 minutes of action in 2024.
DeFabio leads the team with 27 ground balls with
Caroline Stefans (26 ground balls), Williams (26), and Giglio (24) just off the pace. The group is followed by Messinese (18 ground balls),
Grace Peterson (16),
Caroline Gage (14), DiCarlo (14), Leone (14),
Jaclyn Johns (13),
Landen Cain (11),
Morgan Lewis (11), and McAteer (11) to close out the Mids' double-digit ground balls.
Stefans has caused a team-high 19 turnovers, ahead of Williams and Johns who have 11 and 10 caused turnovers, respectively. Giglio (9 caused turnovers), DeFabio (9), and Gage (9) round out Navy's top five in the category.
Alyssa Daley leads the team with 151 draw controls, which is two (2) draws back of Loren Generi ('15) for the all-time single-season record of 153. The junior ranks fifth in program history with 228 career draws. She 49 back of Julia Collins ('18) for fourth all-time. Messinese currently has 55 draws on the year and 129 career DC. Williams and Stefans follow with 39 and 14 draws, respectively.
Scouting the Opposition
The Eagles enter the week with a 7-8 overall record, including a 3-5 mark in the Patriot League. Most recently, American earned a 12-11 overtime victory on the road against Boston University. AU is one of four schools (American, Bucknell, Colgate, and Lehigh) vying for one of the final two spots in the Patriot League Tournament.
Reagan Murdoch leads American on the season with 43 total points. She has a team-high 33 goals to go along with 10 assists. Becca Frank and Hannah Spease follow with 37 and 35 points, respectively. Spease is second on the team with 28 goals, adding seven helpers, while Franks has 27 goals and 10 assists on the year. Alyssa Apuzzo leads the team with 12 assists, one better than Maddy Spratt who has 11.
At goal, Caleigh Forti has played in and started 13 games, logging 708:43 between the posts with 123 saves and 141 goals allowed for a 46.6 save percentage and 11.94 goals against average. Forti leads the team with 38 ground balls, while Spease leads all position players with 24 ground balls. Jenna Walls leads the Eagles with 22 caused turnovers, while Spease paces the team with 50 draw controls.
Up Next
Following the game with American, Navy will compete in the Patriot League Tournament against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. The semifinal game is slated for on Thursday, May at the Ridley Athletic Complex at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.
