CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 19 Navy women's lacrosse team (4-1) scored the final five goals of the game to record a 14-12 upset victory over No. 11 Virginia (2-2) on Wednesday night in Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Va. The win was second in Navy history against Virginia and the first for the Midshipmen against the Cavaliers in Charlottesville.
 
The Midshipmen trailed by four on three separate occasions, but rallied to score eight of the final 10 goals of the game, including closing out the game on a 5-0 run to secure the upset win.
 
With the win, the Mids have now defeated multiple ranked opponents this season. Navy has defeated two or more ranked opponents in the same season seven times (2017, '18, '19, '22, '23, '24, and '25) in program history.
 
"It took everything we had to come away with this win," head coach Cindy Timchal said. "I am just so proud of Navy women's lacrosse, coming off of a tough loss on Sunday against Harvard and coming down here to play at the University of Virginia, who is a top 15 opponent.
 
"Virginia got off to a hot start. Each time we would try to respond, they would always come back at us. We talked about it at halftime; just try to keep it close and keep the pressure on Virginia. If we could keep the pressure on and keep it close, then we had a chance and maybe good things would happen. We did keep it close and then had a really great fourth quarter. We had our hands full, but we just kept scrapping. Nothing was really perfect, but we finished the game strong. I am really proud."
 
Offensively, Navy recorded 14 goals on 24 shots, while adding seven assists. Emma Kennedy led the team with five goals, tying a career-high that set earlier this season in a win at No. 20 Richmond (W, 21-11). Emily Messinese led the team with six points on three goals and three assists. The senior team captain completed her fifth hat trick of the season with the go-ahead goal with under five minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Maggie DeFabio registered three points on two goals and an assist with Tori DiCarlo, Taylor Miles, Mikayla Williams, and Ava Yovino also finding the back of the net. DiCarlo, Miles and Williams were credited with assists.
 
Defensively, the Midshipmen caused eight of the Cavs' 11 turnovers in the game, while picking up 11 ground balls. Felicia Giglio recorded a career-high four caused turnovers and a career-best six ground balls to go along with 10 saves in a winning effort. The sophomore goalie kept the potent Virginia offense scoreless over the final 18 minutes of the game. Jaclyn Johns added two caused turnovers with Grace Peterson and Miles also adding takeaways. Yovino was second on the team with two ground balls with Alyssa Chung, Johns, and Messinese picking up GBs.
 
Messinese won seven of Navy's 15 draw controls in the game. She was joined by Alyssa Daley and Williams who won three apiece. Chung and Yovino rounded out the draw wins for the Mids.
 
For Virginia, Jenna Dinardo and Kate Galica led the way with four goals apiece. Dinardo added a team-high two assists for a team-best six points. Galica won 12 draw controls. Abby Manalang led the team with three of the Cavaliers' 10 caused turnovers. Mel Josephson led the Cavs with four saves in just over 49 minutes of action, while surrendering 12 goals. She gave way to Abby Jansen who allowed two goals with a save in just under 11 minutes of work.
 
The home team opened the game with three straight goals before DiCarlo found the back of the net to put the Midshipmen on the scoreboard. The Cavaliers were able to regain a three-goal advantage before the end of the period, 4-1.
 
In the second quarter, Navy scored three of the first four goals to pull to within one. Messinese started the quarter with a goal with Kennedy notching back-to-back scores to close the gap to 5-4. Virginia used its second 3-0 of the first half to extend the advantage to 8-4. Williams converted a free-position opportunity before the half to send the game into intermission with the Mids down 8-5.
 
The Cavaliers scored two of the first three goals of the third quarter to go ahead 10-6 with nine and a half minutes to play in the period. From there, Navy outscored Virginia, 8-2, including 5-0 over the final 16:21. The Mids used a 3-0 run by Miles, Kennedy, and DeFabio to close the gap to 10-9. The Cavs countered with back-to-back scores, but Messinese ended the mini run with her second score of the night.
 
In the fourth quarter, Kennedy and DeFabio scored to knot the game at 12-12 with 10:47 to play. The two teams were held scoreless over the next six minutes of play until Messinese buried a free-position shot into the back of the net to put the Midshipmen up one. On the ensuing UVA possession, Giglio intercepted a pass to give the Mids the ball back. After working the clock, Messinese found an open Yovino who put the ball in the bottom corner of the net to extend the advantage to two with 2:51 to play. Navy was able to prevent any potential Virginia comeback attempt in the final minutes, highlighted by a Giglio save on a free-position attempt by the Cavaliers.
 
Up next, Navy hosts High Point (1-2) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis on Sunday, March 2 at 12:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available. Additionally, the game will be on the radio, airing on 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV. The radio broadcast is also available on wnav.com and on WNAV on the Audacy app.