ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 18 Navy women's lacrosse team (0-0) is set to open the 2025 campaign at home against Saint Joseph's (0-0) on Friday, Feb. 7 at 4:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
 
The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available. Additionally, for the first time in program history, Navy women's lacrosse 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.
 
Navy is 13-4 (.765) all time in season openers. The Midshipmen are 11-1 (.917) when opening the season at home, but 2-3 (.400) in road games to start the year.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the sixth meeting between the two teams and the third competition in Annapolis. Navy holds a 3-2 (.600) overall record against Saint Joseph's with a 1-1 mark at home. Navy won the first three meetings between the two teams with Saint Joseph's claiming the last two.
 
The inaugural meeting between the two teams came in 2018 with the Midshipmen recording a 16-11 victory over SJU in Philly. The following year, the Mids snuck past the Hawks, earning a 12-11 win at home. In 2020, Navy registered a 19-12 road win. Saint Joseph's has earned one-goal victories in the last two contests posting a 10-9 win in 2022 in Annapolis and a 14-13 victory last season in Philadelphia.
 
Patriot League Preseason
In a vote cast by the league's coaches and sports information directors, Navy women's lacrosse student-athletes Alyssa Daley, Tori DiCarlo, Emily Messinese, Mikayla Williams, and Ava Yovino were named Preseason All-Patriot League, it was announced by the conference office. Additionally, Navy was picked to finish second in the Patriot League Preseason Poll.
 
Fifteen of the 16 preseason team selections were selected to one of the two 2024 All-Patriot League squads, including 11 first-team honorees and three major award winners. Navy's Daley, DiCarlo, and Emily Messinese all received 2024 All-Patriot League First Team distinction, while Williams claimed Rookie of the Year honors. Yovino, who missed the 2024 campaign with an injury, was a first-team all-conference selection as a freshman in 2023.
 
The Patriot League announced its preseason poll. Loyola secured 17 of the 20 first-place votes (eligible for only 18 due to not being able to vote for your own team) and amassed 161 points to top the poll, while Navy was second with 145 points and the three remaining first-place votes. Army (130) and Holy Cross (112) placed third and fourth, respectively. Lehigh (87) and American (74) ranked fifth and sixth, with Bucknell (68), Colgate (64), Boston University (35), and Lafayette (24) rounding out the preseason poll.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Entering the 2025 season, the Navy women's lacrosse team is looking to build off of a 15-4 campaign a year prior. The Midshipmen return 25 letterwinners, including 11 starters, while welcoming 12 newcomers into the squad. The Mids are relatively balanced with eight seniors, 12 juniors, 14 sophomores, and 12 freshmen.
 
Offensively, the Midshipmen return nine of their top-10 point scorers from last season – Emily Messinese (68g 18a), Tori DiCarlo (58g 14a), Kat McAteer (25g 25a), Lola Leone (40g 7a), Mikayla Williams (25g 16a), Maggie DeFabio (26g 12a), Emma Kennedy (20g 9a), Anna Gotterup (13g 1a), and Caroline Gage (5g 0a). The nine Mids combined for 382 total points on 280 goals and 102 assists, accounting for 93.3-percent of the team's goals, 85.0-percent of the assists, and 91.0-percent of the points.
 
This preseason, Inside Lacrosse recognized Navy as having one of the top attack units (No. 4) and midfield units (No. 5) among the NCAA Division I's best.
 
In addition to the Mids' top returners from last season, Ava Yovino, who was Navy's top performer as a freshman in 2023 returns after missing the 2024 campaign with an injury. Yovino led the team with 92 points on 42 goals and 50 assists as a rookie en route to Honorable Mention All-American distinction.
 
Scouting the Opposition
The Hawks are coming off of an 11-7 season that ended in the semifinals of the 2024 Atlantic 10 Tournament, falling to top-seeded UMass by one (L, 10-9).
 
Saint Joseph's goalkeeper Jorden Concordia and attacker Maddie Yoder were selected to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference Team. The Hawks were tabbed to finish third in the A-10 Preseason Poll, voted on by the 11 head coaches in the conference.
 
Concordia enters the season as the reigning Atlantic 10 Goalkeeper of the Year, holding three of the top four single-season save records. Last season, Concordia became the first Hawk to ever earn recognition to the Tewaaraton Award watch list, finishing the year with Second Team All-Mid-Atlantic Region, USA Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention, and First Team All-Atlantic 10 recognition. The Webster, N.Y. native recorded 199 saves in 2024 with a .529 save percentage. Concordia sits second in program history in career saves (573) and fourth in ground balls (138).
 
Yoder earned her first preseason all-conference honors, coming off a season in which the senior recorded career-highs in goals (45), points (48), ground balls (18), caused turnovers (12) and draw controls (56). A Second Team All-Atlantic 10 and Atlantic 10 All-Tournament Team selection in 2024, Yoder leads all active Hawks with 106 career goals. The Oreland, Pa. native scored hat tricks in 12 of her 18 games last year, highlighted by a five-goal performance against Villanova.
 
St. Joe's was picked to finish third in the preseason poll for the third-consecutive season. Richmond earned eight of the 11 first-place votes; the Spiders tabbed preseason favorites with 118 points. UMass was selected to finish second, earning three first-place votes and 112 points. The Hawks were picked third by 10 of 11 teams, registering 98 points in the preseason voting.
 
Preseason All-Americans
Seniors Alyssa Daley and Emily Messinese were both named Preseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse. Daley claimed second-team accolades, while Messinese took home third-team distinction. Additionally, the duo joined Tori DiCarlo and Ava Yovino on the USA Lacrosse Preseason All-American list. Daley and Messinese were tabbed second team, while DiCarlo and Yovino were honorable mention selections.
 
Preseason Recognition
Inside Lacrosse announced its Top 50 Women's Players for 2025 and Navy seniors Emily Messinese and Tori DiCarlo were selected to the list. Messinese was ranked 27th, while DiCarlo came in at No. 44. Additionally, freshman Alyssa Chung and Chloe Brown were named to the ILWomen Power 100 Rankings for the high school Class of 2024. Chung was featured by the publication for being No. 8 overall among the top 100 incoming freshmen.
 
Senior Team Captains
Navy women's lacrosse head coach Cindy Timchal announced that seniors Lola Leone and Emily Messinese would serve as team captains for the 2025 season.
 
Through her first three seasons, Leone has appeared in 56 games, making 42 starts in her career. The attacker has recorded 105 points on 91 goals and 14 assists, while adding 45 ground balls, 17 caused turnovers, and three draw controls. As a junior, Leone finished the year with 47 points on 40 goals and seven assists with 23 ground balls and seven caused turnovers. She scored goals in 15 games with 14 multi-goals performances, including nine hat tricks. For her efforts last season, Leone earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors.
 
Entering 2025, Messinese has played and started 43 games in her career. The midfielder is a two-time First Team All-Patriot League performer, earning All-American honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine and Inside Lacrosse following her junior year. In her career, Messinese has 152 points on 122 goals and 30 assists, while adding 138 draw controls, 55 ground balls, and 21 caused turnovers. Last season, she finished with a team-best 86 points on a team-high 68 goals and 18 assists with 64 draw controls, 20 ground balls, and six caused turnovers. Messinese scored at least one goal in all 19 games with 17 multi-goal performances, including 16 hat tricks.
 
Navy Sports Magazine
Junior midfielder Maggie DeFabio from the Navy women's lacrosse team chats with Tim Nolan on the Navy Sports Magazine show. Click Here
 
Class of 2028
The Navy women's lacrosse team added 12 members to its 2025 roster with the addition of the Class of 2028. The freshmen joined the roster over Plebe Summer and have competed with the team throughout the fall season.
 
The Class of 2028 includes Maggie Borek (Doylestown, Pa.), Chloe Brown (Wayne, Pa.), Alyssa Chung (Severna Park, Md.), Tiana Griffin (Davidsonville, Md.), Taylor Miles (Glen Arm, Md.), Grace Mitchell (Annapolis, Md.), Cortney Neverosky (Lansdale, Pa.), Emilia Retzlaff (East Setauket, N.Y.), Cam Rohner (Fallston, Md.), Lily Schmalz (Needham, Mass.), Lila Stachowski (Abingdon, Md.), and Jordan Strang (Fallston, Md.).
 
DiCarlo Selected to Wear No. 6
Navy women's lacrosse senior Tori DiCarlo has been selected by her teammates to wear No. 6 this season to honor former Navy women's lacrosse player the late Lt. Valerie (Cappelaere) Delaney. Spearheaded by the Class of 2024, the Navy women's lacrosse team wanted to begin a tradition to honor Cappelaere's legacy by selecting a member of the senior class to wear No. 6 for the season. The player selected has shown the spirit and character with which Cappelaere lived her life.
 
Cappelaere earned an appointment to the United States Naval Academy's Class of 2009. She was instrumental in Navy's transition from a club sport to an NCAA Division I varsity program. Her love for lacrosse and her teammates resulted in deep friendships, and she inspired and mentored many of her teammates to pursue aviation with her same fearlessness and determination.
 
Cappelaere will always be remembered as a person of great integrity, strong faith and an unyielding compassion for all those she met. Her legacy is an inspiration to future aviators and all women. Navy women's lacrosse and the Wings for Val Foundation have been connected since its founding in 2015 with the foundation presenting an award each year to the Navy women's lacrosse player that best represents the legacy of Cappelaere.
 
Up Next
Following the game against Saint Joseph's, Navy will hit the road to take on Villanova (0-0) on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 3:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FloLive.TV and live stats will be available.