ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The 23 Navy women's lacrosse team (5-3, 0-0 Patriot League) is set to open up Patriot League play on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. as the Midshipmen host Colgate (3-4, 0-1 Patriot League) at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.
 
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.
 
Navy is 14-2 (.887) in program history in Patriot League openers.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the 21st meeting between the two teams and the eighth competition in Annapolis. Navy holds a 16-4 (.800) overall record against Colgate, including a 6-1 mark at home.
 
After starting the series 0-3, Navy has posted victories against Colgate in 16 of the last 17 games, including nine consecutive wins against the Raiders.
 
The Midshipmen defense has held the Colgate offense to 10 or fewer goals in 15 games, notching a 13-2 (.867) record in those games. The Midshipmen have limited the Raiders to 10 or fewer goals in five straight contests.
 
The Mids have opened the conference season against Colgate three times, earning a 13-12 overtime win in Annapolis in 2018; notching an 18-6 victory in Hamilton, N.Y. in 2019; and registering a 19-7 road win last season.
 
Last season, four different Midshipmen recorded hat tricks, while the defense held another opponent to single digits as No. 18 Navy began Patriot League play with a 19-7 road win against Colgate at Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, N.Y.
 
The last time the two teams met in Annapolis, Navy's youth led the way as the Midshipmen freshmen and sophomores combined to score 12 of Navy's 15 goals in the game, en route to a 15-10 victory at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis during the 2023 season.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy fell to 5-3 on the season after a heartbreaking 14-13 loss on the road at No. 6 Florida at Donald R. Dizney Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. The Mids led by as many as four goals, but a pair of late runs by the Gators gave the home team the one-goal victory.
 
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 111 goals with 42 assists, while picking up 136 ground balls, winning 121 draw controls, and causing 58 turnovers.
 
Entering the weekend, Emily Messinese leads the team with 30 points on a team-high 21 goals and a team-best nine assists. The senior has five hat tricks in eight games on the year, giving her 29 for her career. Her 29 hat tricks are tied for eighth-most in program history with Julia Collins ('18) and are two behind Jasmine DePompeo ('13) for seventh.
 
Messinese is followed by Mikayla Williams with 22 points on 15 goals and seven assists. The sophomore has scored at least one goal in every game this season with five multi-goal games, including back-to-back hat tricks against Jacksonville and No. 6 Florida.  
 
Emma Kennedy and Alyssa Chung are tied with 17 goals apiece. Kennedy adds three assists for 20 total points, while Chung has a pair of helpers for 19 points in her rookie campaign. Last time out, Chung led the Mids with four scores at No. 6 Florida, marking her third four-goal performance of the year.
 
Ava Yovino, Tori DiCarlo, and Taylor Miles round out Navy's double-digit point scorers. Yovino and DiCarlo each have 10 goals apiece, while Miles follows with eight scores. Yovino has six assists to give her 16 total points, while DiCarlo and Miles both have four helpers giving the duo 14 and 12 points, respectively.
 
Maggie DeFabio (3g 4a), Lola Leone (3g 1a), Kat McAteer (3g), and Maura Murphy (2g) follow with seven, four, three, and two points, correspondingly. Chloe Brown (1g), Anna Gotterup (1a), and Bella Paradiso (1a) close out Navy's point scorers with one point apiece.
 
Defensively, Navy has caused 58 of its opponents 110 turnovers, including 20 unsuccessful clear attempts. Felicia Giglio leads the team with 11 caused turnovers with Jaclyn Johns adding nine takeaways. DeFabio follows with six caused turnovers, while Chung, Williams, and Yovino have five apiece. Grace Peterson and Messinese add four takeaways each with Jalin Jenkins and Mills contributing three CTs individually.
 
Giglio leads the team with 23 ground balls with Yovino, DeFabio, and Williams following with 18, 14, and 12, congruently. Johns and Messinese have nine ground balls apiece with Peterson following with eight. Chung and Jenkins have both won seven ground balls with Caroline Gage and DiCarlo adding five GB each.
 
Giglio has notched 65 saves in 468:29 minutes of action, while adding 11 caused turnovers and 23 ground balls. The sophomore goalkeeper is averaging 10.2 saves per game in her last five games, registering 11 saves against Harvard, 10 at No. 11 Virginia, 11 against High Point, eight at Jacksonville, and 11 at No. 6 Florida. Four of Giglio's five double-digit save performances have come in the last five games she has played.
 
Alyssa Daley leads all players with 59 draw victories. With her 10 draw wins earlier in the year against Harvard, Daley topped the 300-draw plateau, becoming the third player in program history with 300 or more draw controls. She joined Loren Generi ('15) and Reagan Roelofs ('22) who had 493 and 390, respectively. Daley currently has 327 career draws.
 
Messinese has chipped in 26 while Williams has won 22 draws. Yovino has added three draw controls with Chung, DeFabio, Johns, Miles, Murphy, and Paradiso also being credited with a draw victory.
 
Scouting the Opposition
Colgate enters the game 3-4 on the season and 0-1 in the Patriot League. In their last outing, the Raiders dropped their Patriot League opener 14-7 to Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. on Saturday. Ella Bishara netted four goals in the loss while Lauren Solis made three saves in between the pipes.
 
Colgate is led by Caroline Panzirer who has a team-high 32 points on a team-best 20 goals with a team-high 12 assists. She is followed by Aubrey McMahon and Lucy Licata who have 14 and 12 goals, respectively.
 
Nelle Kniffin leads the defense with a team-high 10 caused turnovers to go along with 10 ground balls. Elizabeth Joffrey paces the Raiders with 14 ground ball wins.
 
Solis has played and started all seven games at goal for Colgate. The sophomore has logged 375 minutes, surrendering 73 goals with 43 saves for an 11.68 goals against average and a 37.1 save percentage.
 
Lucy Licata has won a majority of the team's draw controls, winning 64 of the Raiders' 114 draws.
 
National Rankings
The Navy women's lacrosse team is currently ranked in two of the three national polls. The Midshipmen are No. 23 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll rankings this week, while coming in at No. 24 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Additionally, the Mids are receiving votes according to USA Lacrosse.
 
In its history, Navy has been ranked 98 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 and finishing the season 20th.
 
Up Next
Following the game with Colgate, Navy hits the road for a Patriot League game against Bucknell (4-3, 0-0) on Saturday, March 22 at 3:00 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Pa. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.