ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 21 Navy women's lacrosse team (12-5) is set to host the sixth-seeded Lehigh Mountain Hawks (6-9) in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Patriot League Women's Lacrosse Tournament on Sunday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. The game will be the broadcast on ESPN+, aired on WNAV, and live stats will be available.
 
Patriot League Tournament
Navy is making its 17th appearance in the Patriot League Tournament. The Midshipmen have qualified for the conference tournament each season since joining the Patriot League in 2008. The Mids are 21-10 (.677) in the tournament all-time with six conference titles.
 
Navy is 3-1 (.750) all-time in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals, winning the last two quarterfinal games it has played (2022, '23). The Mids lone loss in the quarterfinals came in 2021 when Navy dropped a 13-12 decision in overtime to Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa.
 
The winner of the game between the Midshipmen and Mountain Hawks advances to the semifinals to take on either top-seeded Loyola or second-seeded Army at the Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore.
 
Navy is 7-0 (1.000) all-time in the Patriot League Tournament at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the 24th meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse. Navy holds a 17-6 (.739) overall record against Lehigh. The Mids are 6-2 (.750) against the Mountain Hawks in Annapolis.
 
The two teams have met six times in the Patriot League Tournament with the Mids claiming a 5-1 (.833) advantage in the postseason.
 
Before the back-to-back losses to the Mountain Hawks during the 2021 season, the Midshipmen had won 11 in a row and 13 of the prior 15 meetings. Since 2021, Navy has won four consecutive games against Lehigh.
 
Six of the last eight meetings between the two teams have been played outside of Annapolis with five meetings taking place in Bethlehem, Pa. Navy and Lehigh met in the semifinal of the 2018 Patriot League Tournament in Baltimore before playing three consecutive games in 2019 (regular season) and 2021 (regular season and Patriot League Tournament) in Bethlehem. The two teams returned to Annapolis in 2022 before continuing the series in Bethlehem in 2023.
 
Last season, Navy opened the game with a 9-0 run and never looked back as the Midshipmen posted a 15-4 victory over Lehigh at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The defense held the Mountain Hawks to single-digit goals, while the offense tallied 15 goals with eight assists in the win. The Midshipmen dominated possession, winning 18 of 20 draw controls on the night.
 
Earlier this year, senior draw control specialist Alyssa Daley became the first player in program history with 20 or more draws in a game as she recorded a new school record of 21 draw controls to help then No. 22 Navy to a 21-5 road victory over Lehigh at Frank Banko Field at the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pa.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Navy closed out the regular season with a 17-5 road win at American on Thursday afternoon at Jacobs Recreation Complex in Washington, D.C. Alyssa Daley entered the game needing 14 draw wins to tie her own school record of 191 that she set a year ago. She finished with 17 draw controls to set the new record with 194 this season.
 
With the win, the Midshipmen improved to 12-5 overall and 7-2 in the Patriot League.
 
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 269 goals with 105 assists, while picking up 276 ground balls, winning 303 draw controls, and causing 131 turnovers.
 
Entering the weekend, Alyssa Chung and Emily Messinese lead the team with 68 and 61 points, respectively. Chung has a team-high 56 goals with 12 assists, while Messinese has 39 goals and a team-best 22 helpers.
 
Chung has recorded 14 multi-goal performances in her young career (17 games total), including 12 hat tricks. In Patriot League games, Chung leads Navy with 49 points (5.44 per game) on a team-best 39 goals (4.33), while adding 10 assists (1.11). She recorded multiple goals in all nine conference games this season with eight hat tricks. For her efforts, Chung was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week six (6) consecutive times and a conference-record seven times total.
 
With eight hat tricks this season this season, Messinese has 32 career hat tricks (60 games played), which is seventh-most in program history. She is two (2) hat tricks back of Kathy Young ('13) for sixth in school history. In total, Messinese has scored at least one goal in 57 games (.950) with multiple scores in 44 games (.733).
 
Mikayla Williams follows with 54 points. The sophomore is second on the team with 41 goals and 13 assists. Tori DiCarlo and Emma Kennedy are fourth and fifth with 40 and 38 points, respectively. DiCarlo has 28 goals and 12 assists in 17 games this season, while Kennedy has 31 goals and seven helpers for 38 points.
 
Ava Yovino, Taylor Miles, and Maggie DeFabio round out Navy's 20-point scorers with 28, 27, 26 points in order. Yovino has 16 goals and 12 helpers for her 28 points, while Miles has 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points. DeFabio is one point back with 16 goals and 10 assists for 26 total points.
 
Ten (10) additional Midshipmen have registered points during the season. Lola Leone (7g 2a) has nine points, while Maura Murphy adds five points on five scores. Kat McAteer joins Murphy with five points, notching four goals and an assist. Caroline Gage and Anna Gotterup have four points each with Gage netting four goals and Gotterup chipping in three goals and an assist. Chloe Brown follows with three points on three goals with Bella Paradiso notching two points on a couple of assists. Lizzie Kelley has a point on a goal scored, while Daley and Grace Peterson close out Navy's point scorers with one point on an assist each.
 
Defensively, Navy has caused 131 of its opponents 243 turnovers (53.9 percent), including 64 unsuccessful clear attempts. Jaclyn Johns leads the team with 17 caused turnovers, while DeFabio follows with 16 takeaways. Felicia Giglio has recorded 15 caused turnovers with Yovino, Chung, and Peterson notching 14, 10, and 10 takeaways, respectively, to round out Navy's double-digit caused turnovers.
 
Giglio leads the team with 39 ground balls with Yovino following with 31 and DeFabio picking up 28. Messinese has 20 and Peterson adds 19 for Navy's top-five in the category. Williams has 18, while Johns follows with 16 GB. Chung (13), Gage (13), Jalin Jenkins (11), and Miles (10) round out the Mids' double-digit ground balls.
 
Giglio has notched 114 saves in 936 minutes of action in 17 games played. The 114 saves surpassed her season total of 102 from a year ago during the 19-game season. The sophomore goalkeeper has six double-digit save performances, including four against ranked opponents. Emma Richardell has logged 89 minutes of action in 10 games with 12 saves and a 57.1 save percentage.
 
Daley leads the team with a single-season school record 194 draw controls, topping the previous record of 191 she set last season. The senior has 462 career draws and is 31 back of matching Navy and Patriot League career leader Loren Generi ('15), who finished her Midshipmen career with 493.
 
Messinese has chipped in 43 draw controls while Williams has won 40 draws.
 
Scouting the Opposition
Lehigh enters the tournament 6-9 overall with 3-6 mark in the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks posted a 17-16 victory over rival Lafayette to secure the final spot in the 2025 Patriot League Tournament.
 
Lehigh is led by Molly Snow, who boasts a team-high 56 points on a team-high 38 goals and 18 assists. Kacie Wines adds 44 points on 28 goals and 16 assists. Angelina Pino (26g 3a), Gracie Shoup (20g 6a), Grace Martel (16g 3a), and Shannon Nolan (12g 7a) round out the Mountain Hawks' double-digit point scorers.
 
Julia DeLitta leads the team with 34 ground balls, while Brynn Freeman and Martel pace the squad with 13 and 12 caused turnovers, respectively. Martel has a team-high 61 draw controls, while Snow and Freeman follow with 48 and 38.
 
DeLitta has played and started all 15 games at goal for the Mountain Hawks. The senior has logged 887 minutes with 197 goals allowed and 146 saves for a 42.6 save percentage and a 13.33 goals against average.
 
National Rankings
The Navy women's lacrosse team is currently ranked in two of the three national polls. The Midshipmen are No. 21 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll rankings this week, while coming in at No. 22 in the Inside Lacrosse Media poll.
 
In its history, Navy has been ranked 104 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 #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 #17 and finishing the season 20th.
 
Up Next
If the Midshipmen defeat the Mountain Hawks, Navy would advance to the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals at the Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore against second-seeded Army on Thursday, May 1 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be the broadcast on ESPN+, aired on WNAV, and live stats will be available.