ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 16 Navy women's lacrosse team (15-5) takes on No. 14 Clemson (13-6) in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Friday, May 9 at 5:00 p.m. at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, N.C. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.
 
Tickets for the first and second round and can be purchased here. Tickets are priced at $10 for reserved seating, $8 for general admission, $ for group rate tickets and $5 for all UNC students.
 
NCAA Tournament History
Navy is making its eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Midshipmen earned automatic berths into the postseason in seven seasons, winning the Patriot League Tournament championship (2010, '11, '12, '13, '17, '18, '25), while receiving an at-large berth into the 2019 Tournament.
 
In 2017, the team made history as it became the first Service Academy team from a women's sport to advance to the NCAA Final Four. A year later, the Midshipmen advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.
 
Navy is officially 7-7 (.500) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 4-3 (.571) mark in the first round. The Mids won three play-in games, but those games do not count towards NCAA Tournament records.
 
All-Time Series
The game between the Midshipmen and Tigers will mark the first meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse.
 
Navy is 9-20 against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), including a 14-12 victory over No. 11 Virginia earlier this season.
 
The last time the Midshipmen played a game at North Carolina, the Mids posted a 16-14 victory over the defending national champion and second-ranked Tar Heels to advance to the NCAA Final Four.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
Sophomore Mikayla Williams scored the golden goal with 16 seconds remaining in the first half of overtime to lift Navy to a 14-13 victory over top-seeded and 15th-ranked Loyola in the Patriot League Tournament Championship game on Saturday afternoon at the Ridley Athletic Complex.
 
It was the seventh Patriot League Championship in program history and the first since 2018.
 
The win snapped Loyola's 61-game winning streak against Patriot League opponents including both regular season and postseason. The win by Navy was the fourth in program history against Loyola, including three in the Patriot League Tournament Championship (2017, '18, '25). The Midshipmen remain the only Patriot League school to defeat the Greyhounds.
 
The Midshipmen overcame a five-goal deficit, outscoring the Greyhounds, 7-2, in the fourth quarter and overtime. It was the first time Navy rallied from five goals down to earn a victory since notching a 14-13 come-from-behind victory over No. 11 Florida in March of 2019.
 
With the win, the Midshipmen improved to 15-5 overall.
 
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 320 goals with 130 assists, while picking up 319 ground balls, winning 366 draw controls, and causing 155 turnovers.
 
Entering the weekend, Alyssa Chung, Emily Messinese, and Mikayla Williams lead the team over 60 points each. Chung has a team-high 65 goals with 14 assists for 79 total points, while Messinese has 43 goals and a team-best 26 helpers for 69 points. Williams, who was tabbed the Patriot League Tournament MVP, is second on the team with 48 goals to go along with 14 assists for 62 total points.
 
Chung has recorded 16 multi-goal performances in her young career (20 games total), including 14 hat tricks. In Patriot League games, Chung led 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 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, while ultimately being named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
 
With eight hat tricks this season this season, Messinese has 32 career hat tricks (63 games played), which is seventh-most in program history. In total, Messinese has scored at least one goal in 59 games (.937) with multiple scores in 46 games (.730).
 
Williams has scored at least one goal in 19 of 20 games this season with multiple scores in 15 contests, including seven of the last eight games this year. The sophomore has notched seven hat tricks on the year, including three against ranked opponents – No. 6 Florida (3 goals); No. 17 Loyola (5 goals); and No. 19 Army (3 goals – Patriot League Tournament).
 
Emma Kennedy and Tori DiCarlo are fourth and fifth with 52 and 47 points, respectively. Kennedy has 41 goals and 11 assists this season, while DiCarlo has 34 goals and 13 helpers to round out Navy's top five scorers. Kennedy finished the Patriot League Tournament with 10 goals and four assists for 14 points with a pair of hat tricks, including a career-high seven points on five goals and two assists against No. 19 Army. DiCarlo has scored multiple goals in six of the last seven games with four hat tricks, including three goals against No. 19 Army and No. 15 Loyola in the Patriot League Tournament.
 
Taylor Miles, Maggie DeFabio, Ava Yovino, and Lola Leone close out Navy's double-digit scorers. Miles has a balanced 17 goals and 18 helpers for 35 points, while DeFabio has 32 points on 21 goals and 11 assists. Yovino is one point back of DeFabio with 31 points with 17 goals to go along with 14 assists. Leone, who recorded her 100th career goal in the Patriot League Semifinal, adds 13 points on 11 goals and a pair of assists.
 
Eleven (11) additional Midshipmen have registered points during the season. Maura Murphy and Kat McAteer have five points apiece. Murphy has five points on five scores, while McAteer has five points on 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 and Bella Paradiso follow with three points each. Brown has three goals for her three points with Paradiso notching a goal and a couple of assists. Lizzie Kelley and Natalie O'Neill have a point on a goal scored each, while Alyssa Daley, Reagan Hart, and Grace Peterson close out Navy's point scorers with one point on an assist apiece.
 
Defensively, Navy has caused 155 of its opponents 285 turnovers (54.4 percent), including 74 unsuccessful clear attempts. Jaclyn Johns leads the team with 20 caused turnovers with DeFabio one back with 19. Felicia Giglio and Yovino follow with 16 and 15, in order. Peterson, Chung, and Messinese round out Navy's double-digit caused turnovers, notching 12, 11, and 10 takeaways, respectively.
 
Giglio leads the team with 44 ground balls with Yovino following with 36 and DeFabio picking up 28. Peterson (24) and Messinese (22) close out Navy's top-five in the category. Johns and Williams have 20 apiece, while Chung (17), Gage (15), Jalin Jenkins (15), Miles (12), Landen Cain (11), and DiCarlo (10) round out the Mids' double-digit ground balls.
 
Giglio has notched 131 saves in 1108:09 minutes of action in 20 games played. The sophomore goalkeeper has six double-digit save performances, including four against ranked opponents. Emma Richardell has logged 99:30 minutes of action in 11 games with 12 saves and a 57.1 save percentage.
 
Daley leads the team with a single-season school record 232 draw controls, topping the previous record of 191 she set last season. She needed two draws to tie and three to break the Navy and Patriot League record for career draw controls of 493 by Loren Generi ('15) entering the Patriot League Championship. Daley finished the game with nine draws to give her the record and conclude the day with 500 career draw wins.
 
Messinese has chipped in 51 draw controls while Williams has won 49 draws.
 
Scouting the Opposition
Clemson enters the weekend 13-6 overall, while notching a 7-3 mark in the ACC.
 
The Tigers are led by Lindsey Marshall, Kayla Macleod and Brooke Goldstein. Marshall leads the squad with 68 points on a team-high 56 goals with 12 assists. Macleod and Goldstein are tied with 57 points apiece. Macleod has 47 goals and 10 assists for her 57 points, while Goldstein has 17 goals and a team-high 40 assists for her 57. Natalie Shurtleff (35g 20a) and Lexi Edmonds (38g 12a) round out Clemson's top-five point scorers with 55 and 50 points, respectively.
 
Summer Agostino leads Clemson with 53 caused turnovers and 50 ground balls. Paris Masaracchia and Bridget Babcock claim the next two spots in both caused turnovers and ground balls. Masaracchia has 33 ground balls and 25 caused turnovers, while Babcock has 40 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers. Kira Balis has a team high 137 draw controls, while Maggie Jordan, Natalie Shurtleff, and Babcock follow with 45, 32, and 30 draws.
 
Emily Lamparter has started every game at goal for Clemson, logging 996:59 minutes between the posts. She has 138 saves with 154 goals allowed for a 47.3 save percentage and a 9.27 goals against average. Additionally, she has picked up 21 ground balls.
 
Up Next
With a win, the Midshipmen would advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament to take on No. 1 North Carolina (18-0) at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 11 at Dorrance Field. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.