Bridget Yovino, the mother of Navy star senior midfielder and team captain Ava Yovino, has long accepted the fact that her only daughter, the youngest of three children, is quite wise beyond her years.
 
The mother zeroed in on a telling moment in the young life of her budding leader.
 
As a fifth-grader, when the daughter was sharing extracurricular time between rec lacrosse and competitive dancing through her elementary school years, Ava Yovino had an announcement to make.
 
She declared this was her last year as a dancer, since she wanted to focus on lacrosse year-round. That game had been her favorite pastime since second grade, and still is. The news was jarring to Bridget Yovino.
 
"Ava looked at me and said, 'I'm just letting you know that, after this year, I'm done with dancing. I'm going to play lacrosse full-time. That's what I want to do,'" recalled Bridget Yovino, who said she was brought to tears while passing the update on to her husband, Lou.
 
"Ava was a really good dancer. When I asked her if she was sure [about her decision to quit], she said, 'I don't want to dance anymore. My mind is made up,'" Bridget Yovino said.
 
"I could never force her to do anything she didn't want to do. Ava is like an old soul. She's a rock. It's like she went from being a baby to being an adult overnight," she added. "She has always been very measured and in control. She tends to hold her emotions. Even though she is 21, to me she appears to be about 35. She knows what she wants."
 
Yovino, a product of Parkland, Fla., went on to achieve a decorated four-year varsity experience, academically and athletically, at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale. She also excelled on the elite club lacrosse circuit with Florida Select.
 
As a versatile player with numerous skills and a sharp grasp of the game, Yovino fielded numerous Division I offers. She took charge of her recruiting process, ultimately choosing between two top candidates – Florida and Navy.
 
In the end, Yovino could not picture herself not wearing a Navy uniform. She loved the idea of being challenged in ways she had never experienced, of building a future by contributing to something bigger than her. She had no interest in a college that would seem like a continuation of high school.
 
"The Naval Academy has so much to offer. No other school can really compete with it," said Yovino, a driving force in Navy's historic, 12-1 start and a ranking that has climbed as high as No. 4 this season and currently sits at No. 8. She will graduate next month with a degree in political science and be commissioned a Naval Flight Officer.
 
"I was given a gold ticket to come here. To throw away that opportunity would have been a shame," she added. "I have no idea what the future holds, but being at Navy has taught me to expect the unexpected, to be prepared for anything."
 
That critical lesson has been taught in numerous ways during Yovino's four years in Annapolis, particularly in the early years.
 
There was her dazzling debut in 2023 as a freshman midfielder who started every game and jumped out as one of the top players in the Patriot League with 92 points (42 goals and a team-high 50 assists) with 51 draw controls, 25 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers.
 
Yovino earned All-Patriot League First Team recognition that year. She was also the first Navy freshman ever to land a spot on the Tewaaraton Award watch list.
 
As the Mids neared the end of preseason the following year in 2024, with optimism running high, Yovino's course changed drastically just two days before Navy's season opener against Duke.
 
After making the same type of change-of-direction move she had executed thousands of times, Yovino planted her foot and suddenly fell to the ground in excruciating pain, with a devastating, non-contact injury. She had dislocated her knee, a trauma that shredded her ACL, MCL and meniscus.
 
Just like that, a brutal lesson was underway for a player who had never suffered a serious injury. Just like that, a sophomore season was gone, and the yearlong uphill task of rehab awaited.
 
Yovino described her junior season as partly feeling deep gratitude for the chance to put on her goggles and compete with her beloved teammates again, and partly "figuring my way through what having the injury meant and how to attack it when you don't feel like your best self. That scar on my knee is like an anchoring point for me."
 
She said she never felt like her best self until late last season, when she helped to push the Mids across the finish line in the Patriot League tournament, as Navy came from behind late to knock off Loyola in the championship game and move onto the NCAA tournament. Yovino finished the season with 18 goals, 14 assists, 39 ground balls and 15 caused turnovers.
 
By the end of last year, the old Yovino was back, only wiser.
 
Her full-time midfield game remains rooted in a combination of calculation and calm, whether she is directing traffic at the offensive or defensive ends, reading an opponent's move before she makes it, taking an open shot or drawing a double team to feed a teammate she expected to be open.
 
"As a captain, Ava really keeps the team focused," says Navy head coach Cindy Timchal. "Her biggest value is the way she brings teammates together and makes them feel valued and connected. Players trust her, because she listens to them. It's not forced leadership."
 
"[Yovino] has been a leader since she got here. She really controls the pace of the offense with her calming presence. It's a special gift," said Brooke Shriver, Navy's associate head coach who handles the offense.
 
"She's also a great bridge between the coaches and players. "[As a captain], she is someone anybody on the team can go to for help about anything," Shriver added. "And she is driven to win, which shows in her work ethic. Who doesn't want to be like Ava?"
 
[Yovino] does not have a hole in her game. She takes a lot of pressure off of our unit," said sophomore attacker Alyssa Chung, Navy's top scorer on a team averaging nearly 15 goals a game. The Mid also sport one of the game's stingiest defenses, having allowed 8.7 goals per game.
 
"I love watching Ava hunt the ball on defense. Her gears are turning, as she anticipates the next play," added Chung. "She is one of the most reliable people I've ever had the pleasure of playing with. She shows up every day, always dialed in before a game, always directing people, always leading."
 
Senior midfielder Maggie DeFabio, who has been a close friend of Yovino's since plebe summer, described her as a team captain well before she earned the title, and a player as humble as she is talented.
 
"She's always been someone people look up to, because of her character," DeFabio said. "There is nothing she wouldn't do for anybody on this team. Watching her come back from that injury was so inspiring. The amount of work she put in to get back was truly motivating."
 
"I would describe Ava as a humbling and empowering leader," said former Navy lacrosse player Caroline Stefans, an old friend of Yovino's since middle school and a 2024 graduate, who tore both ACLs – one in high school and as a Mids defender.
 
When Yovino called on Stefans for insight, as she sorted out her choice for college, Stefans said she steered clear of telling her friend what to do. But she talked plenty about the great experience she was having as a Mid. When Yovino blew out her knee, she called on Stefans for some counseling.
 
"I told her [rehab] was going to be rough. You will learn a different side of the game. You have to accept that role and run with it," Stefans said. "Ava doesn't say much about herself. When everybody is telling her what a great game she had, she is worried if she had done enough to help her teammates. She is not worried about her stats at all."
 
Yovino, who has started every Navy game in her three years on the field, is a huge reason the Midshipmen are serious threats to play in another NCAA tournament.
 
Her goal-scoring (17) is down considerably from the lofty 42-goal year three seasons ago, but her team-high 23 assists have powered the offense that features scorers such as Chung (46 goals), Taylor Miles (29) and co-captain Emma Kennedy (32). Yovino's strong 44.7 shooting percentage suggests she has passed up a good number of shots by electing to assist on better shots.
 
In addition, Yovino leads non-goalies with 30 ground balls, and is second on the team with 46 draw controls and 15 caused turnovers.
 
Notably, Yovino shined in two of Navy's biggest wins this season. In a 14-11 win over seventh-ranked Florida, Yovino produced three goals on five shots, three assists, seven draw controls and three caused turnovers. In the season-opening, 12-10 road victory at Virginia, she hurt the Cavaliers with two goals and three assists.
 
Yovino credits her older brothers and former lacrosse players, Nick and Louie, for challenging her as the baby of the family.
 
"I grew up in a blue-collar household, where I was told a lot that everything is earned, not given. We had to work hard for everything we wanted," said Yovino, who recalled a day she stood in the backyard goal as her brothers tossed shots at her – using fiddle sticks and real lacrosse balls.
 
"I got bullied a bit by my brothers, in the best way possible. But getting picked on builds character," she added.
 
"I was so grateful for the opportunity to be walking and running again without pain, just to be playing lacrosse. This year, there is even more gratitude at the forefront of my mind, because this is my last time doing it. That motivates me more every day."