ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The #7 / #5 Navy women's lacrosse team (15-1, 7-1 Patriot League) hosts American (4-11, 3-5 Patriot League) on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in the regular-season finale. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+, aired on WNAV, and live stats will be available.
 
With a win, the Midshipmen would secure the top seed in the upcoming Patriot League Championship Tournament and serve as the host for the semifinals and the championship.
 
All-Time Series
The game marks the 21st meeting between the two teams in women's lacrosse. Navy holds a 19-1 (.950) overall record against American. The Mids are 9-0 (1.000) against the Eagles in Annapolis with a 9-1 (.900) mark in D.C.
 
The two teams have met every season since Navy joined the Patriot League with the exception of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic as no Patriot League games were played that season.
 
The Midshipmen claimed the first meeting between the two teams, 13-12, at home in 2008. The Eagles evened the season later that year with a 17-15 victory in Washington, D.C. at the Patriot League Tournament. Since the American victory, Navy has won 18 consecutive meetings between the two teams.
 
Last time the two teams met in Annapolis, the Midshipmen used numerous career-best performances to post an 18-10 victory over the Eagles at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. As a team, Navy tied the school record with 27 draw controls in a game. Needing three draw control wins to set the Navy single-season record for draws, Alyssa Daley finished with 16 draw controls, giving her 167 draws for the season. The 16 draw wins in a game was fourth in program history behind Reagan Roelofs' school record of 18 draws and Daley's career-best 17 that she accomplished twice this year – at Holy Cross and vs. Army.
 
Last season, Navy closed out the regular season with a 17-5 road win at American at Jacobs Recreation Complex in Washington, D.C. Senior draw specialist 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.
 
Former Navy women's lacrosse goalie Jo Torres, who played for the Mids for two seasons (2021-22), serves as an assistant coach for American.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
The Navy women's lacrosse team enters the week 15-1 on the season, including a 7-1 mark in the Patriot League. The Midshipmen have held ten (10) opponents this season to single digits, including seven conference foes.
 
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 253 goals with 123 assists, while picking up 292 ground balls, winning 232 draw controls, and causing 145 turnovers.
 
Entering the week, Alyssa Chung, Taylor Miles, Emma Kennedy, Mikayla Williams, and Ava Yovino lead the team with 40 or more points apiece.
 
Chung paces the team with 84 points on a team-high 56 goals with a team-best 28 assists to her credit. The sophomore has registered 29 multi-goal games (37 games total) with 24 hat tricks, including multiple scores in all 17 regular-season Patriot League games played with 14 hat tricks.
 
Miles follows with 52 points on 35 goals and 17 assists, while Kennedy is next with 48 points with 41 goals and seven assists. Williams boasts 46 points with Yovino three points behind with 43 to round out the Midshipmen's top five. Williams has 31 scores and 15 helpers for her 46 points, while Yovino has 43 points thanks to 18 goals and 25 assists.
 
Maggie DeFabio, Anna Gotterup, Bella Paradiso, and Chloe Brown close out the Mids double-digit point scorers. DeFabio has 24 points on 18 goals and six assists, while Gotterup follows with 17 points on a balanced 10 goals and seven assists. Paradiso has 15 points on 12 goals and three assists with Brown two points back with 10 goals and three assists for 13 points to close out the double-digit point scorers.
 
Kat McAteer adds nine points on a balanced five scores and four helpers, while Caroline Gage (5g 1a) and Rowan Kimmel (1g 2a) follow with six and three points, respectively. Kelsey Kirkeide and Natalie O'Neill have two points apiece on a pair of goals each, while Maggie Borek, Julia Frosch, and Zoe Ryan have notched two points each with one goal and one assist apiece. Sydney Beitler (1g), Landen Cain (1a), Jaclyn Johns (1a), Grace Mitchell (1g), Sophia Neitzell (1g), and Lily Schmalz (1g) close out the scoring with one point each.
 
Defensively, the Midshipmen have held their opponents to 7.81 goals per game. The Navy defense has held ten (10) opponents – Villanova (5 goals), High Point (6 goals), South Florida (8 goals), Bucknell (6 goals), Holy Cross (3 goals), Lehigh (6 goals), Boston University (5g), #14 Army (8g), Lafayette (1g), and Colgate (7 goals) – to single-digit goals.
 
The Mids have caused 145 of their opponents' 257 turnovers (56.4 percent). Yovino, Johns, Chung, and Felicia Giglio lead the team with 19, 16, 16, and 14 caused turnovers, correspondingly. Gage and Kennedy follow with nine apiece with Cain, DeFabio, Miles, and Jalin Jenkins adding eight each to close out the Mids' top 10 in the category.
 
Giglio leads the team with 43 ground balls with Yovino following with 33 ground ball pickups. Johns and DeFabio have 26 and 22, respectively, while Chung adds 21 to round out Navy's top five in the category. Gage (20), Cain (19), Kennedy (17), Jenkins (15), Schmalz (12), and Williams (12) close out Navy's double-digit ground balls.
 
Giglio has played and started each game for Navy in the cage, working 899:46 minutes of action between the posts. The junior goalie has 107 of the Mids' 115 saves on the year with a 7.81 goals against average and 47.9 save percentage.
 
Angelina Price has posted seven saves in just under 53 minutes of action (52:40), while Lila Stachowski registered her first collegiate save against Lafayette. Stachowski has logged nearly seven minutes (6:56) in three appearances, while Cam Rohner made her first collegiate appearance against the Leopards, recording a clean score sheet.
 
In the circle, Maura Murphy boasts a team-high 113 draw wins. The senior notched her first double-digit draw performance against High Point (14), while adding 11 draw wins against Lehigh, 12 at Lafayette, and 13 at Colgate. Yovino follows with 52 draws, while Kennedy and Williams add 20 draw wins apiece.
 
Scouting the Opposition
American enters the week with a 4-11 overall record, including a 3-5 mark in the Patriot League. The Eagles enter the game following a 12-10 road win against Lafayette.
 
American is led by Kellie Linehan and Reagan Murdoch who boast 48 and 43 points, respectively. Murdoch leads the team with 40 goals to go along with three assists for 43 points, while Linehan has 34 goals and 14 assists for her 48 points. Anastasia Byrnes (15g 7a), Adria Kotzian (6g 15a), and Julia Pope (7g 9a) round out American's top-five-point scorers with 22, 21, and 16 points, in order.
 
Samantha Buonaccorsi leads the team with 25 ground balls with Izzy Masengarb pacing the squad with 32 caused turnovers. Linehan leads the Eagles with 52 draw controls.
 
Brooke Hill has played and started all 15 games for the Eagles at goal this season. She has recorded 122 saves with 184 goals allowed in 786:56 minutes of work for a 39.9 save percentage and a 14.03 goals against average.
 
Patriot League Athletes of the Week
The Patriot Leagued announced its weekly women's lacrosse award winners and Navy's Alyssa Chung and Felicia Giglio were among the honorees. Chung was tabbed Patriot League Attacker of the Week, while Giglio claimed the conference's Goalkeeper of the Week accolade.
 
The duo helped lead Navy to a pair of Patriot League road victories, defeating Lafayette, 24-1, and Colgate, 23-7. Offensively, the Midshipmen scored 47 goals in the two games last week – the most of any two-game span in program history; while defensively, Navy held its ninth and 10th opponents of the season to single-digit goals.
 
Chung paced the offense with 15 points on five goals and 10 assists, while adding five ground balls, four draw controls, and three caused turnovers. Giglio anchored a Midshipmen defense that held two teams to single-digit goals. She finished the week with 15 saves and four ground balls in just over 100 minutes of action (100:11) with a 3.59 goals against average and a 71.4 save percentage.