COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The #5 / #4 Navy women's lacrosse team (20-2) dropped a 14-10 decision to #3 / #3 Maryland (18-3) on Thursday night at SECU Stadium in College Park, Md. in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals. The Midshipmen concluded the season with a single-season record for wins, Patriot League regular season and tournament champions, as well as the No. 6 national seed, en route to advancing to the Elite Eight for the third time in program history.
"Sports are a microcosm of life," head coach
Cindy Timchal said after the game. "This was an opportunity for Navy to showcase the exceptional young women who compete and made a decision to come to the Naval Academy because it was something greater than just going out and beating someone. We wanted to be an expression of true love and heart. But we also wanted to be brave and dangerous too.
"We fought all the way through. We were in the game all the way. The fourth quarter kind of got away from us with a couple of cards and unfortunate situations. We had our looks. We were scrapping with ground balls and draw controls. In the end, Maryland had a big fourth quarter to carry them through to the Final Four."
Offensively, four players combined for 10 goals.
Alyssa Chung led the charge with six goals and an assist for seven points on the night. With her six goals, the sophomore finished the season with a program-record 84 goals. She needed five goal to tie the previous record of 83, originally set by Jenna Collins ('18) during the 2018 NCAA Elite Eight run.
Senior team captain
Emma Kennedy followed Chung with three points on a pair of goals and an assist. Sophomore
Chloe Brown chipped in two points on a goal and an assist, while fellow sophomore
Taylor Miles also found the back of the net.
Defensively, the Midshipmen were credited with four caused turnovers. Brown, senior
Maggie DeFabio, junior
Jaclyn Johns, and junior
Felicia Giglio were all credited with takeaways. Giglio paced the team with three ground balls, while DeFabio and junior
Landen Cain added two apiece. Kennedy and junior
Mikayla Williams also picked up one GB apiece.
Giglio put forth a complete-game effort in the cage. The junior finished with five saves to go with her three ground balls and one caused turnover.
In the circle, Navy won 17 of 26 draw controls in the game. Williams finished with 10 draw wins, marking the first double-digit draw performance in her three-year career. Senior
Maura Murphy added four draw controls with Chung finishing with two and Johns adding one.
For Maryland, six different players combined to score 14 goals with each player notching multiple scores. Keeley Block and Lauren Lapointe paced the Terps with four points on three goals and an assist apiece. Kayla Gilmore registered a team-high three caused turnovers with goalie JJ Suriano picking up a team-best three ground balls. Gilmore led the Terrapins with six of the team's nine draw wins. Surriano worked a completed game in goal, finishing with 10 goals allowed and nine saves.
Navy opened up the scoring midway through the first quarter as Chung buried a goal into the back of the net to give the Midshipmen a 1-0 lead with 8:33 remaining in the first quarter. Maryland knotted the score with 5:18 on the game clock. The Terrapins scored the next two goals to close out the period and take a 3-1 lead through the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Maryland continued its run with a goal to push the advantage to 4-1. Chung took a pass from Brown and fired it past the Maryland goalie for her second score of the game. The play was reviewed, but the goal stood and the Mids closed the gap to 4-2. Chung completed her first-half hat trick with a goal 40 seconds later to close the margin to just one. The Terrapins countered with back-to-back goals to push the margin to 6-3, but Chung and Kennedy countered with tallies to cut the lead to one. The Terps used a free-position goal to push the lead back to two, but Miles sent the game into halftime with the Mids down one, 7-6.
The Terps used a goal 90 seconds into the third quarter to extend their lead to two, 8-6, but the Midshipmen responded with a 3-0 run to take their first lead since the game was 1-0. Brown snuck a ball past the keeper to cut the margin to one. Chung tied the game and gave the Mids a lead with back-to-back scores. The home team was able to knot the score at 9-9 heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, Kennedy scored to give Navy a 10-9 advantage. Maryland scored the final five goals of the game to provide the final margin of 14-10.
Navy ended the 2026 campaign with a 20-2 overall record, notching a new program record for wins in a season. The Midshipmen defeated five ranked opponents, while helping Timchal earn her 600th career victory. Additionally, Navy logged a perfect 13-0 record at home. Defensively, the Midshipmen held 12 of the 22 teams it played to single digits with an additional five teams held to exactly 10 goals.
The Midshipmen won a share of the Patriot League regular season title and the right to host the 2026 Patriot League Championship Tournament.
In the conference tournament, the Mids took down Bucknell (W, 18-8) and #13 Army (W, 17-11) to win their eighth Patriot League Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in program history.
Navy earned the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament – the highest seed in program history – and home games for the first two rounds of the national tournament. With wins over UMass (W, 17-16) and #9 Syracuse (W, 11-10 ot), the Midshipmen advanced to the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals for the third time in program history.
"This is a top-notch group that competes like crazy, loves lacrosse, and loves each other," Timchal added. "There is no match to the level of intensity and the character and the love and gratitude that has been a part of our program. I feel like we have some of the best of the best make the decision to come to the Naval Academy."
