ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The #5 / #4 Navy women's lacrosse team (18-1) takes on UMass (16-2) in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament on Friday, May 8 at 3:00 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md.
 
Navy is hosting the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. The Midshipmen earned the No. 6 seed for the NCAA Tournament, marking the highest seed in program history.
 
Aside from the Navy / UMass game, the Midshipmen also hosts #9 / #7 Syracuse (13-5) versus #23 / #22 Loyola (12-7) on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
 
The winners from Friday's games will meet on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in the NCAA Second Round.
 
Tickets for the NCAA Tournament games in Annapolis are $15 for adults and $10 for youth and seniors. Parking at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is $11 (credit card only – fees included).
 
Each game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with an audio only broadcast for Navy games on WNAV. Live stats will also be available for each game.
 
NCAA Tournament
Navy is making its ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Midshipmen earned automatic berths into the postseason in eight seasons, winning the Patriot League Tournament championship (2010, '11, '12, '13, '17, '18, '25, '26), 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. During the 2017 run, the Mids defeated the Minutewomen (W, 23-11) in the only meeting between Navy and UMass. A year later, the Midshipmen advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.
 
Navy is officially 7-8 (.467) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 4-4 (.500) mark in the first round. The Mids won three play-in games, but those games do not count towards NCAA Tournament records.
 
The 2026 NCAA Tournament marks the second time in program history that Navy has hosted the first and second rounds. The Midshipmen earned the No. 6 seed for the NCAA Tournament, marking the highest seed in program history. Navy previously hosted the opening rounds in 2013 as the No. 8 seed.
 
All-Time Series
The game between the Midshipmen and Minutewomen marks the second meeting between the two teams. Navy holds a 1-0 record against UMass, earning a 23-11 victory in the second round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament in Philadelphia on the Mids' historic run to the Final Four.
 
In 2017, Navy advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history with a 23-11 victory over UMass at Penn Park on Dunning-Cohen Champions Field. The Midshipmen advanced to the Elite Eight to face defending national champion North Carolina.
 
Six players combined for the Mids' 23 points on the day with five players recording hat tricks. Julia Collins tied the school record with eight goals in the game. She tied Loren Generi (at Longwood, April 2, 2013 and vs. UC Davis, March 27, 2013) and Danielle Vivonetto (vs. Manhattan, March 18, 2010) for most goals in a game in school history. Kelly Larkin paced the team with nine points, tallying three goals and a season-high six assists. Jenna Collins also recorded eight points on the day, finishing with two goals and a season-best six assists. Kayla Harris scored four goals – all in the second half. Meg O'Donnell and Morgan Young each added three goals apiece. Young finished the game with a season-best four assists.
 
Defensively, Ingrid Boyum picked up her 17th win of the year, tying Annie Foky for most in a season. Foky finished the 2013 season 17-3. Boyum recorded seven saves in the game and grabbed two ground balls. The Midshipmen defense disrupted the Minutewomen's offense all day. Navy was credited with 13 caused turnovers out of UMass' 15 turnovers on the day. Marie Valenti led the way with four caused turnovers, and Blake Smith finished with three. Sarah Childress and Boyum each chipped in two caused turnovers apiece. With her three caused turnovers, Smith has 36 on the season, passing Caitlin Mandrin-Hill (34 in 2009) for most caused turnovers in a single season. Navy finished the game with 20 ground balls and 20 draw controls. Valenti led the team with five ground balls, while Julia Collins paced the team with eight draw controls.
 
Head coach Cindy Timchal is 5-1 all-time against UMass. Aside from her victory over the Minutewomen with the Midshipmen in the 2017 NCAA Tournament, the other five meetings against UMass came when Timchal was the head coach of Northwestern.
 
Scouting the Midshipmen
The Navy women's lacrosse team enters weekend 18-1 overall, following its eighth Patriot League Tournament Championship.
 
As a team, the Midshipmen have tallied 306 goals with 151 assists, while picking up 341 ground balls, winning 283 draw controls, and causing 169 turnovers. Additionally, Navy has held twelve (12) opponents this season to single digits.
 
Alyssa Chung, Taylor Miles, Mikayla Williams, Emma Kennedy, and Ava Yovino lead the team with 40 or more points apiece.
 
Chung paces the team with 102 points on a team-high 72 goals with a team-best 30 assists to her credit. The sophomore became the sixth player in program history to record 100 or more points in a season, joining Jenna Collins (2017, '18), Julia Collins (2018), Jasmine DePompeo (2013), Kelly Larkin (2017, '18, '19), and Erin Rawlick (2010).
 
Miles follows with 64 points on 44 goals and 20 assists. The sophomore enters the NCAA Tournament one point shy of 100 for her career. In two seasons, Miles has 61 goals and 38 assists for 99 career points.
 
Williams and Kennedy have 58 and 55 points, respectively. Williams has 37 scores and 21 helpers for 58 points on the season, while Kennedy has 55 points on 48 goals and seven assists. Yovino rounds out the Midshipmen's top five with 48 points on 19 goals and 29 assists.
 
Maggie DeFabio, Anna Gotterup, Bella Paradiso, Chloe Brown, and Kat McAteer close out the Mids double-digit point scorers. DeFabio, who recorded her 100th career goal in the Patriot League Semifinal against Bucknell, has 34 points on 23 goals and 11 assists. Gotterup follows with 20 points on a balanced 10 goals and 10 assists, while Paradiso is one point back with 19 thanks to 16 goals and three assists. Brown has 17 points on 12 goals and five assists, while McAteer has a balanced six goals and seven assists for 13 points to close out the double-digit point scorers.
 
Defensively, the Midshipmen have held their opponents to 7.84 goals per game. The Navy defense has held twelve (12) opponents – Villanova (5 goals), High Point (6 goals), South Florida (8 goals), Bucknell (6 goals), Holy Cross (3 goals), Lehigh (6 goals), Boston University (5 goals), #14 Army (8 goals), Lafayette (1 goal), Colgate (7 goals), American (5 goals), and Bucknell (8 goals – Patriot League Semifinal) – to single-digit goals.
 
The Mids have caused 169 of their opponents' 294 turnovers (57.5 percent). Yovino leads the team with 22 caused turnovers, while Chung follows with 20. Jaclyn Johns and Felicia Giglio add 17 and 15, respectively. DeFabio and Caroline Gage chip in 11 apiece, while Tiana Griffin and Miles close out the Mids double-digit takeaways with 10 each.
 
Giglio leads the team with 46 ground balls with Yovino following with 36 ground ball pickups. DeFabio adds 31 with Johns and Chung follow with 28 and 27 ground balls, correspondingly. Gage (24), Landen Cain (23), Jalin Jenkins (18), Kennedy (18), Williams (15), Lily Schmalz (12), Griffin (10), and Miles (10) close out Navy's double-digit ground balls.
 
Giglio has played and started each game for Navy in the cage, working 1069:33 minutes of action between the posts. The junior goalie has 124 of the Mids' 133 saves on the year with a 7.85 goals against average and 47.0 save percentage.
 
With the win in the conference championship, Giglio tied Ingrid Boyum for most wins in a season with 18, originally set turning Navy's historic Final Four run of 2017. Additionally, Giglio tied Boyum for the most wins by a goalie in program history with 48.
 
In the circle, Maura Murphy boasts a team-high 144 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. In the Patriot League Semifinal against Bucknell, Murphy registered a new career high, winning 15 of Navy's 20 draws in the game. Yovino follows with 57 draws, while Williams (25) Kennedy (21), and Chung (15) round out the Mids' double-digit draws.
 
Scouting the Opposition
The Minutewomen are winners of the 2026 MAC Regular Season and Tournament Championship, holding a 16-2 overall record and 7-0 in the MAC regular season before cruising in both MAC Tournament games. UMass defeated fourth-seeded Robert Morris in the semifinals, 14-5, before topping second-seeded Akron in the championship game, 15-3.
 
This will mark UMass' second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and third in Jana Drummond's four years as head coach, after winning the Atlantic 10 last year. The Minutewomen have made it 13 times since 2010, picking up at least one NCAA victory in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
 
UMass is led by Kassidy Morris, Dylan Lyons, and Ava Connaughton who boast over 65 points apiece. Morris leads the team with 101 points on a team-best 71 goals to go along with 30 assists. Lyons has 50 goals and 21 assists for the 72 points, while Connaughton adds 67 points on a balanced 31 goals and a team-high 36 assists. Katie Peterson (27g 21a) and Norah Prizzi (15g 21a) round out UMass' top-five-point scorers with 48 and 36 points.
 
Bayley Duffy leads the team with 51 ground balls, while Bridget Valentine paces the squad with 36 caused turnovers. Cate Marshall leads the Minutewomen with 164 draw controls.
 
Duffy has played and started all 18 games for the Minutewomen this season. She has recorded 125 saves with 116 goals allowed in 966:06 minutes of work for a 51.9 save percentage and a 7.20 goals against average.
 
Tewaaraton Award Finalist
The Tewaaraton Foundation announced the finalists for the 2026 Tewaaraton Award on Tuesday, May 5 and attacker Alyssa Chung was among the five named to the list, becoming the first Navy women's lacrosse player in program history to be named a finalist for the Tewaaraton.
 
The Tewaaraton Award is recognized as the preeminent lacrosse award, annually honoring the top male and female college lacrosse player in the United States. The selection committees are composed of premier college coaches and are appointed annually by the Tewaaraton Foundation.
 
The finalist will be honored May 28 at the 2026 Tewaaraton Award Ceremony at the Andrew W Mellon Auditorium, in Washington D.C.
 
USA Lacrosse All-Americans
USA Lacrosse announced its 2026 Division I Women's All-Americans on Thursday, May 7. Navy women's lacrosse had four student-athletes named to the list with sophomore Alyssa Chung being named to the first team; senior Ava Yovino being selected to the second team; and juniors Felicia Giglio and Mikayla Williams earning honorable mention accolades.
 
In total, 102 players from 36 teams earned recognition. All-Americans were chosen by USA Lacrosse Magazine staff with input from coaches and conferences across the country.
 
Lead With Love Award
ISNation officially announced on Wednesday, May 6 that Navy head coach Cindy Timchal and Maryland head coach Cathy Reese were the inaugural recipients of the organization's Lead With Love Award. The Lead With Love Award is ISNation's highest honor – given to leaders who build champions through trust, discipline, and a commitment to the whole person.
 
The inaugural award is shared between Timchal and Reese, recognizing that their impact to college women's lacrosse cannot be separated.