NCAA Women's Lacrosse Preview: No. 15 Navy's Patriot League Title Hopes

USA Lacrosse Magazine is beginning its countdown to the 2025 women's lacrosse season by releasing one team preview per day beginning on Monday, Jan. 13.

We continue the countdown with No. 15 Navy, a team with so much returning talent in a national landscape where most teams are looking to retool.

Navy’s 2024 season ended with double heartbreak. First, the Mids fell one goal short — in overtime, no less — of upending perennial Patriot League juggernaut Loyola for its first conference tournament championship since 2017.

Losing the league’s automatic qualifier proved costly. It was the last game for Navy, with its RPI of 22, as the Mids were surprisingly omitted from the 29-team field.

But by all accounts, 2024 was a successful year for Navy, especially given the preseason heartache. Seniors Katie Golbranson and Leelee Denton went down with injuries in the fall and were ineligible for fifth years because of service academy guidelines. And 2023 rookie sensation — and points (92) and assist (50) leader Ava Yovino — sustained an injury in February that sidelined her for the year, too.

A balanced attack led by Emily Messinese and a solid freshman campaign from Felicia Giglio buoyed Navy to the precipice of the NCAA tournament. Both are back. So are Yovino and a host of other talented returners, but a key question remains.

Can Navy beat Loyola?

TOP RETURNERS

Emily Messinese, A, Sr. (68G, 18A, 64DC)
Alyssa Daley, D, Sr. (191DC)
Felicia Giglio, G, So. (8.69GAA, .430SV%)

Navy returns 284 of its 300 goals (94.6%) — and that’s before you account for Yovino’s return (we’ll get to that). In the fall, Messinese said the team was building off last year’s success, which involved pivoting shortly before game one with Yovino out, and preparing to work in Yovino.

The attack gets a boost from Alyssa Daley, who broke the single-season program record with 191 draws in 2023. Felicia Giglio improved footwork and conditioning as a freshman, culminating with a 10-save performance in the conference championship against Loyola. How she fares behind the Mids’ most depleted unit, the defense that graduated Isabelle Thornburg, Caroline Stefans and Katie Golbranson, remains to be seen. However, her work ethic and pedigree as a state champion at Bayport Blue-Point (N.Y.) has long impressed head coach Cindy Timchal.

KEY ADDITIONS

Alyssa Chung, Fr., A (Severna Park, Md.)
Chloe Brown, Fr., A (Conestoga, Pa.)
Lily Schmalz, Fr., D (Needham, Mass.)

A loaded offense will only get stronger next year — and in seasons to come — with additions Alyssa Chung (the No. 8 incoming freshman, according to Inside Lacrosse) and Chloe Brown, a four-star recruit. Each brings a winning pedigree, having won high school state titles. Chung sat out her senior year with an injury but returned in the fall.

Speaking of injury, Taylor Miles (Notre Dame Prep, Md.), the sister of Northwestern transfers Niki and Jordan Miles, had a minor one in the fall that left her out. She may fly under opponents’ radars this spring, but she’s on Timchal’s for playing time.

On a unit with cleats to fill, Lily Schmalz, an athletic pure defender out of Massachusetts, stands to break through and see significant action.

NOTABLE DEPARTURES

Notable departures: Lindsay Beardmore, A; Isabelle Thornburg, D; Caroline Stefans, D; Katie Golbranson, D; Leelee Denton, A

X-FACTOR

Ava Yovino, M (42G, 50A, 51DC, 20CT, 25GB)

Timchal isn’t a fan of giving X-factors.

“It’s never one thing,” Timchal said.

But you can argue that the Mids missed one person the most last year, even with the wins, and that’s Yovino. The two-way midfielder’s name was all over the stat sheet during her rookie season.

“I don’t have stats from 2023,” Timchal said.

We do have the stats. In corporate speak, Yovino’s 2023 stat line was “robust.” She led the team in points (92) and assists (50). She was second in goals (42) and caused turnovers (30) and third in draws (51). Yovino focused on physical therapy and non-contact in the fall, and Timchal doesn’t expect her to be cleared until February. When she is?

“She’ll be 100 percent,” Timchal said.

A Yovino at 100 percent gives the Mids a fighting chance against a Loyola team with more significant losses, including top attacker Sydni Black.

THE NARRATIVE

Timchal likes to point out that Navy doesn’t get the benefit of fifth years or the transfer portal, two plot lines that are reaching an end as players who were true freshmen in 2020 graduated last year. That could reap dividends for Navy, whose veteran-heavy lineup is an anomaly heading into 2025.

Of course, Timchal also likes to point out that the best continue to get better.

“Everybody's going to say we look solid — whether it’s a solid returning goalkeeper or a solid draw player with some key offensive players returning,” Timchal said. “Those are all tangible things you can see with stats, and that’s critical. We have those pieces, but so does [Boston College], Northwestern and Maryland.”

And while Loyola lost key pieces, it also returns Chase Boyle and remains the Patriot League favorite. And that’s why Timchal isn’t a fan of X-factors. She knows it’s going to take more than one person or unit to push Navy to its first NCAA tournament since 2019 — the last season of pre-COVID normalcy.

“We’re all looking at the things that are really kind of the glue that keeps you all together,” Timchal said.

Navy has a lot of things in its favor and a hunger to right last year’s snub.