Navy women’s lacrosse suffered some tough off-the-field losses in the days leading up to Friday’s season opener against Duke.
Already knowing they would be playing without starting attack Leelee Denton and line defender Katie Golbranson, the Midshipmen learned Thursday that two additional starters, midfielder Ava Yovino and line defender Grace Peterson, would miss the game due to injuries suffered late this week.
To their credit, the Midshipmen didn’t let those losses affect their focus or change their mindset of pulling a mild upset right out of the gate.
Junior midfielder Emily Messinese scored three goals and assisted another, while freshman running mate Mikayla Williams totaled two goals and an assist as No. 25 Navy built a big lead then hung on for dear life to defeat No. 24 Duke, 10-9, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Sophomore attacker Kat McAteer and sophomore midfielder Maggie DeFabio scored two goals apiece for Navy, which led 10-3 at the 9:09 mark of the third quarter. The Midshipmen did not score again in the game’s final 24-plus minutes.
That lengthy drought opened the door for a comeback by Duke, which got three goals from senior All-American attacker Katie DeSimone. Junior attacker Carly Bernstein totaled a goal and two assists for the Blue Devils, who closed the contest with six unanswered goals to get within one.
Duke had several opportunities to net the tying tally, but a turnover on what proved to be its final possession enabled Navy to escape.
“We hung on for the victory. We held our poise and didn’t give up the tying goal,” Navy coach Cindy Timchal said. “It was a very tough opener and we had a couple impact players sidelined. I just like the resilience of this team.”
Timchal was pleased with the way the Mids responded to the bad news this week.
“It was a tough thing, but I credit the team for coming together. It was next woman up, kind of overcome and conquer,” she said.
Navy needed to revamp its lineup after losing Peterson and Yovino. Not only is the latter the catalyst of the offense, but is also a key member of the draw control unit. Timchal decided to start Williams because of her scrappiness going after loose balls on draws.
Williams wound up making an impact offensively and also came up with five ground balls and four draw controls. The 5-foot-4 Ohio native displayed super speed and stick skills to shine in her collegiate debut.
“It’s always sad to see teammates get hurt, especially those that are such big contributors,” said Messinese, a Manchester resident and Gerstell Academy graduate. “We knew other players were going to step up and you saw Mikayla Williams do just that by scoring some goals.”
Navy outshot Duke, 34-23, and won the ground ball (21-16) and draw control battles (17-6). However, most of those statistics were amassed during a first half in which the Mids took a 7-3 lead.
Messinese scored twice in the span of 20 seconds and DeFabio followed with a goal off a free position as Navy increased the lead to 10-3 with less than six minutes elapsed in the third quarter. From there on out, momentum steadily began to swing toward Duke.
DeSimone scored two goals off free positions and graduate student midfielder Olivia Carner contributed two unassisted tallies to spark the 6-0 run that got the Blue Devils within one with 2:39 remaining in the game.
Duke won the ensuing draw, but was unable to even get off a shot in the final 2 ½ minutes.
“In the end, we would have liked to have scored again, but to hold Duke to nine goals and come away with the victory, I couldn’t be more proud,” said Timchal, whose squad used as much of the shot clock as possible in the fourth quarter and may not have been aggressive enough going to the cage down the stretch.
“We felt with a young team and the explosiveness of Duke that we had to manage possessions,” Timchal said. “I wish we would have put away a goal or two when we had some good, solid possessions. I think we just got tight. It was a tight game.”
Duke has 10 graduate students on its roster, including standout goalkeeper Courtney Kauffman. The Tufts transfer made 15 saves and stuffed Navy shooters on the doorstep several times in the fourth quarter.
“It looked like the first game of the year for us. We’re a really different team this year and we took a while to settle in,” Duke coach Kerstin Kimel said. “I think once we got settled in we started playing the way we are capable. I think our defense played really well; we just played too much of it today. Our goalie also played really, really well. Ultimately, we just made too many mistakes.”
Kimel, in her 29th season at Duke, played for Timchal at Maryland from 1990-93. She is not surprised the 69-year-old Hall of Fame coach has built and maintained a consistent top-25 program at Navy.
“Cindy’s teams are always going to be well prepared and compete like crazy,” Kimel said. “Kudos to Navy for playing a great game and I’m sure they’re going to have a great season.”
Navy 10, Duke 9
Duke (0-1) 2-1-2-4 = 9
Navy (1-0) 4-3-3-0 = 10
GOALS: D — DeSimone 3, Carner 2, Bernstein, McCorkle, DeBellis, Keller. N — Messinese 3, Williams 2, DeFabio 2, McAteer 2, Beardmore. ASSISTS: D — Bernstein 2, Pronti, Shearer. N — Kennedy, Messinese, Williams. SHOTS: D — 23. N — 34. SAVES: D — Kauffman 15. N — Giglio 6. DRAWS: D — 16. N — 21.
East Carolina at No. 25 Navy
Saturday, Feb. 15, 11:30 a.m.
Stream: ESPN+