Midshipmen lose tooth but beat rival for Star
Emily Messinese leads Navy past Army in physical contest
Navy freshman Mikayla Williams hunted in the corner while Midshipmen and Army players milled about. The midfielder wasn’t seeking out a loose ball, but a loose tooth.
Blood rushed down junior Emily Messinese’s face through a freshly snaggle-toothed grin after the whack to the face she’d just suffered. Williams waved the found incisor in triumph.
“Everyone said it was like she found gold,” Messinese said.
Messinese refused to let a dental crisis stop her from winning Navy not only the game, 17-11 — a win necessary to potentially clinch a bye in the Patriot League Tournament — but the Army-Navy Star Series, too. Just before second-half play began, Messinese launched from the athletic trainer’s table, sprinted through the stadium halls and shot to the Navy sideline with a busted lip, four stitches and a fist pumping the air.
Her three goals, one assist, four draw controls and one caused turnover were essential to the Mids’ victory Saturday, and her chipped tooth emblematic of the physical back-and-forth contest. Players hit the ground more than they scored, and the sides split 54 fouls and 14 cards between them, seven yellow.
Fortunately, along with the gold star patch Messinese received for fulfilling the one goal any Navy athlete is tasked with, she’ll get her tooth put back in. Her sponsor dad, she said, is a dentist. But her postmatch boxer appearance put a smile on her teammates’ face every time she talked.
“I just wanted to get back on the field and finish this game out with them,” Messinese said. “Every time I got back on the field, that was a big momentum shift. It’s definitely special.”
It took 11 victories for at least one defeated opponent to post more than 10 goals on Navy (11-3, 5-1 Patriot League). But the Mids expected nothing less from the team that played them to two overtime periods in the Patriot League semifinals last spring. It’s why the hosts dragged out the final five minutes without letting up a goal and forced seven turnovers from the Black Knights (6-7, 4-2) in the final frame.
“We knew all along Army would play four quarters or beyond. We persevered, ended up with the
ball and lead as the clock was running down,” Navy coach Cindy Timchal said. “There’s nothing more we could ask for the team.”
What Timchal didn’t know was just how vital this victory was to school spirit. After the Navy men’s lacrosse team fell to Army, 13-8, hours earlier, the Mids only led Army 12-10-1 through 2023-24 with three matchups remaining across the sports. With the Navy women’s triumph, the Black Knights have no chance now.
Junior Alyssa Daley quickly tied her single-game career high in the draw circle, but partially through the third quarter, went silent. Just as in her performance against Holy Cross on April 6, Daley stopped at 17 draw controls, finishing one shy of the school record set by Reagan Roelofs in 2019 against Army.
Daley didn’t really mind missing the milestone. She had no idea she was near one.
“All that was on my mind was next one. That’s what I kept saying after every single play,” Daley said. “I don’t care what happened, if it was me, [Williams] or [Messinese], as long as one of us came up with it, that’s all I cared about.”
Draws preserved Navy’s buoyancy over Army, no matter how many turnovers the Black Knights forced. The Mids won the draw control battle 26-5, including 17-2 in the first half — which fueled the Mids’ roll for much of the first quarter into the second.
“It was our preparation,” Daley said. “We came in knowing we were ready to dominate.”
Army had little choice but to scavenge to keep pace. Just as Daley plucked Navy’s 13th draw, Army defenders flushed in to shake the possession loose. On Daley’s next, Army did the same. Both times, it fed senior attacker Julia Gorajek, who netted two of her five goals to close the gap to 8-6 midway through the second quarter.
But as the Black Knights continued to use aggression against their rivals, Navy used the tactic against them. Mids attacker Emma Kennedy collected a pass on a free position to score. Messinese used another to score her second and make it 10-6 minutes before getting a stick to the jaw.
“I’d hoped I’d scored that goal [too],” Messinese said. “I didn’t, but that’s okay.”
Down 11-6 at the half, the Black Knights defense penned Navy to a goal through the first seven minutes and change of the third quarter: one that needed time to review but also cost Army its most dangerous scorer, Brigid Duffy, to a second yellow card.
“We just had to focus on and compose ourselves when they were playing more physical — kind of pushing us and beating us up a little,” Messinese said. “It’s our game. We’re playing for us.”
Junior attacker Tori DiCarlo sparked the offense back to life, scoring her own goal before assisting one of Williams’ (3 ground balls, 3 draw controls, 1 found tooth) to make it 14-8.
But the pair of goals failed to stifle Army’s sticks as it might’ve earlier in the afternoon. The Black Knights netted two more goals, hitting double-digits in the final 11 seconds of the frame.
Only Messinese, a bruise blooming across her chin, could stop the visitors from chipping within four.
She claimed a draw control, hustled to the circle, drew a foul and deposited her third goal, cementing a 15-10 lead.
“She’s a tough athlete, one of the best in the country,” Timchal said. “She’s beat up, but she took it in stride. Anything Mess does, she does for the team.”