BALTIMORE, Md. – Sophomore Mikayla Williams scored the golden goal with 16 seconds remaining in the first half of overtime to lift No. 21 Navy (15-5) to a 14-13 victory over top-seeded and 15th-ranked Loyola (13-6) in the Patriot League Tournament Championship game on Saturday afternoon at the Ridley Athletic Complex.
 
It was the seventh Patriot League Championship in program history and the first since 2018. The Midshipmen earned the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. It will be the eighth time in program history the Mids will advance to the NCAA Tournament and the first time since 2019.
 
The win snapped Loyola’s 61-game winning streak against Patriot League opponents including both regular season and postseason. The win by Navy was the fourth in program history against Loyola, including three in the Patriot League Tournament Championship (2017, ’18, ’25). The Midshipmen remain the only Patriot League school to defeat the Greyhounds.
 
The Midshipmen overcame a five-goal deficit, outscoring the Greyhounds, 7-2, in the fourth quarter and overtime. It was the first time Navy rallied from five goals down to earn a victory since notching a 14-13 come-from-behind victory over No. 11 Florida in March of 2019.
 
“It was an exciting game,” head coach Cindy Timchal said after the game. “Give credit to Loyola. They pushed us to the limit. We had some tough quarters, but we fought all the way through and never gave up. We never quit believing in ourselves. Give it up to senior leadership, especially our captains Emily Messinese and Lola Leone. We are very grateful for this opportunity. I know this team put it on the line today and fought all the way through. We came up with the winning goal at the end and it feels so good.”
 
Senior draw control specialist Alyssa Daley needed two draws to tie and three to break the Navy and Patriot League record for career draw controls of 493 by Loren Generi (’15). Daley finished with nine draws to give her the record and conclude the day with 500 career draw wins.
 
Williams followed with five draw wins with Emily Messinese winning three. Caroline Gage also registered a draw control in the game.
 
Offensively, Alyssa Chung led a group of six Midshipmen who found the back of the net. Chung finished with five goals, giving the rookie a freshman-record 65 goals on the season, passing the previous mark of 63 set by Meg Decker in 2008. Tori DiCarlo added a hat trick, finishing with three goals, including a pair of free-position goals. Emma Kennedy and Williams added two scores apiece, while Maggie DeFabio and Lola Leone chipped in one score each. Messinese dished out both of Navy’s assists in the game.
 
The Midshipmen defense caused nine of the Greyhounds’ 17 turnovers on the day. Landen Cain led the way with three takeaways, while Jaclyn Johns added a pair. Chung, DeFabio, Williams, and Felicia Giglio also recorded caused turnovers. Chung, Giglio, and Johns paced the team with two ground balls apiece with Cain, DiCarlo, Gage, Williams, Jalin Jenkins, Grace Peterson, and Ava Yovino also picking up ground balls.
 
Giglio worked a complete game in the cage, logging just under 66 minutes (65:44) at goal. The sophomore recorded four saves in the game to go along with her caused turnover and two ground balls.
 
For their efforts in the conference tournament, Daley, Kennedy, Messinese, and Williams were all named All-Patriot League Tournament with Williams claiming Most Valuable Player distinction.
 
For Loyola, Georgia Latch led the way with nine points on a team-high four goals and a game-high five assists. Chase Boyle followed with three goals, while adding a team-best seven draw controls. Elisa Faklaris and Emma Talago added two scores apiece with Gabby Stapleton rounding out the scoring. Lauren Spence took the loss in a complete-game effort in goal, surrendering 14 scores while notching nine saves.
 
Navy was the first team to score, jumping out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals by DiCarlo and Chung. The home team responded with back-to-back scores to knot the game at two. Chung and DiCarlo once again found the back of the net to regain a two-goal advantage for the Midshipmen, 4-2. The Greyhounds used a Latch goal to cut the margin to one through one quarter.
 
In the second quarter, Chung scored her third goal of the game to put the Midshipmen in front, 5-3. Loyola countered with a 5-0 run to take an 8-5 lead. Leone scored as the shot clock expired to and 14 ticks remained on the game clock to end the run and trim the margin to two, 8-6.
 
Loyola opened the second half with three straight goals to go up, 11-6. Kennedy scored what proved to be the final goal of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 11-7.
 
In the fourth quarter, DeFabio and Williams scored off of assists by Messinese to close the gap to 11-9. Following a Boyle goal, the Midshipmen sparked a 3-0 run to knot the game at 12-12. Chung bookended the run with two goals with Kennedy helping punctuate the game-tying run. Latch scored with 62 ticks on the clock to regain the lead for Loyola, but DiCarlo made her third goal of the contest count, knotting the score at 13-13 with just 18 seconds remaining in regulation. Williams pulled down the ensuing draw control and Loyola was whistled for a card, giving Navy the ball heading into overtime.
 
The Midshipmen began the overtime period with the ball. Kennedy drew a foul and awarded a free-position shot. Her eight-meter attempt was off the mark and the Greyhounds ended up with the ball. Cain was able to knock the ball out of Boyle’s stick, giving the Mids the ball. Navy called a timeout to set up a play. Coming out of the break, Williams charged in front of the goal and fired, burying the ball in the back of the net with 16 ticks remaining in the first half of the overtime period and giving Navy the tournament title.
 
Navy will find out its NCAA Championships destination on Sunday, May 4, during the Women’s Lacrosse Selection Show at 9:00 p.m. on ESPN.