CARLISLE, Pa. — Myha Pinto (Jr., Laguna Beach, Calif.) scored four times to garner Player of the Game accolades as No. 9-ranked/No. 14 position/Atlantic Division Champion the United States Naval Academy torpedoed Division III No. 2/No. 6 position/New York Division runner-up New York University, 10-2, in a Friday night consolation game at the 2026 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship.
Competing at the Carlisle YMCA Aquatic Center, the Midshipmen outscored the Violets 3-1, 3-0 and 3-0 in the first, second and third quarters, respectively, prior to the programs both scoring once in the fourth quarter to account for the offense.
Courtesy the win, Navy advances to another consolation game at 2:50 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, against the victor of a consolation game matching No. 18/No. 15 position/New York Division Champion Cornell University and No. 16/No. 10 position/Mid-Atlantic Division Champion Pennsylvania State University. The winner of the Mids’ next game will compete on Sunday, April 19, at 2:15 p.m. for Ninth Place, while the loser will battle at 3:30 p.m. for the 11th position.
Due to the loss, NYU falls into a 13th/15th place game at 9:50 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, against the loser of the Penn State-Cornell game. The victor of the Violets’ next game will tie for 13th position in the final 16-team championship standings, while the loser ties for 15th place.
Navy never trailed against NYU as Camryn Balentine (Fr., Virginia Beach, Va.) drew first blood with 5:46 remaining in the first quarter. Paige Curcio (Med., Schwenksville, Pa.) evened the damage at one-all (1:41) with a man-up strike, but Hannah Mendenhall (Jr., Annapolis, Md.) and Pinto tacked on tallies with 27 and seven seconds remaining in the opening frame, respectively, to put the Midshipmen back in front at 3-1 after seven minutes of action.
Pinto (6:28; 3:48) and Katherine Rausch (So., Peachtree City, Georgia) (5:50) combined for a 3-0 Navy output in the second quarter as the seafarers pushed pushed over the horizon with a 6-1 halftime lead.
Pinto (5:27), Mia Keane (Sr., Carlsbad, Calif.) (1:05) and Mendenhall (15 seconds, man-up) widened the spread to 9-1 by the concluding minutes of the third quarter as Navy continued to cruise into port with a win.
Ann-Mei Sun (So., San Jose, Calif.) snapped an 8-0 run by Navy as she converted a man-up chance with 6:39 remaining in the fourth quarter to close the Violets to within 9-2. Mendenhall sealed the victory by kissing a ball into the cage with 2:45 on the clock for the 10-2 final score.
Curcio and Sun accounted for NYU’s offense in the game, while goalkeeper Sydney McCleave (Fr., Mission Viejo, Calif.) turned aside 13 Mids’ scoring attempts.
Pinto (four), Mendenall (three), Keane, Rausch and Balentine combined for Navy’s offensive output. Goalkeeper Sophia Ochoa (Fr., San Antonio, Texas) claimed the win with eight saves.
New York University’s Nicole Giblin (#5) lines up a shot as the United States Naval Academy’s Gwyneth Wagner (#15) closes in on defense
New York University’s Sydney McCleave (#1A)
United States Naval Academy’s Myha Pinto (#4)
