On Saturday, April 2, the Villanova women’s lacrosse team faced off against Georgetown at the Villanova Stadium for its first Big East matchup and lost, 13-11.

The leading scorer for the Wildcats was freshman attacker Sydney Pappas, who scored four goals and had a season-low zero turnovers. Senior midfielders Libby McKenna and Alexa Tsahalis both added two goals while senior attacker Olivia Piccirrili provided the Wildcats with two goals. The last player to score for the ‘Cats was senior attacker Caroline Curnal, who scored one goal. The leading scorer for the Hoyas was Erin Bakes, who scored four goals. 

Things started in favor of the Hoyas, who surrounded the attacking end in the first couple of minutes, leading to a goal at 13:19 by Bakes. The Wildcats responded about a minute later when junior midfielder Addie Fisher connected with Tsahalis, who scored a goal. About two minutes later, the Wildcats recovered a turnover from the Hoyas and took the ball up the field where they were eventually fouled, leading to a free position shot for Piccirilli, capitalized and give the ‘Cats a 2-1 lead. The last goal of the first quarter for the Wildcats was scored at 3:04 when Tsahalis took the ball straight to the net and scored an unassisted goal. However, the Hoyas were able to recover as Bates scored her second goal, followed by a goal from Ali Diamond with 2.8 seconds left on the clock to tie the game entering the second quarter. 

At the start of the second quarter, the Wildcats were quick to break the tie when freshman attacker Sami Carey passed the ball from behind the net to a well-defended Tsahalis, slipped it by the goalkeeper. The Wildcats then went on a 4-0 run for the first five minutes of the quarter. A minute after Tsahalis’ goal, Carey gave a second assist for a goal by Pappas. 

The Wildcats won possession after each faceoff from these goals, which led the Hoyas to foul Curnal only 40 seconds later. Curnal earned a free position shot, which she seized followed by another free position goal from McKenna, leading to a Hoya timeout. This break proved useful for the Hoyas, who cut their deficit to two within the last 10 minutes of the quarter to leave the game with a score of 8-6 at the half.

In the third quarter, the Hoyas continued to fight, going on a 4-0 run of their own to give themselves the lead throughout almost the entire third quarter. Diamond scored two goals within this period as well as Bates and Emma Gebhart, which led to a timeout for the Wildcats. After one of the Hoyas got a yellow card, the Wildcats played with a man up and eventually tied the game. With 38 seconds remaining, Pappas scored her second goal of the game, and with five seconds left, Piccirilli scored her second goal of the game to tie it up going into the fourth.

The game did not stay tied long at the start of the last quarter, as 90 seconds in, the Hoyas got their lead back on a goal from Maria Hudson. The Wildcats tied the game again at 9:43 with a fourth goal from Pappas. However, this was the last goal for the Wildcats of the game. To break the tie and win the game, the Hoyas went on to score two more goals, and the Wildcats were unable to respond. 

The next game for the Wildcats will take place on Saturday, April 9 at Marquette. The last time the Wildcats faced the Golden Eagles was on March 28, 2021, where they were defeated, 8-7. Faceoff is set for 12 p.m.