This past weekend, both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams played at home. The men’s team lost to No. 5 Yale, 20-14, and the women’s team beat St. Joseph’s in the final seconds in a 14-13 thriller.

The women’s team took the field just hours after the men, and the Wildcats got started early in the first quarter with two goals from graduate attacker Caroline Curnal. St. Joe’s tied the game at 2-2 with eight minutes left in the quarter.

Two minutes after St. Joe’s tied it up, sophomore attacker Sami Carey scored to give the Wildcats the lead again. Sophomore attacker Sydney Pappas then extended this lead, scoring two goals, with the first assisted by freshmen midfielder Elena Torres.

For the majority of the second quarter, the Wildcats continued their strong performance. Five minutes into play, Torres scored a goal to go along with her first quarter assist. 

St. Joe’s tied the game at 6-6 with eight minutes left in the quarter. This prompted a timeout from head coach Jill Batcheller, with the hopes it would offer a reset prior to halftime.

“The timeout was to make sure that the team was remembering the keys to the game,” Batcheller said. “We wanted to give them reminders on some things that St. Joe’s was doing and also to help us get into the second half on a stronger note.” 

The reminder was key for the Wildcats, as, two minutes later, Pappas scored yet again to put the Wildcats back on top going into halftime.

During the intermission, Batcheller’s message was similar to the one she gave during the timeout.

“We highlighted the things the team was doing well and really tried to get the team to be more disciplined to the game plan,” Batcheller said. “We switched into our zone defense from our man to man and I thought that change allowed us to slow St. Joe’s offense and transition game.”

Despite St. Joe’s scoring two early goals, Pappas added to her goal tally followed by another goal from Carey to give the Wildcats the lead again. 

The Wildcats headed in the fourth quarter with a narrow 12-10 lead.

As play began for the final quarter, Curnal got her fourth goal early, but St. Joe’s fired back, tying the game at 13-13 with one minute left on the clock. 

While it looked like the game would be going into overtime, the Wildcats had other plans. With only eight seconds left on the clock, Curnal put the game to rest, scoring her fifth goal to keep the Wildcats undefeated.

“One of the things we have been talking about this season has been winning ugly,” Batcheller said. “We call ground ball pickups garbage goals so for that to be the way we won in the end I was just really proud of her [Curnal] for finding a way and believing all the way until the end.”

The Wildcats look ahead to their two upcoming home games, first against La Salle on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and the second against Navy on Saturday, Feb. 25.

For the men’s game, the goals came early and often. There were three goals within the first three minutes of play, and the Wildcats went up, 2-1. Senior midfielder Mason Reale scored Villanova’s first two goals. His energy was met by junior attacker Matt Licata, who scored two goals to give the Wildcats a 4-1 lead.

Shortly after Licata’s second goal, Yale scored three goals to tie the game, 4-4. The Wildcats took the lead right back with a goal from graduate attacker Patrick Daly. At the end of the first quarter, graduate midfielder Austin Frazier also chipped in with two goals to give the Wildcats a 7-4 advantage.

In the second quarter, Yale came out hungry scoring 30 seconds into play to trim the Wildcat lead to two. But, just as it was looking like Yale would come back for the second time that half, Villanova graduate midfielder Matt Campbell scored two goals.

Despite Campbell’s two goals, Yale went on another streak, tying the game at 9-9. 

At halftime, the score was tied, 10-10.

In the third quarter, Villanova gave up seven goals and lacked intensity. Despite goals from junior midfielder Tucker Goodelle, and a second from Daly, Yale led at the end of the third quarter, 17-12.

Licata and Daly both scored their third goals of the game, but it was not enough, and the Wildcats fell, 20-14. 

The Wildcats will take the field next away at No. 10 University of Delaware. The game is scheduled for noon on February 26th.