The No. 7 Villanova men’s lacrosse team took down unranked Monmouth, 10-6, at Kessler Stadium in West Long Branch, NJ, on Saturday, followed by a commanding 17-6 win over Navy on home turf. 

The red hot Villanova squad has now extended their winning streak to five in a row, improving to 6-1 on the season. 

Coming off their best performance of the season in a close 9-8 win against No. 15 Penn, a team they lost to last year, the Wildcats took all their momentum and swung it into another dominating win to push themselves up two spots in the national poll from the previous week. 

After Monmouth struck first to go out ahead, 1-0, Villanova jumped out to a dominating 6-1 lead in the first 20 minutes of gameplay. The Wildcats then extended that lead to 8-1 at halftime. 

Seven of the ten goals were scored by fifth year captain seniors: midfielder Matt Campbell and attack Patrick Daley. Saturday was Campbell’s fifth outing with multiple goals this season, the sixth for Daley. 

“Matt and Patrick have continued to perform well on the field this season,” head coach Mike Corrado said. 

Campbell is now the program’s all time leader in goals scored, while Daley recently passed the 100 career goal milestone. 

“Both of them are constantly working with our more inexperienced players on ways to improve,” Corrado said. “They have truly embraced their leadership role and the responsibility that comes with being captains.” 

Coming out of halftime, Monmouth scored two goals inside of four minutes to cut the lead to 8-3. In the fourth, Campbell scored his fourth goal of the day to put the game at 10-4 Villanova and out of reach for the Hawks. 

The win also demonstrated a tremendous defensive effort from the ‘Cats. Villanova gave up 32 goals in its first two games of the season, but since then, the Wildcats average just 8.2 goals per game in their last five outings. 

Up until the Navy game, Villanova’s win streak has consisted entirely of road opponents. Two of the wins were against ranked opponents, and three were by more than four goals. 

This effort is thanks in part to fifth year goalie Will Vitton. Vitton reached double digits in saves for the fifth time this season, and it was also his third straight game with 11 total stops. By the end of their game, he moved up to fourth place in school history with 585 career saves. 

Vitton also leads all active Division I goalies with 2,982:03 career minutes, and the win on Saturday marked his 32rd career win which, two away from tying Villanova’s all-time record.

Looking forward to the next game of the week, the Wildcats headed back home to take on Navy.

“Navy is an extremely talented and athletic group,” Corrado said pregame. “I expect them to play an aggressive, fast paced style of lacrosse. We have to be prepared for this pace.” 

The Wildcats took the field with the momentum from their prior win, beating the Midshipmen by double digits. 

Daly contributed with five goals, while Matt Licata and Austin Frasier added three goals each.  

Campbell also chipped in on the offensive end with two goals and six assists.

Villanova will remain at home for its two games this week. It will first play Brown on Monday, March 27, followed by its matchup against St. John’s on April 1.