This past week, No. 7 Villanova men’s lacrosse lost to Brown, 13-11. The loss snaps a six game win streak, despite last quarter efforts to make a comeback. 

Fifth year midfielder Matt Campbell, who scored a team high four goals in the ‘Cats’ game on Monday, March 27th, came out hot in the first quarter, scoring just over a minute into play, to give Villanova a 1-0 lead early on. 

However, the lead was short lived, as the Bears countered with four straight goals over five minutes to take a 4-1 lead. Despite the run, the ‘Cats stayed strong offensively, outshooting Brown, 22-11, in the first half. 

“[Brown] got off to a good start,” head coach Mike Corrado said. “I thought they played with a little more energy than us to start the game.” 

In the second quarter of play, a burst of momentum started by fifth year midfielder Austin Fraser began a four-goal run from Villanova. 

Fifth year attackmen Patrick Daly chipped in with a goal, and Campell scored just over a minute later to tie the score at 6-6. It was then senior midfielder Mason Reale who proved to be the difference maker, scoring with 13 seconds left in the half to send the Wildcats into the locker room up 7-6. 

“We talked about a couple things we did wrong to allow them to get on a 5-1 lead to start the game,” Corrado said. “Brown’s really good, we knew it was gonna be a close game, so I wasn’t surprised that it was a one goal game come halftime.” 

Coming out of the half, Brown scored six straight goals in just under six minutes to take a 12-7 lead over the ‘Cats. The Bears’ momentum was stopped after a goal from sophomore attackmen Luke Raymond with just under four minutes left in the third quarter. 

“We couldn’t win a faceoff,” Corrado said. “I think they won five or six straight faceoffs. We just failed to clear a couple times and get stops, and then turned the ball over a couple times on offense. The first five or six minutes into the third quarter we just didn’t play well, and they took advantage of those mistakes.” 

Heading into the final quarter of play, Villanova found itself down four goals. 

The ‘Cats had a late surge, scoring four of the last five goals of the game within the last 19 minutes, but its rally attempt came up short of a victory. 

“We had a bunch of really good opportunities,” Corrado said. “We just kind of ran out of time. I thought we played a really good fourth quarter, but unfortunately over the course of 60 minutes, we just didn’t play enough good minutes.” 

Villanova finished the game outshooting the Bears, 48-27, including a 17-7 advantage in the fourth quarter. 

On the defensive end, the Wildcats’ defense forced 26 turnovers, led by fifth year Body LaPorte and freshman David Evanchick. 

This loss against Brown marked the Wildcats’ final regular season non-conference game, and the ‘Cats head into Big East play with a 7-2 record.

“Seven-and-two with the schedule we played is pretty impressive,” Corrado said. “We got ranked this week No. 6 in the country, and while we’re disappointed that we lost to Brown yesterday, in the big picture with the caliber of teams we played, it’s a really good non-conference performance from our team.” 

Looking ahead to next week the ‘Cats will take on St. John’s, Saturday April 1st, at home. This will be the first of five straight conference games for the Wildcats as they look to clinch a spot in the Big East Tournament. 

But for now, the ‘Cats are focused on the Red Storm, who are led by a new head coach this season. 

“St. John’s [has] a new coach, so they’re definitely doing things differently than they had in the past,” Corrado said. “It’s a league game … all league games are hard.” 

St. John’s is currently winless in its season, sitting with a 0-9 record. 

Game time is set for 1 p.m.