History was made on Saturday, April 15th in the nation’s capital. For the first time in 29 years, Villanova’s women’s lacrosse team beat Georgetown in a 13-12 thriller. 

Head coach Jill Batcheller and her team did something on Saturday that has not been done for almost three decades.  

“The last Villanova team to beat Georgetown was in 1994,” Batcheller said. “Getting the win on Saturday meant everything to this program. It was validation of all of our hard work and a sign we are continuing to progress in the right direction.”

The first quarter got off to a fast start. Graduate attacker Caroline Curnal opened up scoring, but Georgetown quickly responded.  

After a few minutes of play, junior attacker Kayla Gulmi scored to regain the lead for the Wildcats, as the remainder of the first quarter stayed close with constant lead changes.   

The Wildcats are no strangers to lead changes during the game. 

“This was a game where I really feel all of our preparation and past games came into play,” Batcheller said. “We have been in so many close games this season that I think our team did a great job with game management and composure during the lead switches.”

In the second quarter, the Wildcats established themselves as the more dominant team. Senior attacker Cara Moreau scored her second goal, while sophomore attacker Sydney Pappas scored two goals and junior attacker Izzy Francati chipped in with a goal of her own to give the Wildcats a 7-5 lead heading into the locker room. 

During halftime, Batcheller made a few adjustments to help her team maintain its momentum.  

“We did change into our zone defense shortly after halftime,” Batcheller said. “Our defense was really confident in our zone game plan, so the switch became a momentum shifter for us.”

Coming out of halftime, Georgetown regained its presence. The Hoyas scored back-to-back goals to tie the game, but as it has done all season, Villanova quickly responded to the second-half lead change.  

Senior midfielder Addie Fischer scored a goal, which put the Wildcats back on top, but a quick response goal from Georgetown tied the game back up.  

However, the game was only tied for a short amount of time, as Curnal netted two goals to send the Wildcats into the final quarter of play, 10-9 

Continuous back-and-forth play resulted in a closely contested fourth quarter. 

It was not until 2:55 minutes remaining in the game that Francati scored what would be the winning goal, giving the Wildcats a 13-11 lead.  

While Georgetown scored with one minute remaining, it was not enough to send the game to overtime.  

“Joy. Pure joy,” Batcheller said about the scene in the locker room post-game and the bus ride home. “As a coach, it was one of the best moments to see them so happy and proud of what they had accomplished.”

Up next for the Wildcats is a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio for a midweek road game against Xavier on Wednesday, April 19th. The Musketeers are currently 4-7.

This is one of two remaining games for the Wildcats, and they will head into the Xavier matchup with a 10-4 record.