On Friday, April 28th, No. 12 Villanova men’s lacrosse (10-4, 5-2 Big East) fell to No. 8 Georgetown, 12-8, in its last conference game of the season. 

Fifth-year attackman Patrick Daly had another standout performance, scoring goals in the first, third and fourth quarters for his 11th hat trick of the season. 

Georgetown opened up scoring in the matchup with a goal in the opening minute of play, before fifth-year midfielder Matt Campbell tied the score, 1-1, for his 35th goal of the season. 

The remainder of the first quarter was back-and-forth play, with Daly scoring his first goal of the game at the 4:16 mark in the first quarter to put Villanova within one goal of the Hoyas. 

The second quarter saw more of the same competition, as the teams traded goals for the remainder of the half. Fifth-year midfielder Austin Fraser scored with exactly four minutes left before halftime to send the Wildcats into the locker room down 5-3. 

“I thought we played a pretty good first half,” head coach Mike Corrado said. “It was close. We had a two-goal game.” 

The second half was when the Hoyas started to gain some separation, using a four-goal run over eight minutes spanning the third and fourth quarter. 

Heading into the fourth quarter, Georgetown led, 8-6, and pushed its lead to 12-6 halfway through the final quarter. 

“I thought we missed a lot of really good opportunities at the offensive end,” Corrado said. “We just didn’t shoot great.” 

The Wildcats scored the final two goals of the game, making the 38th time this season that Villanova has tallied consecutive goals that came less than a minute apart. However, the clock expired before the ‘Cats could capitalize on their final push. 

“[Georgetown is] playing their best lacrosse right now,” Corrado said. “When you get opportunities against them, you have to take advantage of that, and I don’t think we did that on Friday night.” 

Despite struggling offensively, the Wildcats had strong defensive efforts, led by senior faceoff specialist Justin Coppola and fifth-year goalie Will Vitton. 

During the game, Coppola broke the Wildcats’ career record for ground balls. He won 11 faceoffs and had 12 ground balls to bring his career total to 335. This puts Coppola three ground balls ahead of Chris Colliniates (2004-07), marking the second time this season that Coppola has set a new Villanova career record. Last weekend Coppolar broke the Wildcat record for career faceoff wins in Villanova’s win over Marquette. 

Vitton had 12 saves in the matchup, including eight in the first half. This is the ninth time this season and the third time in conference play that Vitton has made 10+ saves, bringing his career total to 654 stops. 

“I thought Will was great,” Corrado said. “He kept us in the game early, and I thought that it was one of his best games of the year.”

With the loss, the Wildcats end their regular season with the No. 3 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. 

“I think overall we had an outstanding regular season,” Corrado said. “To win 10 games with the schedule we had is quite an accomplishment. I’m really proud of our guys.” 

Villanova will open up its Big East Tournament play against No. 11 Denver on Thursday, May 4th. 

“We’re gonna tweak a few things [for Denver] — some things we did well against them, some things that didn’t work out as well,” Corrado said. “We’re four months into our season, so we may change a couple little things, but we just have to go out and play the best 60 minutes we can.” 

The last time the Wildcats saw Denver was on Saturday, April 8th, where they fell, 12-6, on the road. 

“I think it’s been a really good year, and we’re in the Big East tournament which is always our goal,” Corrado said. “We’re just excited for the opportunity ahead of us.”