Villanova’s field hockey team’s season came to an end on Nov. 3 with a loss to No. 7 Liberty. The Flames defeated the ‘Cats in the Big East Championship semifinals, 3-2. The ‘Cats ended the season with a 9-9 overall record and a 4-3 record in conference play.
The ‘Cats scraped into the Big East Championship bracket as the No. 4 seed after a win against Providence on the last day of the regular season. However, their matchup against the No. 1 seed Liberty proved to be a feat too difficult to overcome.
“From the opening whistle to the ending whistle our team gave literally 110%,” head coach Joanie Milhous said. “They had all the intangibles and brought the skill, so the combination of the intangibles of the heart, desire, competitiveness, work ethic, they brought all of that with their skill level. There is nothing I regretted about that game other than just not having another goal or two.”
Freshman goalie Maddie Sears protected the Villanova net from several shots by the Flames in the first quarter. However, the score was 1-0 by the third minute of the second. A second goal from Liberty at 24:56 had the ‘Cats down two at the half.
Senior forward Amanda Middleman aimed to put points on the board right out of the locker room. Her attack led to a foul on Liberty. Senior back Sabine de Ruijter capitalized on the penalty stroke, scoring Villanova’s first goal of the game. Liberty responded with back-to-back scoring attempts, the first of which Sears successfully saved, but the second put the Flames ahead, 3-1, at the end of the third quarter.
Off of another shot attempt by de Ruijter and a penalty corner by junior midfield/forward Emma Schwarz, senior forward and leading scorer Amanda Middleman put one more goal in for Villanova with only seven minutes of game time remaining. The clock eventually ran out on the ‘Cats, with Liberty claiming the victory.
“[I’m] very happy about this season,” Milhous said. “I think the growth that [the team] had from game one to [their] final game was really good and really strong.”
The loss brought the Wildcats’ nearly three-month season to a close.
“I think this group of seniors has done an amazing job of instilling the importance of our culture in the younger players,” Milhous said. “If anything, our culture can only keep getting stronger and stronger each year because this group were really role models in showing how important it is to have this culture. It’s great when times are easy but when times are difficult, to have our culture to back on and rely on our core values and standards of passion, growth and accountability is what these upperclassmen really taught the younger girls. If anything, our program culture is going to keep improving.”
Villanova finished the season with a 7-3 record at home, a 2-5 record on the road and a 4-3 record in the Big East. The ‘Cats will now turn their attention toward the 2024 season.
