On Saturday, Feb. 17, Villanova’s women’s lacrosse defeated Bucknell, 16–12, at Villanova Stadium. 

With snow early in the morning, there was a chance of the game being postponed to later in the day. The Wildcats were still able to come onto the field for their second home game of the season.

“We are used to playing in different weather conditions,” head coach Jill Batcheller said. “Our facilities team is amazing and really helped us get the game in at noon.”

This was Villanova’s first win of the season, moving the team up to fifth in Big East overall rankings. Bucknell is now 0–2 for the season and sits at seventh in the Patriot League standings. In their previous meeting in 2023, the Wildcats won, 12–10, in Lewisburg. 

The starters on Saturday included sophomore defender Juliet Walls, junior defender Amelia Ricciuti, junior defender Maddy Stoddard, junior attacker Sami Carey and junior attacker Sydney Pappas. ‘Nova had seven freshman starters on the field, including defenders Katie Clark and Cailin Harrington, midfielders Rose Christie and Mary Moore, attacker Emma Verhoest, goalie Cate Gallagher and redshirt freshman attacker Elena Torres. 

“We had a good rhythm out there,” Christie said. “On offense we just wanted to start strong and that’s what we did today.”

Verhoest won the initial draw control against Bucknell’s senior defender Colleen Kelly. Verhoest went on to achieve 14 draw controls and three turnovers the whole game. 

Villanova went on a 7–0 scoring run to start off the game. 

The Bisons did not get their first goal until senior midfielder Tatumn Kholbrenner scored four minutes into the second period. The highest scorer for Bucknell was senior midfielder Emily Baird, who notched five goals on Saturday. After not scoring for the entire first period, Bucknell pulled off 12 goals in the last three periods, scoring five in the third period. 

The Wildcats had a team total of 18 fouls, three of which were called on Harrington. Comparatively, Bucknell had 24 team fouls. The Bisons had four players that received over three fouls. 

Gallagher had 12 saves in the net and was the Wildcats’ goalie for the full 60 minutes. Moore had her first career hat trick along with five saves, three ground balls and three draw controls.

“[We have to work on] the ground balls and protecting our sticks in the midfield, ” Batcheller said. “We have a lot of turnovers in those two areas and then just working together as a team on the defense.”

With no surprise, Pappas was the highest scorer of the game for the ‘Cats, scoring four goals, three of which were unassisted.

Senior attacker Kayla Gulmi had the highest assist count of the day with four. Gulmi also scored one goal. Christie scored two goals for the ‘Cats in the first two minutes of the game, both assisted by Gulmi. Torres had her first two career goals for ‘Nova, both unassisted. Carey scored for the Wildcats in the beginning of the third period. 

“I think we got a lot more cross turnovers and goal scores in this game, which was exciting,” Batcheller said. “I think we have a couple little things to clean up, but overall, I was proud of the team.”

After the defeat of the Bisons, three Wildcats received Big East honors. Gallagher landed on the Weekly Honor Roll for goalkeepers. Pappas received attacker of the week, a feat she achieved several times last season. Emma Verhoest was named Big East Freshman of the week. 

Villanova will travel to La Salle on Saturday Feb. 21 at 3 p.m.