Villanova will host the Big East Conference Lacrosse Championship Tournament on May 2 and May 5 at Villanova Stadium, featuring the top four teams in the BIG EAST standings competing for the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
This marks Villanova’s first time hosting the tournament since 2018.
“It’s a really cool opportunity for the players to play the tournament on their own campus,” head coach Mike Corrado said. “No one on our team has done it.”
With a regular season record of 8-6 and a Big East record of 2-3, Villanova is slated as the No. 4 seed in the tournament. It will take on No. 1 seed Denver in the opening match Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The following game will be held at 8:30 p.m. featuring the 2 and 3-seeds, Georgetown and Providence, respectively. The championship matchup will take place on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Denver enters the tournament as a formidable opponent, with an undefeated Big East record.
“We’re up against a really strong opponent, one that we know well,” Corrado said.
Villanova’s offense is led in goalscoring by redshirt freshman attack Colin Michener, with 35 goals, and senior attack Matt Licata, with 33. Licata has had a standout year, racking up 18 assists for a total of 51 points.
On the defensive end, graduate student LSM Stephen Zupicich leads the country in caused turnovers, with a whopping 44 this season and an additional 53 ground balls. Graduate student midfielder Stevie Jones is another key defensive player for the Wildcats, racking up 20 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
A shoulder injury has left Villanova without their key faceoff player, graduate student Justin Coppola, whose absence has been a tough spot to fill going into the tournament.
When asked about the team’s agenda going into the opening game, Corrado emphasized the importance of ball possession and shutting Denver’s offense down.
“Offensively, we’re going to have to get more quality scoring opportunities and reduce the amount of times we turn the ball over,” Corrado said. “Limiting their transition opportunities makes the difference.”
Villanova’s semifinal game against Denver will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
