On Saturday, April 27, Villanova women’s lacrosse defeated Marquette, 17-14, in its last game of the regular season in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
This win helped the ‘Cats clinch the last spot in the Big East Tournament and earned some Wildcats conference awards. Freshman Mary Moore gained the title of the Big East midfielder of the week. Freshman draw specialist Emma Verhoest achieved Big East Freshman of the Week. Junior attacker Sami Carey reached 100 career points against Marquette, with a single-game career-high of 10 points against the Golden Eagles.
“Sami has really continued to just step up as the season has gone on,” head coach Jill Batcheller said. “I think in this game her leadership and experience really showed to lead us in the win on Saturday.”
In their previous meeting this season at Villanova Stadium, the Wildcats suffered a tough loss against the Golden Eagles, 12-8, on April 23. Marquette is ranked fifth in the Big East with a conference record of 2-4. Last Saturday, Villanova overpowered Marquette by having three players score three goals or more.
The top scorers of the match were Moore and junior attacker Sydney Papas, who each achieved four goals. Next up, graduate attacker Cara Moreau scored three goals, one unassisted and two assisted by Carey. Carey managed to achieve the highest number of assists with eight on Saturday, along with scoring two goals of her own.
Freshman Makenzie Fisher was Villanova’s goalie for the full 60 minutes. During the match, she had eight saves and allowed 14 goals by Marquette. Golden Eagle goalies Mikayla Yang and Brynna Nixon only had a total of five saves throughout the game, while allowing 17 goals by the ‘Cats.
“I thought our team was really prepared and we played with a lot of discipline,” Batcheller said. “When the game was getting really close, I thought our team did a good job of executing on the offensive end and our defense played with a lot of trust.”
The initial draw control was won by freshman defender Cailin Harrington. At the draw was freshman attacker and draw specialist Emma Verhoest. Verhoest achieved 10 draws against Marquette’s junior midfielder Lorelai VanGuidler. The Wildcats and the Golden Eagles reached the same number of shots on goal, tying with 22 for the match.
Freshman midfielder Rose Christie also scored two goals assisted by Moore. Sophomore midfielder Ashlyn Hickey scored an unassisted goal midway through the second period. Redshirt freshman midfielder Bella Piselli scored a goal in the third period assisted by Carey, as well. Senior defender Maddy Stoddard achieved three ground balls and one cross turnover against the Golden Eagles.
“Offensively, we really worked on just making sure that we’re playing pretty consistently throughout the entire game,” Batcheller said.
As for Marquette, junior attacker Meg Bireley accounted for nearly half of her team’s goals, scoring six goals, three of which were free position shots. Villanova fell short in free position shots, going 0-3 in the second half alone.
Compared to its previous game that was against Denver, ‘Nova was more careful in this conference game regarding penalty trouble. Only two Wildcats received penalties, even though they were yellow cards. This forced Moore to sit for two minutes during the second period and Harrington to sit twice during the third period.
“A really big factor was not giving Marquette anything easy,” Batcheller said. “We really focused on our discipline.”
The Golden Eagles struggled with penalties, receiving two green cards and one yellow in the first half. The referees went on to give them four more yellow cards in the second half, which benched some of their star players for a few minutes.
Villanova and Marquette played a competitive game, as the teams are ranked fourth and fifth in the Big East Conference. The ‘Cats win over Marquette was their second-highest scoring game of the season, right behind the victory over Xavier where the team scored 18 goals.
The Wildcats advance to postseason play in the Big East Tournament and will play No. 1 seed University of Denver in the first round on Thursday, May 2 at 1 p.m. The tournament takes place in Cincinnati, Ohio and can be watched on FloSports.
