Halfway through her senior season, Sydney Pappas has etched her name in the Villanova women’s lacrosse record books as the all-time leading scorer with 155 goals and counting.
“Sydney is a natural scorer,” head coach Jill Batcheller said. “She has an eye for the cage, and she’s really competitive.”
Pappas hit the milestone in a 12-8 victory over Columbia University on Saturday, March 14 at Villanova Stadium. She netted five goals in total against the Lions, and surpassed the record in the fourth period of the matchup. The previous record was held by Katie Comferford (2017-2021) with 153.
“It’s an individual award, but at the same time,” Pappas said. “I wouldn’t have been anywhere near that record without my teammates.”
Pappas is a native of Garden City, New York, where she attended Garden City High School from 2017-2021. There, she helped Garden City win a New York Class B State Championship and was named a 2021 US Lacrosse All-American.
Upon arriving at Villanova as a freshman, Pappas started quickly. She made 11 starts and played in every game in the 2022 season. She ended the season with 32 goals and three assists. By her sophomore year, Pappas led the team in points with 64, this included 52 goals and 12 assists. She was also named Co-Offensive IWCLA Player of the Week and IWLCA Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team. More notably, Pappas was nominated for the Tewaaraton Award watch list, which is the most coveted award in all of college lacrosse.
Her junior year, Pappas led the team in goals with 49, and had 53 points in total. She also racked up preseason accolades with All-American and All-BIG EAST honors. Pappas also led the team with nine free position goals. She reached the program top 10 single season marks in goals, free position goals and goals per game.
Lacrosse is a team sport, and that does not only include the 10 active players on the field. The Villanova sideline is well known in the collegiate lacrosse world for their energy and spark. After a goal, one can see them dancing, singing and sometimes even tossing an unlucky teammate in the air over and over again. After games, opposing staff and members will even go out of their way to compliment Villanova’s sideline enthusiasm.
“They seriously keep us in games sometimes just with their energy,” Pappas said. “One of the best features of our team is our sideline.”
Pappas won the Big East Co-Attacker of the Year for her 2023 campaign. She was also named to the All-Big East First Team in two consecutive seasons. Pappas holds multiple Big East Weekly Honor Roll accolades, and a recent Big East Attacker of the Week honor.
Pappas and the Wildcats also grabbed an 11-7 win over the No. 25 UConn (6-4) on Saturday, March 22. Pappas scored two goals in Villanova’s first game of Big East play. The Huskies were second in the Big East Preseason Poll. Villanova was third.
“We really wanna win the Big East this year, and I think that winning mindset has grown so much over the years,” Pappas said.
Villanova (7-3) will return home for its second in conference game on Saturday, March 29 against Butler University (0-7). The senior day matchup will be held at Villanova Stadium, and is set to start at 1 p.m.
