Villanova women’s lacrosse continued its domination in the Big East Conference with an 18-9 road win at Xavier on Saturday, April 12.
The Wildcats (10-4, 4-1 Big East) now hold the top spot in conference standings. The Musketeers (1-11, 0-4 Big East), meanwhile, remain winless in the conference.
Senior attacker Sydney Pappas led the way with four goals for Villanova. Redshirt sophomores Elena Torres and Bella Piselli each recorded hat tricks. The efforts of sophomore midfielder Sophia Corretjer, who picked up a team-high five ground balls, were also key to the win.
Sophomore Emma Verhoest accounted for 17 of Villanova’s 23 draw controls, while Xavier recorded just eight.
In front of the net, senior Cate Gallagher saved nine of Xavier’s 18 shots on goal.
Pappas got the scoring started with a goal just three minutes and 34 seconds into play, assisted by sophomore attacker Jillian Vaught. After Xavier returned with one of its own, Villanova netted four consecutive goals to finish the first quarter up, 5-1.
Torres’s goal with eight minutes and seven seconds left in the first quarter, assisted by Pappas, was her 25th goal of the season.
Villanova continued to dominate come the second quarter. After an early Xavier goal, freshman Leslie Iorio and Piselli scored back-to-back goals to go up, 7-2. The Wildcats reached double-figures on the scoreboard with another goal from Torres, assisted by senior attacker Sami Carey, with three minutes and 59 seconds left in the quarter.
The Wildcats went into halftime with a solid 11-4 lead.
A trio of goals from sophomore midfielder Rose Christie, Pappas and freshman midfielder Madison Freeman set the tone for Villanova in the first two minutes of the second half.
Villanova’s offensive momentum faded from there, but Torres added another goal at the end of the quarter to go into the final 15 minutes ahead, 15-5.
Villanova and Xavier traded goals to start the fourth quarter. With five minutes and 54 seconds left in the game, senior midfielder Katie Giordano notched her first goal of the season, assisted by junior midfielder Maddie Luer.
Xavier added two goals to finish off the game, unable to attempt a comeback.
Villanova will take another road trip on Saturday, April 19 to Sparks Glencoe, MD for a non-conference matchup against the University of Richmond (9-6, 7-2 Atlantic 10) at a neutral location (1 p.m., FloSports).
Villanova will then wrap up its regular season schedule with a visit to Denver (9-5, 3-1 Big East) on Saturday, April 26 (2 p.m., FloSports). The Wildcats are gearing up to host the Big East Championship from May 1 to May 3 at Villanova Stadium.
