On Saturday, April 12, Villanova men’s lacrosse defeated St. John’s (4-8, 0-2 Big East) in its Big East home opener.
The 10-7 victory was Villanova’s third straight conference win. With the victory, the Wildcats (6-5, 3-0 Big East) rose to first place in the Big East standings and started conference play 3-0 for the first time in over six seasons.
“We’re happy where we are,” head coach Mike Corrado said. “We’re first place in the league, and our goal is to make it to the Big East Tournament and get a high seed.”
The Michener brothers led the Wildcats to the win. Freshman attacker Gavin Michener scored a hat trick in the victory, while redshirt sophomore attacker Colin Michener scored one goal for his 20th of the season.
Saturday’s game was also Alumni Day and the team honored former Wildcats and their families at halftime.
“It’s great to look up in the crowd and see guys that you played with, or guys that you’ve heard of,” Michener said. “It’s awesome to see them cheering us on. I’m gonna definitely be back in their shoes, cheering on the team when I leave… That’s what Villanova does. It builds a culture where we can all come back and have a second home.”
In the first quarter, freshman goalkeeper Denis Fargione made an early save. The Wildcats were called for a penalty after just two minutes of play.
The Wildcats got on the attack, but costly turnovers led to the Red Storm regaining possession. After five minutes of play, St. John’s opened the scoring with a goal from senior attacker Brian Kelly. Kelly finished the game with five goals for the Red Storm.
St. John’s lead lasted five minutes. Sophomore midfielder Quinton Cepiel then opened the scoring for Villanova to tie the game at one.
The Wildcats took their first lead of the game under two minutes into the second quarter, courtesy of sophomore midfielder Nicholas Lucchesi. Three minutes later, the Wildcats grew their lead to 3-1 off a solo goal from Gavin Michener.
Colin Michener then scored via an assist from senior attacker Luke Raymond. Michener’s milestone goal gave the Wildcats a 4-1 lead.
The Wildcats went on to add two goals to their lead, entering halftime up, 6-2.
After allowing a St. John’s goal to start the second half, Villanova regained a four-goal lead when graduate attacker Matt Licata set up junior midfielder Luke Williams for a goal. Come the final quarter of play, the Red Storm trimmed the Wildcat lead to just one with nine minutes still remaining, forcing Corrado to call a timeout.
“We called a timeout to just try and take a deep breath and relax,” Corrado said. “I thought after that timeout…our guys answered the bell when they got challenged.”
Coming out of the timeout, the Wildcats scored two to regain a three-goal lead. The Wildcats maintained the margin for the remainder of the game.
Villanova’s focus now shifts to a Senior Day matchup with Marquette (6-4, 1-1 Big East) on Saturday, April 19 at Villanova Stadium (noon, FloSports).
“It’s the most important game of the season, and we look forward to the challenge of playing them,” Corrado said.
