On Friday, April 24, Villanova’s men’s lacrosse team (6-7, 3-2 Big East) concluded its regular season by falling to Georgetown (8-4, 5-0 Big East), 9-6.
“The ‘Cats will be back in action,” the team shared to their X, @NovaLacrosse, looking to bounce back from the loss.
The loss dropped Villanova to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
The ‘Cats’ conference record earns them the No. 3 seed at the Big East Championship this upcoming weekend, where they will face No. 2 seed Providence College (7-8, 3-2 Big East) in the championship semifinals on April 30.
Nick Lucchesi and Ryan Martin led Villanova against the Hoyas, scoring two goals apiece.
Georgetown’s graduate attackman Rory Connor led offensively, scoring four goals. Sophomore Kevin Miller followed, scoring three.
Villanova was outshot by Georgetown, 38-30. Of Villanova’s 38 shots, 16 were on goal. In comparison, 24 of Georgetown’s 38 shots were on goal.
The Wildcats won 12 out of 19 faceoffs, with junior faceoff George Clomb winning 11.
In front of the net, senior goalkeeper Anthony Wilson collected 13 saves.
Following the game’s opening faceoff, Georgetown found early momentum, scoring two goals in the first five minutes.
Villanova cut the deficit to 2-1 before the Hoyas scored three goals in three minutes.
With a minute and a half remaining in the first period, freshman midfielder Kessy Cox found the net, making the score 5-2.
At the beginning of the second period, Georgetown scored two more goals to extend its lead to 7-2.
For eight and a half minutes, both teams went scoreless until Lucchesi and Martin scored two goals in the final five minutes of the half, cutting the Wildcats’ deficit to three goals, 7-4.
Georgetown scored first in the second half to make the score 8-4.
Shortly after, Villanova responded to bring its deficit to three goals again.
In the final 15 minutes, both teams maintained defensive control, allowing their opponents limited looks on goal.
Georgetown scored first in the final period to make it 9-5.
A minute later, Villanova responded, making the game 9-6 with eight minutes remaining. Neither team could score after that.
The Wildcats are now set for a rematch with Providence.
During the teams’ last meeting on April 11, the Friars scored late to send the game into overtime and won, 16-15.
Face off is set for 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Should Villanova win, it will advance to the Big East Championship finals and play the winner of the No. 1 seed Georgetown and No. 4 seed Denver (6-7, 2-3 Big East) game.
“We’ve consistently gotten to this point where we can play in the championship game, but we haven’t got over that hump,” senior attackman Colin Michener told The Villanovan earlier this season about the team’s progression in the tournament. “We really have to dig deeper into ourselves and see what we have to do to get over that hump.”
The Championship game will be played on Saturday, May 2, at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
