The women’s soccer team’s season came to an end on Thursday night with a 2-0 loss to the Xavier Musketeers in the Big East Tournament Semifinals. The Wildcats finished the season with a record of 10-7-4. 

Redshirt junior Carrie Lewis scored first for the Musketeers in the 15th minute, giving Xavier an early 1-0 advantage on an assist from sophomore Rachel Dewey. Sophomore Hayley Jakovich added some cushion for Xavier by finding the back of the net off a free kick from Samantha Dewey to make it 2-0 in the 47th minute. 

Xavier was only able to muster eight shots, five of them coming on goal, but it was all that the Musketeers needed. 

Villanova was able to walk away with 18 shots, but only five of them were on goal and none of them were able to find the back of the net. Senior Conner Huggins and sophomore Shaye Seyffart led the way with three shots each. 

In the 64th minute, Seyffart recorded a shot that was inches away from putting Villanova back in the game. The ball was placed right below the crossbar, but Xavier goalie Olivia Jenkins was able to get a hand on it and push it out of bounds. 

Head Coach Chris McLain felt for his players, “Gutted for these players, they have faced so much adversity this season. We lost so many great players to injury this season and our players just kept rising to that challenge. What these players have done to raise this program back into the conversation of being a top team in this league is nothing short of remarkable.”

This was a season to remember for Villanova, it was its first appearance in the Big East Semifinals since 2004 and its first double digit win season since 2009. 

In particular McLain was proud of his seniors.

“These seniors have so much to be proud of,” McLain said. “They did this. They built this, and they now enabled our underclassman to experience this Big East tourney. This is something they never got as a young player and now we can build off that gift. These seniors are special and I’m proud, as is our staff, that we did this alongside of them.”