Women’s Lacrosse Sets Single Season Win Record

Elijah McDow Staff Writer

For the second week in a row, Villanova’s women’s lacrosse team added another chapter to the history books.

In a midweek victory over Xavier, 21-9, Villanova picked up its 11th win of the season, setting up a program record for wins in a season.

“It was awesome,” Batch eller said. “I think personally it was such a special moment when it came to fruition and for the team it was a lot of validation that they are heading in the right direction.”

Despite the strong start to the week, the Wildcats fell to Marquette, 12-8, five days later on Senior Day.

For seniors, including midfielder Addie Fischer, defend er Nina Mainello and graduate attacker Caroline Curnal, Sunday, April 23th was their final game at Villanova Stadium.

“The seniors’ biggest contribution has been the way that they have shifted the culture of the team,” Batcheller said. “I’m so thankful for all nine of them for all they’ve done for the program, especially this year.”

All the seniors have made their contributions, but Batcheller discussed Curnal’s impact on the team.

“Curnal is going to be the biggest loss,” Batcheller said. “Caroline Curnal is one of our captains and she’s like the heart and soul of this team. She does a great job of showing her passion for this program and how much she wants to win.”

After honoring the seniors before the game, the Wildcats took the field to take on the Golden Eagles. The first quarter saw Villanova open the scoring courtesy of junior attacker, Kayla Gulmi. With just under four minutes left in the quarter the Wildcats took a 3-1 lead.

The second quarter saw Marquette take the lead for the first time in the game, but sophomore attacker Sami Carey tied the game a few minutes later.

After Carey’s equalizer, Marquette scored three unanswered goals, taking a 7-4 heading into halftime.

During the break, Batcheller made a few changes.

“We mainly refocused on the game plan,” Batcheller said. “Offensively we changed up some spots within our personnel.”

Following these changes, Cara Moreau scored the first goal of the second half to trim Marquette’s lead to two. Marquette initially took its second three goal lead of the game, but Curnal netted home a goal to trim it back to

Despite delivering the first blow, Marquette maintained its lead throughout the entirety of the third quarter, and heading into the fourth, the score was 8-6.

At the start of the fourth, sophomore attacker Sydney Pappas recorded her third goal of the game, narrowing Marquette’s lead to just two goals.

Pappas’s efforts gave the Wildcats momentum, but Marquette was relentless in maintaining their lead, as they scored three more goals to take a 10-7 lead.

With five minutes left in the fourth quarter, junior attacker Jessica Lee scored a goal, but it was not enough. Lee’s goal proved to be the final goal of the regular season for the Wildcats.

Following the regular season, the Wildcats now turn their attention to the Big East Tournament, which is scheduled to begin on May 5th.

“The goal of the postseason is to win,” Batcheller said. “To put this last bit away and use everything that we have learned this season. I think we have really learned how to play in tight games and how to play under pressure so I’m really hoping that this team can take all the lessons with them and finish strong the rest of the season.”

Katie Lewis Staff Writer

This past weekend, Big East opponent DePaul only managed to score two runs off of a confident Villanova team in a three-game series.

After sweeping the Blue Demons, the Wildcats stand in third place in the Big East, with a 29–18 overall record and 13–5 conference record.

The Wildcats opened the series with an 8–0 mercy-rule in five innings.

Freshman Kat Gallant pitched a three-hit shutout and was perfect during the first four innings.

Senior third baseman Chloe Smith notched the first hit of the weekend with a single in the first inning. A hit to right field by senior catcher Ally Jones moved Smith to third, and another hit by senior first baseman Victoria Sebastian brought Smith home.

Graduate catcher Ryan Henry then gave the Wildcats a 4–0 lead, blasting her ninth home run of the season.

After a scoreless second and third inning, the Wildcats loaded the bases with a hit-by-pitch and singles by freshman shortstop Lilly St. Jean and senior outfielder Dani Dabroski.

Junior center fielder Tess Cites earned an RBI to score St. Jean. Smith and Jones then added two more runs with back-to-back sacrifice flies, and another Sebastian single brought the Wildcats to 8–0.