April 15, 2015

Box Score

Villanova, Pa. -

The Villanova women's lacrosse team improved to 8-6 (3-2 BIG EAST) after posting a 9-7 victory over the Temple Owls (9-5, 1-4) for the first time in nine meetings between the two teams. The Wildcats continue to fight for their first BIG EAST Tournament berth as they will now look to a Sunday matchup against Vanderbilt which will decide both teams' fates in the post season.

Senior Jackie Froccaro posted four goals against the Owls to officially reach two significant milestones in her career. Her fourth goal of the afternoon which was unassisted, marked the senior's 40^th goal of the season, her golden number as Froccaro wears number 40 on her back.

Her 40 goals now surpasses her previous record of 39 goals in a single season, to tied her tally from 2013: 39 goals; a number that got her the 10th best season record in program history. Froccaro has posted eight hat tricks on the season so far as she continues to climb up the program's career goal list with only 3 seasons of play.

With 90 goals, Froccaro now logs the seventh best career goal tally in the program. To top it off, Froccaro's assist also logs her at 100 career points with the Wildcats. 

The game started out in the Wildcats favor as Froccaro put the `Cats on the board off an eight-meter shot at 26:37.  The Wildcats held on to their lead until 11:04 remaining in the half as Temple finally added their own first point to the board. To drive the point home, the Owls posted a second goal just a little over a minute later.

The Wildcats however, were determined to hold on to their lead as Froccaro posted goal number two at 8:28 to tie the score at 2-2.

The contest was closely contested for the majority of the time as the two teams battled it out to gain possession of the lead before the end of the half.

With 47 seconds left on the clock junior Meghan Breen found the back of the net off a pass from senior Jessica Mucci. Mucci is four passes away from 100 career assists which will mark the first Wildcat to log triple-digit numbers in the category.  

While the two teams played similar games in the first half, the Wildcats captured 11 ground balls to the Owls five.

Villanova started the second half with a vengeance as four different `Cats posted goals in the first ten minutes of the half.

Breen and Mucci started the half how they ended the last one as the due repeated their last play with 28:23 on the clock. At 27:18 freshman Kathleen O'Connor found the back of the net off a pass from Froccaro which was quickly followed by a third Froccaro unassisted goal at 24:57 to extend the lead to 6-2. For good measure, sophomore Carolyn Dottino added goal number seven from a Froccaro pass to extend the Wildcat lead to five.

The two teams continued to trade goals as the Owls put up a fight, bringing the score within three as Temple posted four goals in the last fifteen minutes of the game. Two more unassisted goals from Breen at 17:59 and Froccaro at 10:59 were enough of an assurance for the Wildcats to secure their win.

The Wildcats came out defensively as Fraum posted nine saves against an incredibly determined Owl offense including keeping them from five of their eight free-position shots.

Freshman Elizabeth Armstrong posted a record-high day with five groundballs and three caused turnovers as the `Cats played solid defense throughout the game. Fellow sophomore Sam Scarfogliero tallied four ground balls and two caused turnovers to add to her stat sheet.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Sunday as they battle for a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time ever in program history. Villanova will take on Vanderbilt at noon in Villanova Stadium.