VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova women's lacrosse team secured its 2019 home opener with a nail-biting 13-12 win over Cornell. This contest marked the pair's fourth all-time matchup as well as the Wildcats first win over the Big Red in program history.

The game came down to the wire with Villanova up 13-12 with minutes left in the game. Cornell's Shannon Bertscha fired off the last shot of the contest with five seconds left in regulation where she had a chance to tie things up but her shot came off just left of the goal. The Wildcats secured their win when the horn buzzed during a last-minute scramble at the rear of the net.

Junior Grainger Rosati was the first to find the back of the net at the Villanova Stadium for the 2019 season giving the 'Cats a 1-0 lead.

Cornell came out of the next draw and took control over Villanova. The Big Red went on the biggest scoring run of the game and netted four unanswered goals within a four-minute span. Caroline Allen scored two of the four goals in the run and assisted on another.

Soon after Cornell's scoring run, junior attack Katie Comerford answered back for the Wildcats with two back-to-back goals of her own cutting the Big Red's lead to 4-3.

Both teams went on to exchange shots for a span of three minutes until Cornell scored and increased their lead to 5-3 on man-up possession after senior defender Julia Arrix received a yellow card.

Neither the Wildcats or Big Red could find the back of the net and resulted in a scoring drought that lasted nearly 10 minutes.

Senior Devin Hassinger ended the silence and scored two goals within four minutes to tie the score at five. Junior Liz Trojan scored the third on an assist from Comerford who also assisted on the previous goal.

Shannon Bertscha answered back for the Big Red and kept the game tied up at six but with just over a minute left in the first half, Ashley Lynch scored two consecutive goals. The Wildcats entered halftime with an 8-6 lead over the Big Red.

Villanova started the second half with a goal by Hassinger which gave them their first largest lead of the game at 9-6.

Cornell went on a scoring run of their own and scored four goals to Villanova's one. With the game tied at 10 and plenty of time left, each team battled back and forth working both to cut a lead and maintain one.

Over the course of 10 minutes the Wildcats received goals from Trojan, Hassinger and Devon Brown giving them another three-point lead.

The Big Red kept things interesting by scoring the last two goals of the game to cut Villanova's lead to 13-12. Unfortunately, for Cornell Bertscha's shot just was not close enough to keep them in the contest and send the game into overtime.

Cornell ended the contest with 31 shots, 19 of which were on goal, as well as 12 turnovers, 17 ground balls and 10 draw controls.

Villanova wrapped up their win with 27 shots, 17 of them on goal, 16 turnovers and ground balls respectively and 17 draw controls.

Hassinger contributed eight of the Wildcats 17 draw controls and concluded the 'Cats scoring for the afternoon with her fourth goal. Comerford recorded a team high six points with two goals and four assists and Lynch and Trojan added seven more points with their five goals and two assists combined.

Freshman Alexa Moro was a huge staple in the Wildcats win and came out with her first collegiate victory while recording six saves for a total of 13 in two games.

Cornell placed two keepers in the net who recorded a combined six saves.

Villanova improves to 1-1 on the season while Cornell will begin its season 0-1. The Wildcats gear up for their next game on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m. against the Siena Saints. The men's lacrosse team will host Hofstra at 12 p.m. for their first home game of the 2019 season.