VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova women's lacrosse team was defeated by No. 17 Navy 14-6 in a midweek matchup on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at the Villanova Stadium. After the defeat the Wildcats are now 2-2 on the season and the Midshipmen improve to 3-1.

Villanova was led by Katie Comerford who only scored to two goals and one assist on the afternoon. Navy was led by Kelly Larkin who scored a team high six goals and two assists for eight points.

Throughout the contest 'Cats were able to apply pressure to the Mids' defense but unable to penetrate for a goal a majority of the time. Navy's defense limited Nova to only six goals which is the least amount of goals they have scored in their four matchups this season.

Devin Hassinger grabbed a goal and put Villanova on the board to start the competition. Unfortunately for the 'Cats, Navy answered back in a dominant manner with four unanswered goals.

Finally, just under the halfway mark, Nicole Concannon cut the lead to two when she scored her first goal of the season. Again, the Midshipmen battled back and was able to net two more goals and extend their lead with 11:21 left in the first half.

Comerford then scored her first goal of the contest as well as the Wildcats last of the half. The junior attack's goal cut the lead and Villanova only then trailed 6-3.

Within a minute of Villanova's third goal Larkin netted in her second goal and ignited a scoring run for the Mids that could not be suppressed. She went on to score three more goals for the first half while three others contributed to the run.

At the half Villanova trailed 13-3 on the board as well as 21-6 in shots and 11-5 in ground balls.

After the break, the remaining 30 minutes proved to be better for the Wildcats defensively, although the Midshipmen limited their shots to 10, nearly cutting their 21 from the first in half.

Villanova limited their opponents seven shots on goal to only one goal for the entire second half in comparison to the 13 in the first. The Wildcats scored three goals of their own after Comerford found the back of the net for her second and Maggie Jennings and Ashley Lynch each netted in one of their own.

The Wildcats scored the first two goals of the second half with 23:40 and 13:43 on the clock. The Midshipmen finally converted one of their shots when Larkin scored her sixth and final goal of the game with just 2:55 remaining.

Lynch concluded the scoring run for both teams after she netted her goal with 11 seconds left on the clock.

At the end of the game Navy led Villanova 31-17 in shots, 22-11 in shots on goal, 15-6 in draw controls and 5-2 on free-position shots. Though, the Wildcats led 19-17 in ground balls and 8-5 in saves.

Both Alexa Moro and Olivia Gonsalves saw time in the goal for Villanova. The freshman keeper saw 57 of the 60 minutes in the net and recorded all eight saves which gives her a total of 37 saves on 104 shots faced this season.

In the net for Navy, Gab Harchelroad and Abbi Young saw action. Harchelroad recoded five of the six saves while young tallied one of her own in the last three minutes of play.

In addition to Larkin, Navy also received goals from six others. Natalie Irwin and Moriah Snyder scored two apiece and Annalise Heyward, Andie O'Sullivan, Caitlin Blanche and Marina Lazarides each found the back of the net once.

Villanova returns to action on Saturday, Mar. 2 when it takes a short road trip downtown to face St. Joseph's. The competition between the Wildcats and Hawks is set to start at 12 p.m. at Sweeney Field.