Villanova, Pa.- The Villanova Wildcats fell to the Marquette Golden Eagles by a final of 8-7 on Sunday afternoon.

The opening half saw three goals by both teams.  The Golden Eagles opened the game scoring two goals in under a minute, but the Wildcats answered back.  Libby McKenna and Olivia Piccirilli netted unassisted goals to tie it at two at 19:39. Marquette pulled ahead by one at 14:25 but right before the half Brittany Bruno scored a free position to tie it at three.

Villanova had their first lead of the game at the 27:41 mark of the second half when Piccirilli dished it to Katie Comerford to make it 4-3.  Marquette would answer scoring three straight to go up 6-4 at the 20:31 mark.  McKenna would score her second to end the streak and then complete the hat trick at the 17:55 mark after a Marquette goal to make it 6-5 Golden Eagles. 

At 7:13 McKenna assisted Comerford's second goal of the game to tie it up at seven.  After a Marquette timeout the Golden Eagles would score the game winner when Leigh Steiner dished it to Hannah Greving to make the final 8-7.

Alexa Moro played all 60 minutes in goal for the Wildcats and finished with 10 saves, seven of those came in the first half.  Defender Sydney Frank had four ground balls and caused turnovers along with three draw controls while fellow defender Kelsey Mentzer had a team high five ground balls.

Villanova will return to action on Friday, April 9^th when they host the Butler Bulldogs.  Game time in Villanova Stadium is scheduled for 12:00 P.M.