Villanova, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats hosted the Denver Pioneers for their final home game of the season. Before the contest, Villanova recognized the team's nine seniors for their contributions on and off the field. The game saw the nationally ranked Pioneers take the victory, with a final score of 16-8. With one game remaining in BIG EAST play, Villanova is now 4-11 on the year and 0-4 in conference, while Denver improves their win streak to eight, sitting at 14-1 overall and 4-0 in the BIG EAST. 

With the loss, Villanova remains winless against Denver, falling to 0-7 since 2017. 

The first half saw the teams trade goals, as the score heading into the break was 6-5 in favor of the visiting Pioneers. Freshman Sydney Pappas got the scoring started, as she gave Villanova an early 1-0 lead off a free position attempt. Senior Olivia Piccirilli would tie things at 2-2 with her first of two goals at the 4:27 mark of the opening period. At the end of the first, the 'Cats deficit was one at 3-2. 

Opening the second period, Denver's Lauren Black scored her second of a game high six goals in the contest at the 11:51 mark. Pappas and Piccirilli would each score their second in the period, with senior Caroline Curnal scoring her first of three goals on senior day. In the period, Denver out shot the Wildcats 9-5 and had a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal. With the score 6-5, both teams looked for sparks on offense as the BIG EAST rivals looked to make significant scoring runs. 

Coming out of the halftime break, Denver was firing on all cylinders, shutting out the Villanova offense in the third period and only allowing three shots. On offense, the seven goal period was the highest scoring period of the game for either team, as Denver fired off 11 shots with 10 on goal. 

Two Curnal scores stopped the Pioneers run, cutting the lead down to 13-8 with 5:52 remaining in the game. Sophomore Jessie Lee would add her second score of the season late in the final frame to push Villanova's scoring run to three, their longest of the day. To close out the final 1:29, Denver added three goals with two coming from Black. 

In the final week of BIG EAST regular season play, Villanova will travel to Butler on Saturday, April 30. Game time is scheduled for 12:00 p.m., with streaming available on Flo Sports.