Box Score MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – Marquette raced out to a 5-0 lead in the opening minutes Saturday under the Seasonal Dome at Valley Fields and then held off a series of rallies by Villanova to post a 19-14 BIG EAST victory here Saturday.
 
Sydney Pappas led the Wildcats with four goals while Libby McKenna, Caroline Curnal and Sami Carey each registered three goals. Alexa Moro made eight saves in goal for Nova, which fell to 4-9 overall, 0-2 BIG EAST while the Golden Eagles are now 6-7 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST.
 
Marquette notched three goals in the game's first 4:35, with two coming off the stick of Meg Bireley. Kyra LaMotte added a fourth goal a little more than a minute later to extend the lead to 4-0. A fifth goal came shortly thereafter as Lydia Faust scored with 8:24 left in the first quarter.
 
Part of Marquette's early success came in the draw circle, where it won five of the first seven draws. That allowed the Golden Eagles to control possession during the game's early minutes.
 
Sami Carey got the Wildcats on the board with a Free Position attempt. It was her ninth goal of the season and shaved the deficit to 5-1 with 6:47 on the clock in the first quarter.
 
After Marquette picked up its sixth goal, the Wildcats got one from Libby McKenna with just more than a minute left in the first quarter to close the gap to 6-2. However, the Golden Eagles scored again with 15 seconds left in the period to make it a 7-2 edge when the horn sounded at the end of the first quarter.
 
Moro's fifth save of the day was a good one early in the second quarter for the Wildcats. That gave the Wildcats possession and they took advantage at the other end as Caroline Curnal converted a feed from behind the cage into her 29^th goal of the season with 12:23 left in the first half.
 
Shea Garcia converted a Free Position shot into the Golden Eagles eighth goal of the day. But then Carey found Sydney Pappas on consecutive possessions and Pappas notched her 21^st and 22^nd goals of the campaign to pull Nova to within 8-5.
 
The Golden Eagles recorded the next three goals, though, to push its lead to 11-5 with 2:25 left on the clock in the first half. The last of those goals came from Emma Soccodato, her third of the day.
 
Olivia Piccirilli netted her 12^th goal of the season off another Free Position Shot with just more than a minute left in the period for Villanova. Mary Schumar responded with a Golden Eagles goal off a Free Position shot to make it 12-6.
 
Marquette owned a 17-10 edge in shots and 13-7 advantage on draw controls.
 
Libby McKenna got the Wildcats' off on the right foot to open the second half with a goal scored 43 seconds into the period. However, Marquette scored twice in the next three plus minutes to craft a 14-7 lead with 11:10 to play in the third quarter. Kyra Lamotte then scored with the Golden Eagles down a woman to make it 15-7 with 8:59 on the third quarter clock.
 
Curnal picked up her second goal of the day in the first minute of the fourth quarter before Lamotte scored another goal for the Golden Eagles to make it 16-8 with 13:15 to play in the period. Villanova got the next two scores, off the stick of Pappas – her third of the day – and Addie Fischer to claw to within 16-10 at the 10:27 mark of the fourth period.
 
Curnal's work in the draw control circle helped fuel the Wildcats' surge. A win in the circle led directly to another Pappas goal, this one off a pass from Fischer to narrow the deficit to 16-11 with 9:59 to play in the period.
 
Lydia Faust scored at the 7:34 mark to push the Golden Eagles edge to 17-11. Megan Reilly converted a Free Position Shot for the Wildcats to get them back to within five goals with a bit more than six minutes on the clock and Carey scored again off a pass from McKenna to make it 17-13 with 3:59 on the clock.
 
Bireley scored again for the Golden Eagles after a long possession mostly spent burning clock to extend the lead to 18-13 with 2:27 left. Shea Garcia then scored her third of the day to push the lead to 19-13 with ninety seconds to play. Curnal scored the final goal of the day with 13 seconds left to make the final count 19-14.
 
Villanova returns to action next Saturday at Connecticut at 1 p.m.