VILLANOVA, Pa. The Villanova Wildcats (3-0) took on the La Salle Explorers (0-3) on this rainy afternoon at Villanova Stadium, defeating the Explorers 16-7. Sophomore Sydney Pappas took control of the game with a show-stopping six goals and one assist. With four goals last week against the Hawks and six goals today against the Explorers, Pappas is reminding people why she is a player to look out for.

Villanova scored the first goal of the game and never looked back. Sophomore Sami Carey kicked off the goal streak for the Wildcats with a goal assisted by Pappas. Coming off this momentum, Pappas charged down the field and scored three goals in a row. She had a hat trick just after ten minutes of play. La Salle's Mackenzie Click attempted to stop this scoring rampage by scoring a goal of her own, but Villanova's Maddie Luer and Elena Torres silenced any Explorer hope by scoring a goal each. The Cats went into the second quarter leading the game 7-1.

The first five minutes of the second quarter were quiet until Pappas reminded us of her presence with her fourth goal of the game. Three minutes later La Salle's Alana Lathan pushed past defenders and added another point for the Explorers. To kill any La Salle progress, Villanova's fifth year Caroline Curnal scored a goal just thirty seconds later. La Salle's Katie Johnson and Maddie Henderson both scored a goal a piece but it wasn't enough to overpower Pappas who scored her fifth and sixth goals in the last twenty seconds of the first half.

Villanova's defense made up of Olivia Conquest, Kennedy Schottland, Molly Dunphey, Maddy Stoddard, Juliet Walls, Nina Mainello, and Olivia Stoddard shut out La Salle in the third quarter while Villanova's offense scored five of their own coming from Torres, Addie Fischer, Carey, and Isabella Francati. The score at the end of the third was 15-4 Villanova.

The Explorers had a fourth quarter surge with three goals coming from Henderson, Click, and Sara Grassi. This was not enough to stare down Villanova as Jessie Lee got her name on the board with the 16^th and final Wildcat goal.

Next up, Villanova faces Navy on February 25^th at 4:00 PM at Villanova Stadium.

Notes: Villanova and La Salle's history together is 9-6 in favor of Villanova…The last time that Villanova lost to La Salle was in 2012… Villanova has two wins against Navy and six losses…Villanova won the last matchup in 2020… fifth year Caroline Curnal has 257 career draw controls.