VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova notched a season-high in goals to power past Xavier 18-8 in a BIG EAST Conference game played Saturday afternoon at Villanova Stadium. The Wildcats (6-7 overall, 2-2 BIG EAST) celebrated Senior Day prior to the contest and welcomed home its Lacrosse Alumni as well.
 
The Wildcats built a 17-4 lead midway through the fourth quarter fueled by nine consecutive goals scored that began in the second period.
 
Sami Carey led a balanced attack with four goals and an assist. Rose Christie contributed three goals and an assist. The Wildcats out-shot the Musketeers 34-17 on the day. Freshman Emma Verhoest won a career-high 16 draw controls, which ties the most single game draw victories in Villanova history.
 
Xavier opened the scoring 1:17 into the contest on an unassisted goal by Julie Cassidy. The Wildcats answered off a Free Position attempt with Mary Moore feeding a pass to Cara Moreau at the 10:50 mark of the first period. Carey put the Wildcats on top 2-1 just 32 seconds later on an unassisted goal.
 
Xavier (3-10 overall, 0-4 BIG EAST) tied the game at two on a free position goal by Lola Mancuso. Carey then found Moreau for a goal with 1:04 left in the first quarter to give Villanova the edge, 3-2. Christie followed that with an unassisted goal with 21.8 seconds left in the period to push the Nova lead to 4-2.
 
Xavier picked up the first goal of the second quarter from Samantha Balara 4:48 into the period to shave its deficit to 4-3. Sophia Corretjer gave Villanova its fifth score of the day less than a minute later to make it a 5-3 margin. In the wake of a yellow card assessed to the Musketeers, Gulmi fed Christie, who scored at the 8:05 mark to advance the lead to 6-3. Carey struck again a short while later off an assist from Moreau to make it 7-3 in favor of Nova midway through the quarter.
 
Carey added another goal with 6:37 left in the quarter off an assist from Moore to make it 8-3. When Carey scored again with 4:32 to go in the period – off a Moreau assist – the advantage was 9-3. Corretjer notched another Nova goal with 2:42 left in the period off a pass from Christie to make it 10-3.
 
Ashlyn Hickey converted a Free Position attempt with 29.7 seconds left in the half to extend the Villanova lead to 11-3. Hickey then collected a rebound and fired it into the Musketeers' net with 1.7 seconds on the clock to make the halftime count 12-3.
 
Christie opened the scoring in the second half with an unassisted goal 1:50 into the third period. Xavier finally snapped the run of eight straight Villanova goals with a score with 9:54 left in the third period to make it 13-4.
 
Sydney Pappas re-established the 10-goal edge off a feed from Carey with 8:58 to play in the third. Bella Piselli scored to make it a 15-4 advantage with an assist credited to Jillian Vaught. An unassisted Pappas goal made it a 16-4 lead with under three minutes to play in the third.
 
Rachel Hackler netted a goal for the Wildcats on her first career shot in the opening minute of the fourth quarter with Gulmi contributing an assist to extend the lead to 17-4. Lola Mancuso scored for the Musketeers in the fourth, the first of four consecutive goals that narrowed its deficit to 17-8.
 
But senior Isabella Francati scored with 2:23 on the clock to make it an 18-8 final.
 
Prior to the game, Villanova honored its graduating class on Senior Day. Nine Wildcats were honored including Francati, Ava Ruggieri, Jenna Greason, Jenna Pastore, Claire Chmiel, Jessie Lee, Olivia Stoddard, Mary Kate Conniff, Gulmi and Moreau.