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VILLANOVA, Pa. - Six unanswered goals bridging the second to fourth quarters made the difference as Villanova recorded an 8-3 win over Lehigh on Tuesday night. Steady showers and thick fog at Villanova Stadium couldn't stop the Wildcats from recording their fifth straight win of the season as the `Cats improved to 5-1 on the year while Lehigh dropped to 2-4.

Late afternoon showers surrounded the area as inclement weather struck again for the fourth home game this season. Despite the conditions, Villanova claimed the victory over the Mountain Hawks and broke a two year winless streak against the visitors to improve to 16-11 all-time against Lehigh. The Wildcats are off to their best start since 2011 when Villanova posted a 7-1 record to start that season.

"Defensively I think we played maybe our best half of the year. Holding a team to three goals is very impressive," said head coach Mike Corrado following the contest. "Danny Sweeney did a really great job on their number one guy, Dan Taylor, and both of our goalies [Greg Stamatov and Dan Willis] played well again considering the weather. Eric Gartner stepped up for his run in the third quarter that really put us ahead and seemed to solidify the game which was really important. It was a good all-around effort."

The methodical contest featured 6-on-6 sets without much transition from either team. Junior Eric Gartner (Malvern, Pa.) helped seal the Villanova win in the third quarter when he tallied a hat trick to put the Wildcats up 7-2 with three seconds left in the third period.

Villanova registered six-straight goals in just over 19 minutes of action to turn a 2-2 tie into an 8-2 lead with 11:28 left in the match and during that run held the Mountain Hawk offense scoreless for over 26 minutes. Lehigh's Dan Taylor netted the final goal of the contest 6:11 left on the clock to finalize the contest at 8-3.

Villanova began the game with a 2-0 lead in the opening three minutes of the match off goals from freshmen Sean Cerrone (Huntington, N.Y.) and Christian Cuccinello (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) before Lehigh responded with two goals from Kurtis Kaunas and Reid Weber to knot the game at 2-2.

Jack Curran (Fair Haven, N.J.) took a long-range shot from 15 yards out in the closing seconds of the half to put the Wildcats ahead 3-2 heading into intermission before the team went on their third quarter run to solidify the contest.

Each side registered 32 shots for the evening and placed 17 on goal while Lehigh won the faceoff battle taking 8-of-14 attempts from X. Defensively, Villanova's Greg Stamatov and Dan Willis combined for 14 saves in the victory while Lehigh's Matt Poillon and Adam Sawicki registered eight in the defeat.

Villanova will return to action in just a few short days when they host the No. 8-ranked Maryland Terps on Saturday, March 14th. Game time is slated for 1 p.m. at Villanova Stadium.