April 30, 2016 Final Stats
Villanova, Pa. -
The Villanova men's lacrosse team closed out the regular season with 14-7 win over the Providence Friars to take the No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament next weekend.
Joey Froccaro got the Wildcats on the board first in the opening seconds and Villanova would never trail during the game. The Friars tied the game up minutes later but the John Kluh and Johnny Gallaway scored back to back goals to put Villanova up 3-1 halfway through the first quarter.
Providence's Nolan Fillet scored an unassisted goal at the 7:10 mark and after no one scored again for 5 minutes until Joey Froccaro found the back of the net for his second goal of the game. Danny Seibel got Villanova one extra goal before the first quarter ended on a pass from Jake Froccaro to put the Cats up 5-2.
Fillet scored his second goal of the game for the Friars just a couple minutes into the second quarter on a pass from Will Mazzone. Seibel too scored his second goal of the game right after on a pass from Christian Cuccinello to put Villanova up 6-3 at the 11 minute mark.
The only other goal scored in the second quarter was at the 9:09 mark by Providence's Austin Goltz; the Wildcats went into the locker room at halftime up 6-4. Nick Testa played the first half time goal for the Wildcats and finished with four saves and one ground ball.
Villanova dominated in the third quarter on both ends of the field, they left Providence scoreless in the quarter and also were able to score three goals to pull away.
Devin McNamara got the Wildcat third start on an unassisted goal at the 13:07 mark. Next it was Jake Froccaro who found Jack Curran inside for a Wildcat goal, after it was Cuccinello who found the back of the net at the 1:46 mark to put Villanova up 9-4 at the end of three.
Will Mazzone was able to score the Friars first goal of the second half at the 11:33 mark of the fourth quarter. Seconds later it was long stick defensive specialist Danny Sweeney broke away down the field and was able to score the first goal of his career to put Villanova up 10-5.
It was Mazzone minutes later who got the Friars up and within four, but Villanova answered back with a four goal run. Jake Froccaro's goal at the 9:28 mark started the run on a pass from Curran, next it was Cuccinello who was able to make a move from behind the goal to put the Cats up 12-6.
Joey Froccaro was able to score his third goal of the game on a pass from Curran and after it was Johnny Gallaway who found the back of the next on a pass from Harry DellaFera to give Villanova their largest lead of the game.
Mazzone scored on more goal with just over a minute left in the game to make the final at Villanova Stadium 14-7.
Dan Willis replaced Testa in goal to start the second half, he finished with six saves in just over 28 minutes of play. Greg Stamatov played the final couple minutes in between the pipes for the Wildcats and had a huge save.
John Moderski finished with a team high seven groundballs and three caused turnovers while McNamara had five groundballs and one caused turnover.
Villanova will travel to Denver Colorado this week for the BIG EAST Tournament. With the win the Wildcats will be the No. 3 seed and Providence will be the 4. The winner of the Denver, Marquette game will be the No. 1 seed. Semi-final round will begin on May 5th and will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network; game times are slated for 6:30 and 9 P.M. ET.
