Nov. 7, 2014

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats have known for nearly a week that they would be the No. 5 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament and be on the road on Nov. 11 in the quarterfinals.

The identity of their opponent, however, was still uncertain.

On Friday night, the BIG EAST completed its regular season and the official tournament bracket was revealed. The Wildcats (8-7-3 overall, 3-4-2 BIG EAST) will travel to Providence (10-4-2 overall, 5-2-2 BIG EAST) for the second time in four weeks to meet the No. 4 seeded Friars on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

By virtue of Georgetown's 2-1 victory Friday over the Wildcats at the Higgins Soccer Complex and the Friars' 3-0 defeat at Creighton, the Hoyas moved past Providence into third place in the standings with 19 points. Georgetown will host No. 6 seed Marquette at 2 p.m. on Tuesday while the `Cats make the trip north to Rhode Island.

Creighton locked up the regular season crown and the top overall seed in the Tournament with its home pitch win Friday evening over Providence. Xavier secured the No. 2 slot with a 2-0 win in Cincinnati over Butler. Marquette leapfrogged the Bulldogs and Seton Hall into sixth place by virtue of its 4-0 triumph over DePaul in Milwaukee.

The winners of Tuesday's matches will join Creighton and Xavier in the BIG EAST semifinals next Friday evening at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. The championship game will take place at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 16.

The Wildcats and Friars played a tight match on Oct. 11 with the contest tied at one late in the match. But a goal by Fabio Machado at 87:59 lifted Providence to the win.

Villanova and Providence have postseason history. The two teams met in the BIG EAST Tournament in three consecutive seasons from 2008-10. Providence advanced each time, winning at home in '08 and then picking up wins in close matches on West Campus in both 2009 and 2010.