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VILLANOVA, Pa. - Villanova saw their season come to a close with a 16-9 defeat to No. 4 Denver on Thursday night in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament at Villanova Stadium. The Wildcats raced out to a 5-3 lead after the first 15 minutes of action but couldn't hold off the potent Denver attack to hang on for the victory.

The Wildcats conclude their season with a 6-8 overall record and 1-4 mark in BIG EAST action after making their fourth-straight appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament - the most of any school in the conference.

The Pioneers improve to 12-2 overall with the win and advance to the championship of the conference tournament for the second consecutive year. They'll face the Georgetown Hoyas at 7:30pm on Saturday, May 2nd and the contest will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 2.

Denver was anchored by the dominate performance of Trevor Baptiste who won 20-of-28 (.714) faceoff's on the evening. The Pioneers also won the ground ball battle 30-15 and outshot the hosts by a 45-32 margin. Villanova was led defensively by Dan Willis' 13 saves in goal and three goals each by Danny Seibel and Johnny Gallaway.

Both sides traded goals in the opening nine minutes of action as Jack Curran got the Wildcats on board first to begin the game for the early 1-0 lead, but Denver's Wesley Berg answered just over a minute later from a Jack Bobzien assist to tie it at 1-1. Junior attackman Johnny Gallaway notched the second VU goal at the 8:00 minute mark to increase their lead to 2-1 but was once again matched by Berg's tally at 6:54 to tie it at 2-2.

Gallaway struck again off a Sean Cerrone assist less than a minute later to regain the lead at 3-2 while Seibel increased the score to 4-2 42 seconds later as the Wildcats took what would match their biggest lead of the contest. Berg and Villanova's Nick Tortoriello's scores ended the stanza at 5-3 to close out the opening 15 minutes of action.

The Pioneers came out strong in the second period and held the Wildcats scoreless for the entire quarter as Connor Cannizzaro and Erik Adamson each registered two goals apiece to pull ahead at halftime, 7-5.

Following intermission, Denver continued their momentum as Colin Woolford got on the board with 9:26 on the clock before Villanova's Gallaway broke VU's scoreless streak with 8:21 left in the third quarter to pull the Wildcats back within two at 8-6. Denver outscored the Wildcats by a 4-1 margin in the remaining 7:14 of the stanza as the quarter closed at 12-7 in favor of the Pioneers.

The final 15 minutes favored the visitors by a 4-2 scoring margin as Zach Miller, Cannizzaro, Baptiste and Adamson each recorded goals for the Pioneers. Villanova senior Graham Maybell registered his first career goal in the final game of his career off an unassisted play with 8:51 left in the contest while Seibel closed the contest with 4:15 left to play to finalize the game at 16-9.

Villanova couldn't take advantage of extra-man opportunities and went 0-4 in EMO's on the night while Denver connected on 4-7 chances in the category. Each team tallied eight turnovers each.

Following the conclusion of tonight's contest, Villanova will say goodbye to five graduating seniors and one graduate student. Remington Pope, Christian Bennardo, Reed Carlson, Michael Duffy, Eric Gartner and Graham Maybell each made significant contributions in their final game as Villanova Wildcats.