CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats welcomed the Lafayette Leopards on Monday, Oct. 1 for a 5 p.m. matchup but could not pull out a win to begin the new month. Lafayette defeated Villanova 5-2 in a riveting contest.

The Leopards brought their 'A' game to the Proving Grounds and made for a suspenseful competition. The visitors scored the first three goals of the game in the first half. Villanova held Lafayette off the board until the 18^th minute of play even with the pressure on their defensive end.

Theresa Delahanty stepped in after she inserted a corner and scored off a rebound from a shot taken by Lisa van der Geest from the insert to tally their first goal of the game. Their next goal came within 10 minutes when Liza Welch converted on a pass received from Jenn DeLongis. As time was winding down in the half, with slightly under a minute left, Molly McAndrew scored another, making the score 3-0 Lafayette. McAndrew's goal was a tip in off a shot by Audrey Sawers who was set up to take the shot by Delahanty on the insert.

At the half, Villanova and Lafayette had both taken seven shots, Nova had one save and two corners to Lafayette's two and four.

As the second half was underway, the quick break and being down 3-0 proved to be all VU needed to get things rolling.

It was within the 37^th minute of action that the Wildcats earned a penalty corner and was able to convert on the opportunity. Christen Pennington inserted the ball to Nikki Pearce, she passed it off to Riley Dolan who fired away and scored her first goal of the season, cutting the score to 3-1. Dolan's goal was a huge momentum builder for Villanova because not even a minute later, the 'Cats scored again. Lydia Sydnor was able to find Megan Vermeil the ball who blasted it in past the keeper. This cut the Leopards lead to one, and Vermeil scored her sixth goal of the season.

Villanova kept the pressure on after its scoring succession, and logged three, nearly, back-to-back shots. Sydnor's first shot was saved by Lafayette's goalie, Sarah Park, her second shot was then blocked, and Vermeil's was just wide.

After the Wildcats many shot attempts, the Leopards picked up their play. The visitor's strength in the game came during penalty corner opportunities. Four of their five goals came during the event of a corner. In their second to last corner of the game, Lafayette scored another goal taking the lead 4-2. Delahanty scored her second of the game after stepping in from inserting the ball.

Lafayette maintained enough control to score again in the 51^st minute of play even though Villanova was fighting back relentlessly. When Lafayette increased the lead to 5-2, with a goal by Grace Angelella, Nova picked up its intensity.

With the remaining 20 minutes of play Villanova was able to fire off five shots and keep Lafayette from getting one off. Head coach Joanie Milhous even called a timeout to take Erika Miller out of the net and use Pennington as a body in the goal to help keep the game in an offensive state for the 'Cats.

Although VU had many opportunities they came up on the short end of the stick, ultimately falling to Lafayette 5-2.

Villanova ended the evening with 19 shots, six corners and three saves. Miller tallied all three saves and now has a total of 399 career saves. Lafayette finished the contest with 12 shots, six corners and four saves. The Wildcats are now 4-7 overall and while the Leopards are now 3-8.

The Villanova Field Hockey team will return for another home contest on Friday, Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. for an annual "Pink Game". The Wildcats will face off against BIG EAST opponent Quinnipiac. Nova has teamed up with the National Foundation for Cancer Research and the initiative, "Play4TheCure" and you can help the Villanova Field Hockey team and NFCR by clicking here and donating to their "Play4TheCure" fundraiser page.