VILLANOVA, Pa. - After a successful 2019 campaign that saw the Wildcats advance to the championship round of the BIG EAST Conference Tournament, Villanova navigated through the fall portion of its schedule with a perfect record. With the spring season right around the corner, Villanova today announced its 2020 schedule.
"We are very excited about our 2020 season and playing a challenging out of conference schedule competing against experienced NCAA tournament teams," Head Coach Bridget Orchard said. "We are looking forward to playing against the best of the best early to help us prepare for our strong conference schedule."
The non-conference slate features eight contests against power five teams. That schedule includes Penn State (2x) Iowa State, Clemson, Baylor, Arkansas (2x) and Florida State. Villanova will also be taking part in five tournaments, three of them being in Florida and one at the University of Arkansas.
In addition, for the first time in program history, the Wildcats will make an inaugural trip to California- to compete in seven games in the San Diego area over Villanova's spring break.
"Heading out to California for Spring break is a huge bonus for us as we get to bring Villanova softball to many of our families, friends and alums from the West coast that don't get to see us compete in person often," Orchard said. "We have several players that get to play back 'home' on the west coast for the first time in their college careers."
Villanova's first tournament takes place February 7th-9th at Jacksonville University and includes two games against San Diego State and Jacksonville, and one against Nicholls State. Four days later, the Wildcats then travel south to UCF for games against Penn State, Iowa State, FAU and UCF. They will stay in the Sunshine State from February 21st-23rd for the Disney Citrus Classic, where they will face Clemson, Stetson, Morgan State, Oakland and Troy.
A tournament at Arkansas awaits Villanova at the end of February. While there, the Wildcats will take on Baylor, Arkansas, Kent State and Florida State. Prior to the last tournament at San Diego, Villanova takes on San Diego State on March 4. At San Diego, they will play against Mount St. Mary's, San Diego and California State University, Northridge.
Non-conference games against Lafayette and Wisconsin come next before BIG EAST play opens on March 20 with three home games in as many days against Georgetown. Other home conference matchups include St. John's, Butler and Seton Hall. The Wildcats will travel to play Providence, Creighton and DePaul.
The BIG EAST Conference Tournament will take place on May 6-9 in Rosemont, IL.
