Box Score Providence, R.I.- The Villanova Wildcats fell to the Providence Friars in the regular season finale in overtime 9-8. Villanova has qualified for their eighth consecutive BIG EAST Tournament and will be the 4 seed.
Villanova clinched the conference tournament last night with the Denver Pioneers defeating the Marquette Golden Eagles, and today competed for seeding.
It was a back-and-forth battle early in the game with the two teams remaining tied for most of the first half.
Keegan Khan came around the cage and dove to get Villanova on the board first five-minute in. Providence netted the next two goals to go up with just over five to play in the first. Khan then set up McManus to tie the game up at two, but the Friars would score at the buzzer to pull themselves back up one at the end of the first.
McManus completed a hat-trick early in the second netting the Wildcats two goals of the quarter, the first assisted by
Eric Overbay the second by
Patrick Daly. Providence scored one in between McManus's two, the game remained tied at four heading into halftime.
Connor Kirst pushed the Wildcats up seconds into the third quarter and the Friars tied it up minutes later to be 7-7 midway through. Kirst set up Daly right before the end of the third to make the Wildcats lead 6-5.
Providence scored right away in the fourth to tie the game up for the sixth time of the game. Khan set up Kirst for a goal at the 13:18 mark and then seconds after Khan scored to push Villanova up two. The Friars rallied scoring two goals before the end of the quarter to force overtime, the final goal came with just no time left. Colin Keeting won the faceoff and then went straight down and score the Friar's game wining goal.
This is the second time the Wildcats will be the fourth seed in a conference tournament. Villanova will take on the Denver Pioneers in the BIG EAST Tournament semi-finals on Thursday, May 2
nd. Game time will be at 9:00 P.M. ET/7:00 P.M. MT at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver, Colorado. The whole BIG EAST Tournament will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network.
