Box Score Denver, Colo.- In front of a sold-out crowd at Peter Barton Stadium the Villanova Wildcats defeated the No. 10 Denver Pioneers by a final of 12-11.  This was Denver's first loss in conference play since joining the BIG EAST five years ago. 

The Wildcats came out to a strong start.  After giving up a goal in the early seconds to Denver the Wildcats closed out the quarter netting four goals.  Connor Kirst scored his 23 goal of the season on a dish from Keegan Khan to tie the game up at 1.  Khan then gave Villanova the lead just over two minutes later.  Khan has his hand in the third goal of the quarter as well picking up the assists on Corey McManus's goal at 7:06.  Matt Campbell continued the scoring run at the 5:51 mark to put the Wildcats up 4-1. 

Freshman goalkeeper Will Vitton had six saves in the opening quarter and finished with 19 on the day. 

The Pioneer's Austin French helped Denver get two quick goals in the second quarter.  The attackman scored and then dished the pass to Ethan Walker to bring the game within one.  LSM Colin Hunt helped Villanova get back up by two when he netted his first career goal on a pass from TJ Comizio at the 12:43 mark. 

Jack Hannah scored an unassisted goal to bring the game within one once again, but Campbell pulled Villanova up two just 49 seconds before halftime on a pass from Eric Overbay.  Villanova went into the locker room after the first 30 minutes up 6-4. 

Overbay got a goal to start the third quarter and push Villanova back up three.  The Pioneers came back, with two different players scoring goals in a four-minute span.  Khan's goal at the 4:08 mark made the score 9-7 at the end of the third.

Villanova got two goals to start the fourth quarter, first Campbell set up McManus then Khan completed the hat trick to put the Wildcats up four; their largest lead of the game.  The Pioneer's answered with Jon Ober scoring his first career goal and then Quinn McKone netting an unassisted goal of his own. 

Denver's Ethan Walker had a goal with 5:15 remaining in the fourth to shrink the lead to one.  McManus ended the thee goal run by the Pioneer's by netting a goal in transition on a pass from Kirst at the 4:49 mark to put the Wildcats up 12-10.  The Pioneers scored one more at the 3:46 mark and the game was 12-11 for the final minutes of the game. 

In the final seconds Vitton came up with a huge save to secure the victory for the Wildcats. 

Next weekend Villanova will travel to Washington, D.C. to take on the Georgetown Hoyas.  Game time on April 14^th is set for 1:00 P.M. and can be seen on CBS Sports Network.