Villanova, Pa. – Head Coach Julie Young in her ninth season at the helm, returns for the 2020 season with high expectations and a seasoned attack. Young and her staff welcome back 23 returning players, along with nine young guns in the freshmen class, and a transfer in each of the sophomore and junior classes.
 
Coach Young is aided by her assistants Halle Majorana and Kate Goldstein, both in their third season with the program.
 
Villanova will start the season with three back-to-back-to-back road trips. Kicking off first with their season opener on Saturday in Williamsburg, Va., where they will take on William & Mary.
 
"With the experience that we have returning on both ends of the field, coupled with strong leadership, our upperclassmen are doing a great job setting the pace," Young said. "Our returners have all really stepped up this fall, coupling that with our newcomers we have great depth in every position."
 
Last season, the team went 10-8 and 3-2 in conference play and made it to the BIG EAST Tournament, their first postseason appearance since 2015. It was also the first time in program history that the team recorded 10 wins and had six Wildcats named to the BIG EAST All-Conference Teams.
 
The team also earned IWLCA Academic Honor Squad recognition last season with a team cumulative GPA of 3.35. Seniors Julia Arrix, Alexis Leighton and Devon Brown, along with junior Kim McDonough were named to the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll for a second year in a row for achieving a cumulative GPA of a 3.5 or higher.
 
This season, Villanova boasts four players selected to the Preseason All BIG EAST Team: seniors Liz Trojan and Grainger Rosati and sophomores Alexa Moro and Sydney Frank.
 
On attack the Wildcats will be led by seniors Ashley Lynch, Liz Trojan, Katie Comerford, and Kim McDonough. The unit is full of experienced, well-rounded players who have played with and for each other for several seasons. The attack is creating great opportunities and is really hitting their stride with chemistry as a result of years of playing together.
 
Trojan returns to the attack after being named to first team ALL- BIG EAST last season in addition to this season's Preseason ALL BIG EAST Team. She led the team in goals in 2019 with 34 goals and 11 assists for a total of 45 points.
 
Trojan is accompanied by classmates Katie Comerford, who led the offense with 50 points in the 2019 season, and Ashley Lynch who had 46 points last season, and 10 assists in BIG EAST play alone. With this experience, the three seniors are sure to be a triple threat for the attack this season. Rounding out the senior class on attack is Kim McDonough who has been a huge dodging force for us in the past putting up 15 goals and 7 assists last season.
 
Aiding this dynamic group of seniors on attack is a strong group of upperclassmen including 2019 BIG EAST Second Team member, junior Brittany Bruno. Bruno is joined by fellow juniors Haley Driscoll, Taylor Lucey, Julianne Puckette, and Olivia Farrington, as well as sophomores Caroline Curnal and Olivia Piccirilli. The Wildcats also add freshman Abby Walheim and redshirt freshman Kate Springer, who is recovering from ACL surgery to the attack.
 
In the midfield, Villanova will be led by senior captain Grainger Rosati who was second on the team last year with 52 draw controls. Also taking the draw this year will be a new face, sophomore transfer Caroline Curnal.
 
Returning the midfield for the Wildcats is junior Sarah Kaval and, sophomores Libby McKenna and Alexa Tsahalis, joined by freshmen Adeline Fischer, Catherine Field, and Harriette Overend.
 
The combination of experience and fresh legs in the midfield gives us the perfect balance of vision paired with power. It is a very versatile group of midfielders contributing to the offense as well as supporting the defense.
 
 "Our underclassmen in the midfield have done an exceptional job stepping up to the plate and learning from our senior leadership on both sides of the ball. They have worked tirelessly all fall to find their chemistry and they are really hitting their stride," Young said.
 
Leading up the defense, the Wildcats will rely on senior captain Maggie Jennings, alongside returning starters junior Kelsey Mentzer and sophomore Sydney Frank.
 
Frank earned First Team ALL BIG EAST after a stellar rookie campaign. She led her team last season with 30 caused turnovers and also collected 27 ground balls and won 15 possessions at the circle. Frank also found herself second in the BIG EAST for caused turnovers per game.
 
Contributing to this impenetrable defense are juniors Taylor Ferry and Natalie Williams, sophomores Hanna Driscoll, Caroline Phelps, Elizabeth Pawlak, Phoebe Christos and freshmen Nina Mainello, Molly Dunphey and Alessandra Priolo.
 
Rounding out this tireless defense is returning starting goalie Alexa Moro. Moro closed out regular season last year earning four Freshman of the Week Honors and one Defender of the Week honor. In the net she recorded 132 saves and 22 in BIG EAST play. After facing 385 shots in 877.15 minutes of play she posted a .454 save percentage. These stats placed her second in the save percentage category and third in saves per game (8.67) in the conference.
 
This year, supporting Moro in net for the Wildcats is freshman Celeste Bunker.
 
"Celeste has a completely different style of play from Moro, adding another dimension for us in goal which has been a great change up for our attackers in practice," Young said.
 
"We had a great fall season that carried into a very productive preseason," Young said. "I am excited at the progress we have made and have high hopes of where are heading this season."
 
The 2020 schedule will look to challenge the Wildcats on many levels with a tough out of conference schedule that is sure to prepare the team for BIG EAST play come April.
 
This season, the Wildcats were picked to finish third in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll. Coach Young and staff are confident they will return to the BIG EAST post season play looking to bring home a BIG EAST title.
 
The team will kick off the 2020 at 1 p.m. on Saturday vs. The Tribe.