Villanova, Pa.- The Villanova Wildcats handed No. 5 Lehigh their first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon. Villanova lea by as many as 10 goals during the 16-8 victory to close out the regular season. 

The Wildcats are 7-4 overall and 6-4 in BIG EAST play.  Villanova has earned the 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament and will face No. 2 Georgetown on Thursday, May 6^th in Providence, R.I. 

Colin Crowley, who finished with a game high 5 points, opened the game with a solo goal to put Villanova up 1-0 at 11:30.  Lehigh scored to tie the game up, but the Wildcats would answer with a 7 goal run over 15 minutes to take a demanding lead.

It would be Crowley again to score for Villanova on a pass from classmate Keegan Khan on a EMO to go up 2-1.  Matt Campbell netted the next goal, followed by Patrick Daly from Khan at 1:56 to make it 4-1 Wildcats at the end of one. 

Jimmy McAfee dished it to Corey McManus on a Villanova break away to open the second quarter.  Rookie Tucker Goodelle netted the next followed by Eric Overbay scoring his first of the game on a dish from Campbell to go up 7-1.  Villanova's seventh goal of the run came when McAfee scored his first goal as a Wildcat; the SSDM took the ball downfield and scored at 6:19 in the second.  The Mountain Hawks score on a extra-man opportunity but Daly would set up McManus before halftime to make Villanova's lead 9-2.

Villanova came out of the locker room strong scoring the opening three goals in a three-minute span.  Crowley started it off followed by Overbay and Campbell find the back of the cage to make it 12-2 Villanova.  Lehigh got back-to-back goals in the quarter, but Crowley dished it to McManus before the end of the third to make it 13-4.

In the final quarter the Wildcats scored three goals, Goodelle netted his second followed by Crowley netting his fourth of the day to make it 15-5.  Mason Reale scored the final goal for Villanova and the Mountain Hawks netted four the fourth to make the final 16-8.

Villanova's defense caused 14 turnovers against Lehigh with the three starting defensemen, Owen Prybylski, Zachary Kryza, and Patrick Kennedy causing eight of them.  Will Vitton picked up the win in goal and finished with nine saves in just over 57 minutes.  Brendan Haggerty closed out the game in goal and had a save. 

Villanova and Georgetown will faceoff at 8:30 P.M. on Thursday, May 6^th in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals.  The game can seen on CBS Sports Network.