Villanova, Pa.- The Villanova Wildcats will host the No. 2 Georgetown Hoyas on Friday night for a share of the BIG EAST Regular Season title. The Wildcats are 8-4 overall and 3-1 in league play while the Hoyas are 12-1 and 4-0 in BIG EAST action. With a win Villanova and Georgetown will share the conference regular season title, both teams have qualified for the conference tournament set for the following weekend.
Matchup History: Friday marks the 30th meeting all-time between the Wildcats and Hoyas. Villanova holds a 15-14 lead in the series record, but the Hoyas have won the last six meetings. The last time the two teams faced off was in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals in 2021. The game was tied heading into the final quarter, but the Hoyas were able to net the two final goals to make the final 14-12.
A Look at Villanova: The Wildcats defeated Marquette last weekend 10-8 on the road to pick up their eighth win of the season. For their efforts
Luke Keating and
Will Vitton earned BIG EAST Weekly Honors. Keating for the second straight week was named BIG EAST Attack Player of the Week and Vitton earned BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Villanova's Offense: Keating is leading the Wildcats with 54 points. The graduate student has netted 26 goals and dished out 28 assists through 12 games this season. Last week Keating finished with eight points during Villanova's 10-8 win at Marquette. All-American
Matt Campbell has a team high 36 goals this season along with 53 points. The midfielder turned attackman has scored a goal in every game this season for the Wildcats. Graduate transfer
Brett Baskin has 43 points this season while classmate
J.P. Basile has 33. Senior attackman
Patrick Daly, who netted a pair of goals last weekend, has 31 points this season.
Villanova's Defense:
Justin Coppola is seventh in the country in faceoff winning percentage while the Wildcats defense ranks ninth in caused turnovers per game. Coppola has a 61.1 faceoff winning percentage and leads the team with 109 ground balls. Villanova's defense averages 9.92 caused turnovers per game with
Chet Comizio leading the team with 22 while
Chris Hervada has 18. Vitton, who finished with 17 saves last weekend, has a .504 save percentage this season. The senior keeper, who currently ranks fifth in career saves and second in total wins, has a 11.29 goals against average and 133 saves.
A Look at Georgetown: The Hoyas are on an eight-game winning streak and last weekend defeated St. John's 23-6. Dylan Watson is the Hoyas's leading scorer with 50 goals while TJ Haley has a team high 27 assists. Junior midfielder Graham Bundy Jr. has 51 points this season and had a season high seven during Georgetown's win vs. Providence. James Reilly is the primary FOG for the Hoyas and is 186-for-292 (.637) this season with a team high 112 ground balls. Owen McElroy is the keeper for the Hoyas this season. In just over 520 minutes this season the graduate student has a 814 goals against average and .626 save percentage.
