Villanova, Pa.- The Villanova Wildcats will take on the Denver Pioneers on Thursday at 5:30 P.M. on CBS Sports Network in the BIG EAST Tournament Semifinals. The Wildcats are the three seed in the tournament after going 3-2 in league action while the Pioneers are the two seed with a 4-1 BIG EAST record.
Villanova in the BIG EAST Tournament: The Wildcats are the only team to qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament every year since the conference formed in 2012. This will be the third time Villanova and Denver will faceoff off in the semifinal round with the Pioneers coming out victories in 2015 and 2019. The last time the Wildcats advanced in the BIG EAST Tournament championship game was in 2014 after defeating Marquette 9-6 in the semifinal game.
All-BIG EAST Honors: The Wildcats had five earn All-BIG EAST honors as announced by the conference office Wednesday afternoon. Senior attackman
Matt Campbell was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First team. Joining him on the First Team is midfielder
Brett Baskin. A trio of Wildcats earned All-Second Team honors,
Chet Comizio,
Justin Coppola, and
Luke Keating.
A Look at Villanova: The Wildcats enter Thursday's game with an 8-5 overall record. Villanova fell to No. 2 Georgetown in the final game of the regular season on Friday night 13-7.
Matt Campbell finished with a team high four points against the Hoyas. After netting the opening goal the senior dished it three times to pick up his four points, he leads the team with 57 on the season.
Villanova's Offense: Senior midfielder turned attackman
Matt Campbell has led the Wildcats offense this season. He currently has a team high 57 points on 37 goals and 20 assists. This season Campbell has scored at least one goal in every game and had a career high seven vs. Delaware. Graduate transfer
Luke Keating, who broke 300 career points this season, has 56 this season on 27 goals and 29 assists. Against Providence and Drexel Keating had eight points, a career high.
Villanova's Defense: Junior faceoff specialist
Justin Coppola has had a breakout year at the center x. Coppola currently ranks 9th in the country is faceoff winning percentage (.604) and 2nd in ground balls per game (9.08). In all 13 games this season the junior has won over 10 faceoffs and finished with at least a .500 percentage. Against Providence Coppola won a career high 21 faceoffs and collected 15 ground balls, also a career best. Overall, this season he is 203-for-336 (.611) with 118 ground balls and seven points on three goals and four assists. Senior goalkeeper
Will Vitton has been the Wildcats primary keeper for four seasons. Through 13 games this season Vitton boasts a .509 save percentage and 11.42 goals against average. This season Vitton is credited with all eight of Villanova's wins and has 149 saves. In his career as a Wildcat Vitton has played in 44 games and has an 11.41 goals against average and .507 save percentage. Short-stick defensive midfielder
Chet Comizio leads the team in caused turnovers with 22. The senior also has 41 ground balls this season.
A Look at Denver: The Pioneers are 9-5 overall entering Thursday game and are on a four-game winning streak. They only loss they had in conference play this season came against Georgetown by a final of 17-9. To the All-BIG EAST team Denver had three earn First Team honors and four named to the Second Team. JJ Sillstrop and Jack Hannah are the leader of the Denver offense this season with over 40 points. Sillstrop and Hannah both have netted 30 goals this season and earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors. Junior Alec Stathakis is the primary FOGO going 208-for-367 (.567) with 105 ground balls through 14 games. In goal Jack Thompson has played over 660 minutes and boasts a 11.01 goals against average with a .534 save percentage.
Villanova vs. Denver: On Saturday April 9
th the Wildcats and Pioneers faced off inside Villanova Stadium. Denver used a 4-1 third quarter to pull away to win 12-10. Villanova led 7-6 heading into halftime and made it a one goal game with 1:10 to play but the Pioneer's netted an insurance goal seconds later. Campbell had a team high four goals while Keating netted two goals and dished out two assists.
