NEW YORK—Junior defenseman
Reid Colwell (Westfield, N.J.) was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week by the conference office on Monday afternoon after he had the best outing of his career in a win over Hofstra this past weekend. Villanova earned a pair of weekly accolades from the BIG EAST in Monday's announcement, with fifth year midfielder
Austin Fraser (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) garnering a spot on the Honor Roll.
This is the first time in their careers that either Colwell or Fraser has earned weekly BIG EAST recognition. As a team the Wildcats have now racked up nine weekly accolades through the first four weeks of the 2023 season. Villanova has earned each of the major weekly awards (Attack Player, Midfielder, Defensive Player, Freshman) at least once this season to go along with four Honor Roll selection. The stream of accolades comes as the Wildcats are in the midst of a 3-1 start to the year which has the team ranked in both national polls.
Colwell had a monster game in the 15-8 win over Hofstra and he established new career highs in the contest with seven ground balls and four caused turnovers. The latter total is tied for the most by any BIG EAST player in a game this season and is tied for the ninth most caused turnovers in Division I so far during the 2023 campaign. Colwell's first two caused turnovers came in the first half and directly led to Villanova goals on the Wildcats ensuing possession. Those goals tied the score at 3-3 and 4-4 in a game that was back and forth for nearly all of the first half.
The overall defensive effort by the Wildcats against Hofstra helped Villanova power past the Pride offensively. During a stretch of 24 minutes spanning the second and third periods, the Wildcats scored eight unanswered goals and turned a 4-3 deficit into a commanding 11-4 lead at the 6:51 mark of the third quarter. Fraser was the linchpin of the offensive attack with a career-high six assists to go along with one goal scored. It is the first time in nearly 20 years that a Villanova player had six or more assists in a game, with the last before Fraser to do it being
Brian Marks with seven assists at Colgate on March 23, 2003. The six assists are tied for the second-most in a game in Division I this season.
Even more impressively, Fraser assisted on five consecutive goals in a span of just 12:26 on the clock. The first assist in that sequence set up junior midfielder
Tucker Goodelle (Mooresville, N.C.) to score the go-ahead goal (5-4) with 7:59 to play in the second quarter, giving Villanova the only lead it needed. The outburst of eight straight goals was capped off with Fraser's lone score of the day on a shot that he bounced into the back of the net with just under seven minutes to play in the third period.
Fresh off their second straight road win, the Wildcats moved up one spot in this week's USILA Coaches Poll to No. 14 and held steady at No. 18 in the
Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Villanova plays two games in the Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic this week, including a neutral site matchup against Drexel on Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. and a road game at Penn on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
