VILLANOVA, Pa.—The records keep piling up for fifth year midfielder Matt Campbell (Madison, N.J.), who broke the school's career mark for points scored and tied a single-game career high for the second time this season in leading No. 6 Villanova (8-2, 1-0 BIG EAST) to an 18-8 win over St. John's (0-10, 0-1 BIG EAST) in the conference opener for both teams at Villanova Stadium on Saturday afternoon. With his third goal of the game at the 8:20 mark of the third quarter Campbell became the all-time leading point scorer in Wildcats history with his 214^th career point.
 
Saturday's game was the last of a three-game home stand and started a run of six straight conference contests for Villanova the remainder of the regular season. Junior attackman Matt Licata (Sandown, N.H.) scored a game-high and career-high four goals to lead the Wildcats offense. The duo of Campbell and fifth year attackman Patrick Daly (Shrewsbury, Mass.) each recorded hat tricks and a total of 12 different players registered at least one point in the game.
 
Campbell finished the day with 217 career points, including a school-record 145 goals to go along with 72 assists. He moved up three spots on the Villanova career assist list and is now tied with Jack Curran (2013-17) for seventh place in the program record book. The previous career record for points was 213 by Rick Bontatibus (1991-94) and had stood for nearly 30 years. Earlier this season Campbell broke the Wildcats all-time goals record when he passed Chris Sullivan (1988-91) and Jack Rice (2010-13) who each scored 128 goals during their collegiate careers.
 
Villanova pulled away from a 10-6 lead over the Red Storm with six unanswered goals in a span of just under seven minutes. The run reached a fever pitch late in the third period when junior midfielder Tucker Goodelle (Mooresville, N.C.) scored an unassisted goal at the 3:51 mark of the quarter, sophomore attackman Dan Martin (Wall Township, N.J.) tacked on another score 28 seconds later and Daly scored his third goal of the day just 18 seconds after that. It was three goals in a span of just 46 seconds and the Wildcats pulled out to a 16-6 lead by the 12:35 mark of the fourth quarter.
 
Earlier in the game, senior midfielder Mason Reale (Westport, Conn.) scored a man-up goal at the 12:51 mark of the second quarter which gave Villanova a 6-1 lead. St. John's trimmed the margin down to three goals on two occasions however, including with 3:07 to play before halftime when a Sean Duffy goal pulled the Red Storm to within 7-4. That was when Daly came up with his two biggest plays of the game, scoring his first goal of the day with 2:21 left in the half and later beating the buzzer with another tally with just 2.9 seconds on the clock to nudge the Wildcats lead to 9-4 at the intermission.
 
Daly's goal in the third quarter made this the ninth time in 10 games this season he has registered at least a hat trick. Reale and Martin scored two goals apiece in the win, while sophomore defenseman Tripp Robinson (Summit, N.J.) added two assists in perhaps the best game of his Villanova career. Robinson had a career-high four caused turnovers, matching the most in a game by a Wildcats player this season, and had four ground balls to go along with the third and fourth assists of his career.
 
Villanova's defense was involved on both ends of the field. The outstanding overall effort forced 23 turnovers by St. John's, with the Wildcats being credited with 11 caused turnovers and having seven different players be credited with a forced miscue. Villanova defensemen combined for four points in the game, including the two assists by Robinson to go along with one assist from freshman David Evanchick (Darien, Conn.) and a goal scored by fifth year SSDM Chet Comizio (Basking Ridge, N.J.).
 
Junior midfielder Lucas Kopecky (Rocky Hill, N.J.) and freshman faceoff specialist Scot Mackie (Larchmont, N.Y.) gave the Wildcats a lift at the X I the absence of senior stalwart Justin Coppola. Kopecky went 10-of-19 on faceoffs with seven ground balls while Mackie was 7-of-11 on the day. Villanova dominated the final team stats, including a 65-27 edge in shots and a 40-28 advantage in ground balls. The Wildcats were 26-of-28 (92.9%) on clearing attempts compared with forcing 10 failed clears by the Red Storm (20-of-30, 66.7%).
 
With its conference opener and three-game homestand now in the rearview mirror, Villanova will get set for a road trip to No. 16 Denver next Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern time (12 p.m. MT).