SHAMOKIN DAM, Pa. – Villanova closed its regular season schedule with an impressive outing in head-to-head races against Connecticut and Bucknell Saturday on the Susquehanna River. The Varsity Eight highlighted the day with a 10-second victory over the Huskies.

Despite another week of minor illnesses and last-minute lineup adjustments the night before racing, the Wildcats still turned in positive performances and improved on their showing at the Mason Invitational a week ago.

"This was a great weekend for our team as we accomplished our goals," head coach Carissa Adams said. "I was impressed with how we were able to be more consistent in our second race of the day across the board.Our strategy was to focus on our first race against our conference rival UConn and build some momentum to face Bucknell in our second race of the day. We wanted to improve upon our performance at George Mason and be more consistent in our second race of the day. We have 10 more practices to fine tune our strategies going into conference and this race was a good motivator to keep striving for more."
 
Thanks to afternoon starts for racing, the day started with a Senior Day Luncheon before the races to honor seniors Erin Welch, Ellie Falk, Kelechi Onuigbo, Madeline McCarthy, Olivia Krause, Alexandra Petrozzi, Olivia Krause, Caroline Shea, Kara Dempsey, Sheila Joyce and Sofia Lopez. Six of those Wildcats were in the V8 lineup for the day.

"It was awesome to be able to have so many parent's of seniors join us and share in our celebration," Adams said. "This was a terrific opportunity to revisit the growth we have experienced over the course of the year and to get pumped up for our races."

Starting the day against UConn, the V8 of Cate Donnelly, Welch, Shea, Maggie Coyne, Krause, Joyce, Dempsey, Isabella Thorne, and Falk posted a massive winning time of 5:57.97. They paced UConn by 9.9 seconds at 6:07.87, a group it last saw at the Knecht Cup. The sub-six minute time for the 'Cats marked the fastest for the team during this spring season with the next closest time being a 6:55.88 showing at the Doc Hosea regatta at the beginning of April.
 
All three of Villanova's other boats finished just behind the Huskies in their head-to-head races.
 
In the 2V8, Madison Girard, McCarthy, Jadyn Ramos, Julia Kreisl, Petrozzi, Frizzell, Jillian de Merlier, Anna Flynn, and Sarah Robillard launched with a strong start before falling back into a close battle, crossing four seconds after the Huskies with a final time of 6:16.08. The V4 team of Sabrina Pauli, Lopez, Rose Baker, Grace Quirk, and Gianna Zajac turned in a 7:10.85 showing while the 2V4 of Cecelia Jenkins, Onuigo, Addison Wittnebert, Jenna Nolan and Olivia Kachurak crossed in 7:15.77.
 
Each of the three races Villanova took on in the nightcap resulted in second-place showings against the hosting Bison. The V8 was narrowly edged out by two seconds despite a strong push in the sprint, crossing in 6:03.73.

An even closer contest came in the 2V8 with Villanova closing the gap to finish 1.96 seconds behind Bucknell at 6:17.99. The V4 turned in a 7:19.37 finish, but the 2V4 had to scratch due to illnesses.

"I am proud of the theses athlete's efforts today and how they attacked on the water even with the adversity they faced," Adams said. "Their adaptability is admirable."
 
Villanova is just under two weeks away from competing at the CAA Championship. The league regatta is set for May 12 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.