NEW YORK—On the eve of the BIG EAST Championship the conference announced its men's lacrosse postseason awards on Wednesday afternoon with Villanova well-represented after winning 10 games during the regular season. Fifth year standout Matt Campbell (Madison, N.J.) was named the BIG EAST Midfielder of the Year and was one of six Wildcats who garnered All-BIG EAST honors. This is the 14^th major BIG EAST award for Villanova and the fourth time since 2010 that the Wildcats have had the league's top midfielder.
 
Campbell was one of six Villanova student-athletes who earned All-BIG EAST accolades in voting by the conference head coaches. He was a first team selection along with junior close defenseman Reid Colwell (Westfield, N.J.) and fifth year SSDM Chet Comizio (Basking Ridge, N.J.). The trio of senior faceoff specialist Justin Coppola (Garden City, N.Y.), fifth year attackman Patrick Daly (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and fifth year goalie Will Vitton (Summit, N.J.) were named to the All-BIG EAST second team. Since the BIG EAST began sponsoring men's lacrosse in 2010, the Wildcats have had multiple first team all-conference selections 11 times in 13 seasons.
 
Villanova has had at least six all-conference honorees in each of the last six years that postseason awards have been given out. This year's accolades are well-deserved recognition for a Wildcats team which is currently 10-4 on the year and has been ranked in both national polls for 10 straight weeks. Villanova went 3-2 in BIG EAST play and earned the #3 seed in the 2023 BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse Championship presented by JEEP which begins with semifinal games on Thursday night. The second semifinal matchup features the Wildcats playing #2 seed Denver (9-4) at 8:37 p.m. Central time (9:37 p.m. ET) on CBS Sports Network.
 
Campbell is one of 25 trophy nominees for this year's Tewaaraton Award and earns the first major BIG EAST postseason award of his career. During the season he was a conference weekly honoree seven times, earning Midfielder of the Week honors on four occasions and being named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll three other times. Through 14 games played, Campbell leads the Wildcats with 57 points which is tied for the 10^th-most in a single season in program history. He has a team-high 23 assists and is also second on the squad with 34 goals, the latter figure currently tied for 14^th in Villanova's single season annals. Campbell leads the BIG EAST and ranks 28^th nationally in points per game (4.07). He also ranks third in the conference in assists and fourth in goals.
 
During the season Campbell broke the Wildcats career records for goals and points. His current career totals are 152 goals and 228 points, with his 76 career assists putting him seventh in school history. Campbell ranks third among active Division I players in career goals scored and is fourth on the active career points list. Prior to the start of the season, he was named to the Watch List for the Tewaaraton Award for the third straight year. He is a four-time BIG EAST selection and has been a first team pick each of the last three seasons. Inside Lacrosse named Campbell a first team Midseason Media All-American earlier in the year.
 
The other two first team all-conference honorees for Villanova are fittingly defensive players from a unit which ranked second in the BIG EAST with 128 caused turnovers during the regular season. The Wildcats held seven of their 14 opponents to eight or fewer goals and own a +2.71 scoring margin on the year.
 
Colwell has been a breakout player for Villanova and leads the team with 21 caused turnovers to go along with 34 ground balls. He has started all 14 games and was named an honorable mention Midseason Media All-American by Inside Lacrosse. This is his first time earning BIG EAST postseason honors.
 
Colwell was the BIG EAST Player of the Week on March 6 after a monster game at Hofstra in which he had career highs of four caused turnovers and seven ground balls in a 15-8 victory. It was one of only two instances all year of a Villanova player being credited with four caused turnovers in a game, while his 21 caused turnovers on the year are 13^th on the Wildcats single season list. Colwell was also selected to the USILA Team of the Week on March 13 after he combined for six ground balls and five caused turnovers in victories over Drexel and then-No. 15 Penn.
 
It has been another stellar season for Comizio, the team's top SSDM who is a top performer on the defensive unit and also plays on the wing on faceoffs. Comizio has 46 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers on the year to go along with two goals, three assists and five points. He picked up a career-high seven ground balls at then-No. 10 Delaware in a 13-12 victory in the third game of the season which propelled the Wildcats into the national rankings where they have would eventually remain for the duration of the regular season. Comizio is tied for sixth in Villanova history with 51 career caused turnovers. He earned both preseason and midseason All-America status as a fifth year player this year, with Inside Lacrosse selecting him on its midseason first team.
 
The second team all-conference honorees are highlighted by Coppola, who has broken the Wildcats career records for both faceoff wins and ground balls over his last two games. He has won 56.4 percent of his faceoff chances this season (172-of-305), while his 117 ground balls on he year are just 14 away from matching his own single season school record set last year. Coppola ended the regular season on a tear. He had 16 ground balls – the second most in a single game in program history – in a 16-15 overtime win over Marquette on April 22, with his faceoff win at the start of the extra period the record breaker as the 591^st of his career.
 
Coppola reached the career record with 20 wins at the X against the Golden Eagles. He was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for that performance, then went on to pick up 12 more ground balls in the regular season finale against Georgetown. Entering play in the BIG EAST Championship, Coppola ranks 11^th in career ground balls and 12^th in career faceoff wins among all active Division I players.
 
Villanova has gotten steady production from the left-handed Daly on its first attack line. He ranks third in the BIG EAST and 20^th nationally with a team-high 40 goals scored, just six shy of tying the Wildcats single-season record. Daly's consistency has been the key to his success. He has registered a hat trick or better 11 times in 14 games, including a season-high five goals in a win over Navy and four goals on two other occasions in wins over Penn State and Hofstra. The consistent scoring production has moved Daly into fifth place on the Villanova career list with 124 goals scored. This year marks the sixth time in school history that the Wildcats have had a player score 40 or more goals in a season.
 
Daly earned three weekly BIG EAST honors during the season, including being named the Attack Player of the Week after a season-opening win over Penn State. The Nittany Lions were unranked at the time of the game but have since emerged as a top-five team in the national polls this season. Daly is the only Villanova player to be the Attack Player of the Week during the year and he added a pair of Honor Roll selections to his awards haul.
 
Vitton is the Division I active career leader with 3395:03 minutes played in goal and the Wildcats all-time leader with 36 career wins. He broke the program's all-time wins record with the 35^th of his career at Providence on April 15 and currently owns a career record of 36-23 (.610) in 60 career games played and 59 starts. Vitton has enjoyed a strong 2023 season with a 10.43 goals-against average, a .502 save percentage and an average of 10.3 saves per game. He has tallied 10+ saves in a game nine times in 14 outings on the year, including a season-high 18 against Penn State and 14 in the Providence game when he set the career wins record.
 
Vitton enters the BIG EAST Championship ranked third in school history with 654 career saves, 25 behind Canuso's school record total of 679 stops. He was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week four times during the season and added one selection to the Honor Roll as well. He and Campbell are tied for the most career weekly conference honors (11) of any players in school history. Villanova set a team record this season for the most weekly BIG EAST accolades – 24 – in a single season. That included 13 major weekly awards and 11 Honor Roll selections.
 
The postseason award winners from the BIG EAST included the Attack Player of the Year (Tucker Dordevic, Georgetown); the Midfielder of the Year (Campbell); the Defensive Player of the Year (Will Bowen, goalie Georgetown); the Goalkeeper of the Year (James Corasaniti, Providence); the Freshman of the Year (Patrick Crogan, Georgetown); and the Coach of the Year (Kevin Warne, Georgetown). There were 28 players named to the All-BIG EAST Team, including 13 first team selections and 15 second team honorees.