• DePaul enters Thursday a week removed from a 0-0 draw with Butler to wrap up its first week of BIG EAST Games. The Blue Demons are still in search of their first conference win, going 0-1-1 to start its league slate after a BIG EAST opening loss to then-No. 23 Xavier, 3-0.
• Fourth-year head coach Michelle O’Brien’s squad has not scored a goal in 184:13 of action. The last goal for the Blue Demons came in a 1-1 draw with Western Michigan on Sept. 15 off the foot of junior forward Freya Jupp in the 86th minute.
• This will be DePaul’s fifth road match of the season, going 1-3 away from the Windy City. Its lone road win was on Sept. 5 at UIC, 1-0. All-told, the Blue Demons are being outscored 2-6 on the road.
• DePaul is last in the league for total goals this season, finding the back of the net six times. It has been outscored 14-6 this year with the league’s second-lowest goal differential at -8 while trailing in shots 100-75.
• Jupp leads the team with six points on three goals this season. She has landed seven of her nine shots on frame. She is the only Blue Demon to score multiple goals this season.
• Sophomore midfielder Lea Eisenring leads the team with two assists this season.
• Graduate goalkeeper Elena Milam has started in all 10 games for the Blue Demons this season, playing in 889 minutes. She has allowed 14 goals, saving 34 of the 99 shots she has faced for a .708 save percentage. All four of the team’s shutouts have been credited to her, tying her for third in the BIG EAST and 59th nationally.
• DePaul was slated to finish last in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll with 19 points after going 2-5-3 in conference play last year, 6-7-4 overall.

• Villanova and DePaul have gone to battle 21 times prior to Thursday’s meeting with the series level at 10-10-1 since Oct. 23, 2005. The Wildcats have gone 3-2 in the last five meetings with the Blue Demons.
• When hosting the Blue Demons, Villanova is 7-2-1 with a three-match winning streak in such contests. In that trio of games, the Wildcats have led by a 6-2 scoring margin. The last meeting between the two sides on the Main Line was Oct. 23, 2022 with Villanova winning 2-1 thanks to penalty kicks from Cici Fox and Emma Weaver who netted the game-winner in the 82nd minute.
• Last year’s contest at DePaul resulted in a 1-0 loss for the ‘Cats after DePaul scored on a late goal from Susie Soderstrom in the 85th minute.
• Villanova is 102-136-33 against the BIG EAST since 1995.
• The Wildcats head into Thursday’s match sitting tied for fourth in the league standings with four points alongside Butler. DePaul has one point in conference play at 0-1-1.

Lock Down Defense: Villanova’s defensive unit has been one of the best in the BIG EAST this season with a .833 save percentage and 5.00 saves per game, numbers that land it second in the league for both categories. The backline is anchored by goalkeeper Hannah Dickinson who leads the conference with 54 saves, putting her 44th in the nation. She is second in the BIG EAST with a .831 save percentage and second with 4.91 saves per game.

Shuuts and Scores: Madison Shumate leads the team with three goals this season. She has scored the most goals in a single season by a Wildcat since four players scored at least three goals in the 2021 season. 

Keepin’ It Clean: Villanova has shutout opponents five times this season, marking the most since the 2019 squad had eight shutouts. The most clean sheets in a single season for the ‘Cats came in 2003 when they recorded 16. The five shutouts are also tied for third in the BIG EAST and 63rd nationally.

Villanova Falls to No. 21 Xavier

This is the first BIG EAST loss of the season for the Wildcats

VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova faced an offensive onslaught from No. 21 Xavier on Sunday, falling 3-0 at Higgins Soccer Complex.
 
This marks the first BIG EAST loss of the season for Villanova (4-5-2, 1-1-1) and ends a two-game streak of clean sheets for the group. The 'Cats found themselves facing the third-most shots by an opponent this season with Xavier (9-1-2, 2-0-1) outshooting them 24-9, 12-3 for shots on frame.
 
"Today was not our day," Villanova head coach Samar Azem said. "We pride ourselves on how we defend, and we played one of the best teams in the nation offensively and we let them have the front foot. That started with me, you know, with our preparation, with our game plan. There's a lot of lessons there for all of us on how we play these types of games with that much pressure, where they take space away, where they have numbers running in and just the system that they play. That's an exceptionally talent Xavier team. They've been a very successful program for a long time and they showed us that."

Xavier got on the board early with an oppo-rocket from Regan Dancer in the third minute. She played a ball to Samantha Erbach near the 18-yard box before Erbach evaded defenders to send a pass back to Dancer who had made her way to the right side of the box. She sent a rocket from the line that sailed into the back left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead.
 
Villanova locked down on defense in the rest of the first half to keep the next 13 shot attempts out of the net, seven of them being saved by Hannah Dickinson. The Wildcats had just two shots on goal in the opening 45. The best chance came off of a corner in the 24th minute. Susanna Soderman's in-swinger hit off the head of Lauren Ashman before Elon Rutty took a header of her own that was saved by Xavier's Maria Galley.
 
After spending most of the first half on the defensive side of the pitch, offensive momentum swung in favor of the Blue and White early in the second half. Madison Shumate had a strong chance at the net in the 51st minute. She sent a screamer in from the top left corner of the box that forced Galley to go airborne for the save. The freshman had another chance in the 60th but her shot went high.
 
Xavier doubled its lead in the 71st minute with a goal from Samantha Wiehe. Toni Fiocco-Mizer passed through a busy lane near the top of the box to find Wiehe, scoring from 12 yards out to make it a 2-0 Musketeer lead.
 
A penalty in the box in the 79th minute gave Xavier its final goal of the day. Wiehe lined up for the shot and sent it toward the middle of the net past Dickinson for a 3-0 tally.
 
Shumate led the 'Cats with four shots on the day while Wiehe led all players on the pitch with five. Dickinson was called upon for nine saves, her second most of the season. Galley made two on the other end of the field.
 

Villanova stays at home this week as it hosts DePaul on Thursday. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.