VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova women's lacrosse suffered a loss in its midweek contest, falling to the Saint Joseph's Hawks 14-7 on Wednesday at Villanova Stadium.

Four different players contributed a pair of points for Villanova (2-3), led by two goals and an assist from Cara Moreau in addition to two tallies each from Mary Moore and Sydney Pappas. Sami Carey added a goal and assist while Elena Torres contributed an apple for the home side.

Moore added three ground balls and a trio of draw controls for a complete stat line, with Cailin Harrington registering two ground balls, two caused turnovers and a pair of draw controls.

Saint Joseph's started the game with dominance, stringing together the bout's first three goals in conjunction with a trio of saves to secure a 3-0 edge until 3:46 left in the quarter. 

That was the moment when Carey broke the scoreless streak for the Wildcats, taking a feed from Moreau on the player-up opportunity and beating the keeper low to make the score 3-1 where it stayed until the end of the opening period.

Moore got the second stanza underway with a goal at 11:26, dodging hard and firing one past the goalie after an assist from Torres. St. Joe's answered shortly after and kept up that momentum with three more, moving the advantage to 7-2 with a quartet of tallies in just over three minutes. 

It was Moore again with an impressive dodge leading to a Villanova tally, then Pappas worked through contact from four defenders to pull her squad within three. 

Despite SJU winning the ensuing draw, VU's defense got a stop and the 'Cats charged down the field before Pappas earned a free-position opportunity and converted to make the halftime score 7-5.

Moreau opened the third quarter with a woman-down goal by turning around a Carey feed, marking the first tally Villanova's scored this year with a player disadvantage. The Hawks responded on an unassisted goal at 8:12, then Moreau used a bull dodge to power through her defender and beat the goalie for a 9-7 game.

But that would be the last time Villanova snuck one past the Hawk keeper with St. Joe's answering as usual, striking at 3:55 of the third to go back up three and remain that way through the remainder of that frame. The Hawks only added to that advantage in the final period, finding the net four times and not surrendering any VU tallies for a 14-7 final score.