VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova (6-3, 0-0) hosts No. 9 Denver (6-2, 0-0) this Saturday in the BIG EAST opener at Villanova Stadium.
The Wildcats come into this matchup on a three-game win streak following road wins at Navy and Brown. The defense has been excellent, holding Brown and Navy to just 12 goals combined and causing 20 turnovers. Goalie
Anthony Wilson recorded a season and career-high 16 saves against Navy which led him to taking home BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week. He followed that with 11 saves and holding Brown to a season best five goals.
Colin Michener and
Matt Licata will lead the Wildcat attack against a pesky Denver defense that allows 10 goals per game. The duo ranks second and third in the conference in goals per game and Licata is second with 4.11 points per game. Michener is coming off the best performance of his young career where he poured in four first half goals and an assist against Brown.
Denver has had a phenomenal season under first year head coach Matt Brown. The Pioneers were ranked as high as number one in the nation before their first loss to Yale on March 10th. Consistency is key for Denver as 19 different players have scored this season and they are at the top of the conference in most statistical categories.
JJ Sillstrop leads the Pioneer attack with 18 goals and notably poured in six in the season opening win at John's Hopkins. Michael Lampert leads the team in assists with 13 and has 24 points on the season.
The matchup between faceoff specialists
Justin Coppola and Alec Stathakis will be one to watch. Coppola sits at sixth in the nation with a .624 win percentage and Stathakis is not far behind at 16th and a .591 win percentage. Both teams feed off their faceoff group and like to control possession.
The 'Cats and Pioneers have produced many classics in recent years as four of the last eight meetings have been decided by two goals or less. They met in the BIG EAST semifinals the last two season with Villanova winning in 2022 and Denver taking last year's matchup 16-9. Villanova is 2-13 against Denver since they joined the conference in 2014 and they have met in the postseason six times including the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
The opening faceoff is set for noon at Villanova Stadium and the game can be seen live on FloSports.
