New for the 2025-26 academic year, Villanova will announce its top performers from the previous week in a press release and social media post each Monday afternoon. The weekly wrap will recognize one standout student-athlete from each sport who competed during the previous week.
 
VILLANOVA, Pa.—In the busiest week to date of the 2025-26 athletic seasons, the Wildcats had 10 teams in action during the period of October 13-19. The highlight of the week for Villanova came from the women's cross country team which finished second out of 38 teams at the Pre-National Invitational in Columbia, Mo. The Wildcats have placed first or second in all four of their competitions this season and in Friday's race beat four other nationally-ranked teams while finishing behind only the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
 
Junior Tilly O'Connor (Spring Lake, N.J.) headlines the Villanova Athletics Weekly Wrap after she was the Wildcats top finisher at the Pre-National meet. O'Connor placed 15^th in a field of 346 runners and tallied her second straight race with a time below 20 minutes over 6,000 meters. She has been a scoring runner for Villanova in eight of her 11 career cross country starts, but Friday's race marked the first time that she has been first in the team's lineup at a meet.
 
The other selections to this week's Wrap include men's cross country sophomore Charlie Moore (Brisbane, Australia); field hockey junior forward Colleen Finnan (Mullica Hill, N.J.); football graduate quarterback Pat McQuaide (Solon, Ohio); golf senior Matt Zerfass (Macungie, Pa.); men's soccer sophomore goalkeeper Alex Yagudayev (Brooklyn, N.Y.); women's soccer junior midfielder Gabby Koluch (Freehold, N.J.); women's swimming & diving sophomore Alana Leen (Arlington, Mass.); men's tennis junior Kush Anand (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and volleyball junior outside hitter Abby Harrell (Ellensburg, Wash.).
 
McQuaide helped lead the football team to a dominant 56-14 win over Hampton and threw a career high five touchdown passes while playing only the first half. His five touchdowns came on just 13 passing attempts and McQuaide finished the day 10-of-13 for 166 yards. He had a passing efficiency rating of 311.1 which is the second-highest single game mark in school history.
 
It was also a big week for the volleyball team which tallied 3-1 wins over conference opponents Providence and Connecticut. Harrell was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career after leading the team in kills in both matches. She totaled 38 kills in the two matches and became the 21^st player in school history to top 1,000 career kills during the win at Providence.
 
The women's swimming & diving team opened its season with a pair of victories over Seton Hall and Connecticut. Leen was a double winner in a 186.5-113.5 win over the Huskies, touching first in both the 200 back and the 200 IM. She came in third in the 100 back and swam a leg of the 200 medley relay. In the first meet of the weekend against Seton Hall, Leen finished second in the 200 free individually as well as in the 200 free relay and 200 medley relay lineups.
 
Women's soccer picked up its fourth conference win of the season with a 3-0 decision at home against Marquette. Koluch had a goal and an assist in the contest while recording two shots. Her second goal of the season in the 11^th minute stretched an early Villanova lead to 2-0 and she later assisted on the game's final tally in the 57^th minute. Koluch added a shot on goal in the second game of the week against Connecticut.
 
On the men's side of the pitch, Yagudayev came up big in a 1-1 draw with Creighton in the team's only game of the week. He had seven saves total and made five of those stops during a scoreless first half. It was the third time in the last four games that Yagudayev has made five or more saves in a game. He is sporting a 1.44 goals-against average and a .711 save percentage on the season while going 3-3-3 in net in his first year as a starter.
 
Zerfass was the golf team's top finisher at the Georgetown Intercollegiate last week. He carded a round of 74 (+3) to close out the 36-hole tournament and tied for a 17^th place overall finish at 77-74=151 (+9). The men's cross country team competed against a stacked field at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational which featured 18 nationally ranked teams out of 32 that competed overall. Moore was the Wildcats top finisher for the second straight meet and recorded a time of 24:42.6 on the 8,000 meter course at Wisconsin.
 
The field hockey team took on Quinnipiac and Drexel in a pair of games last week. Finnan scored her fifth goal of the season against Drexel and had a pair of shots on goal for the game. Her five goals scored and 12 points on the year both rank second on the team. The men's tennis team competed at the ITA Northeast Regional over the weekend. Anand teamed with William Monahan for an 8-6 win in the first round of the doubles draw. The pair was eliminated by a team from Columbia in the round of 32.

 

Villanova Performers of the Week for October 13-19
Sport	Name	Class	Position	Hometown
Men's Cross Country	Charlie Moore	Sophomore		Brisbane, Australia
Women's Cross Country	Tilly O'Connor	Junior		Spring Lake, N.J.
Field Hockey	Colleen Finnan	Junior	Forward	Mullica Hill, N.J.
Football	Pat McQuaide	Graduate	Quarterback	Solon, Ohio
Golf	Matt Zerfass	Senior		Macungie, Pa.
Men's Soccer	Alex Yagudayev	Sophomore	Goalkeeper	Brooklyn, N.Y.
Women's Soccer	Gabby Koluch	Junior	Midfielder	Freehold, N.J.
Women's Swimming & Diving	Alana Leen	Sophomore	Back/IM	Arlington, Mass.
Men's Tennis	Kush Anand	Junior		Fort Wayne, Ind.
Volleyball	Abby Harrell	Junior	Outside Hitter	Ellensburg, Wash.

 
Villanova Athletics Scoreboard
 
October 13-19
 
Monday, October 13
 
Golf: Georgetown Intercollegiate (tie-6^th of 11, Round 1)
 
Tuesday, October 14
 
Golf: Georgetown Intercollegiate (5^th of 11, Final)
 
Wednesday, October 15
 
Women's Soccer: Villanova 3, Marquette 0
 
Thursday, October 16
 
Men's Tennis: ITA Northeast Regional (no team scoring)
 
Friday, October 17
 
Volleyball: Villanova 3, Providence 1
Women's Swimming & Diving: Villanova 168, Seton Hall 54
Men's Soccer: Villanova 1, Creighton 1
Field Hockey: Quinnipiac 2, Villanova 0
Women's Cross Country: Pre-National Invitational (2^nd of 38)
Men's Cross Country: Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational (30^th of 32)
Men's Tennis: ITA Northeast Regional (no team scoring)
 
Saturday, October 18
 
Football: Villanova 56, Hampton 14
Volleyball: Villanova 3, Connecticut 1
Women's Swimming & Diving: Villanova 186.5, Connecticut 113.5
Women's Soccer: Connecticut 2, Villanova 0
Men's Tennis: ITA Northeast Regional (no team scoring)
 
Sunday, October 19
 
Field Hockey: Drexel 2, Villanova 1
Men's Basketball: Villanova 70, VCU 51 (exhibition game)
  
This Week's Schedule
 
October 20-26
Home events in bold and are listed first
 
Monday, October 20
 
All Day             Golf at Nassau Intercollegiate (Glen Cove, N.Y.)
 
Tuesday, October 21
 
3:00 PM           Men's Soccer vs. VMI
 
All Day             Golf at Nassau Intercollegiate (Glen Cove, N.Y.)
 
Wednesday, October 22
 
7:00 PM           Women's Soccer at Georgetown
 
Friday, October 24
 
3:00 PM           Field Hockey vs. Providence
6:00 PM           Women's Basketball vs. Towson (Exhibition Game)
7:00 PM           Volleyball vs. DePaul
 
5:00 PM           Men's Cross Country: Haverford Invitational
7:00 PM           Men's Basketball at Virginia (Exhibition Game)
 
Saturday, October 25
 
12:00 PM         Women's Soccer vs. Providence
3:30 PM           Football vs. UAlbany
7:00 PM           Volleyball vs. Marquette
 
11:00 AM         Men's/Women's Swimming & Diving at Georgetown
6:00 PM           Men's Soccer at Georgetown
All Day Rowing: Head of the Schuylkill