Nova Nation,
It is hard to believe that it has already been more than two months since we kicked off the 2025-26 athletics calendar with the start of our Fall seasons. We are heading into a busy time of the year, and there are several news items and events that I am excited to share with you.
Several of our Fall sports teams are making a postseason push, including our nationally ranked football team which ascended into the top 10 in the polls this week. Our men’s and women’s cross country teams finished strong at the BIG EAST Championships and have their next round of postseason competitions upcoming. Field hockey plays in a BIG EAST semifinal matchup, and this is all happening as our men’s and women’s basketball teams opened their seasons with a lot to look forward to.
There are men’s and women’s basketball season ticket packages available, and I hope to see many of you in person at Finneran Pavilion. Nova Nation is a fan base unlike any other and together we can fill the Finn and create an incredible home court atmosphere for our teams. I also want to call your attention to two marquee matchups on the men’s basketball schedule, against BIG EAST opponents St. John’s (January 17) and UConn (February 21) at Xfinity Mobile Arena. We have historically averaged nearly 16,000 fans a game for our top games there, and it is more important than ever to fill the arena for those big matchups. Partial plans are available which include tickets to both the St. John’s and UConn games.
We have three regular season football games remaining, including two chances to extend the longest FCS home winning streak in the country! Our football team has won 20 consecutive home games and is riding a five-game winning streak overall which has propelled us into the thick of the FCS playoff picture. A dominant home winning streak like our current one doesn’t happen by accident, and it is the direct result of a great team being supported by a great fanbase. Just a few weeks ago, we kicked off Homecoming Weekend with a campus-wide pep rally which included a live hit on FOX-29.
Let’s keep that going and pack Villanova Stadium for our games against Stony Brook (November 15) and Sacred Heart (November 22). The Stony Brook game is our Alumni Day, and I can’t wait to catch up with many of you who will be back in town for the game. If you haven’t had a chance yet this season, I encourage you to check out our tailgating scene in the A2 parking lot behind the stadium. Our pregame activities to date have included a cover band playing live and a radio show with guest appearances from Villanova VIPs. Football tickets can be purchased online.
There are few days during the year that are more important for Villanova than our annual 1842 Day. It is because of the unwavering dedication of our alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff and friends that we can continue to reach and surpass all our philanthropic goals. There is no better example of this than the way Nova Nation showed up on this year’s day of giving on September 30. We had a record 3,471 donors contribute $1.29 million to various designations in athletics. This was the highest number of donors to any area of the university and represented almost 30% of all donors on 1842 Day.
Many of you have asked great questions about how your giving can make an impact in this new world of college sports. Fundraising and other revenue sources are more critical than ever in helping us prioritize current-use dollars to maintain a healthy financial position. You can have the greatest impact by contributing to the Villanova Athletics Strategic Excellence (VASE) Fund or to the sport funds of one of our 24 varsity teams. Friends of Nova is our NIL maximization partner, and I encourage you to take advantage of their sponsored events and experiences to raise non-philanthropic dollars. Whether you choose to give to VASE or to one of our varsity programs, know that you are having a dollar-for-dollar impact on our ability to deliver on our mission with our 600+ student-athletes.
All of us who are a part of Villanova Athletics continue to be energized by the brightly shining spirit of the Nova Nation community. Your steadfast support throughout the year has never been more appreciated. I look forward to seeing you on campus soon. In closing, below are just a few of the team and individual accomplishments from the Fall sports season that I am proud to share.
- It is always a great source of pride to see our student-athletes positively impacting the community around them. Recent events during the Fall semester included the annual Villanova St. Thomas Day of Service and this weekend’s Special Olympics Fall Festival which our student-athletes are heavily involved in.
- The football team is 6-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Ahead of our game at Towson this week, we have moved into the top 10 of the national rankings for the first time this season. In addition to having the longest home winning streak in the country, we recently won our fifth straight Homecoming Weekend game and head coach Mark Ferrante became the CAA active leader in career conference victories with 40 and counting.
- Sophomore running back David Avit and senior linebacker Shane Hartzell have been named to the watch lists for the Walter Payton Award and the Buck Buchanan Award, respectively. Those national honors are presented at the end of each season to the top offensive and defensive players in the FCS. Villanova is in excellent position to reach the FCS playoffs for the third straight year and fourth time in the last five seasons.
- The women’s cross country team has finished first or second at all six meets they have competed in this season. That includes a victory at the highly competitive Paul Short Run for the first time since 2000 and a runner-up finish at the BIG EAST Championships. We have been ranked as high as No. 14 in the country this season and had five runners earn All-BIG EAST honors for the first time since 2018.
- Speaking of cross country All-BIG EAST accolades, both the women’s and men’s teams had all five of their scoring runners recognized with all-conference honors. For the men’s cross country squad, this makes eight straight years with five or more All-BIG EAST performers.
- A strong finish to the end of the regular season saw our field hockey team qualify for the BIG EAST Championship for the second time in the last three seasons. Our team earned a top honor this year as Ava Borkowski was named the BIG EAST Co-Offensive Player of the Year. She and teammate Gemma Lysaght each garnered all-conference honors.
- We also had a major award winner in women’s soccer as Avrie Nelsen was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. Led by the most wins for the program since 2019, we had four all-conference selections in Nelsen, Hannah Dickinson, Gabby Koluch and Meredith Palmer. It is our largest group of All-BIG EAST honorees since 2006!
- It has already been a great season for our volleyball team and there is plenty more to come! Villanova is currently 17-6 on season, 8-4 in BIG EAST play, and has spent the entire year near the top of the BIG EAST standings. Head coach Josh Steinbach tallied his 300th win earlier in the year and junior outside hitter Abby Harrell notched her 1,000th career kill. The home stretch of the regular season is coming up as we vie for a spot in the BIG EAST and NCAA postseason tournaments.
- In his second year as the head coach of the men’s soccer program, Mark Fetrow has his team gaining momentum with each passing game. After posting just one win last year, we have improved to 6-6-5 this season and have a young roster that has shown great improvement over the course of the season.
