VILLANOVA, Pa. – Men's Lacrosse took down No. 9 Yale by a score of 13 to 11 in Saturday's thriller at Villanova Stadium.

This was the Wildcats' second top 10 win in their last four games, their first since the win against No. 4 Denver in the 2024 BIG EAST semi-final.

Matt Licata led the Wildcats in a bounce-back week by scoring four goals, two in each half.

"As a team this week, we focused on waiting the possessions out to find the best shot. [We] were playing as a team more this week," the graduate student commented. "Making sure we got the highest percentage shot each time out."

Luke Raymond and David Link both netted their second goals of the season within 30 seconds of each other at the 12-minute mark to get the Wildcat offense underway.

After Yale's David Anderson went into the penalty box for tripping, the 'Cats took advantage of the extra man situation, capped off by Quinton Cepiel's first career score off an assist from Tyler Boes.

Yale was able to find the back of the net twice in the first quarter on goals by Max Krevsky and Leo Johnson, but the 'Cats prevailed to keep their lead.

Anthony Wilson closed out the first frame, making two saves on the final Bulldogs possession, including a sliding stop that led to the Wildcats regaining possession for the final minute.

In the second stanza, a Yale defender tried to pass the ball back to the goalkeeper after a shot attempt by Colin Michener, which slipped into the net, leading to an own goal scored by the Wildcats.

With a man-up and eight minutes remaining, Villanova was able to score their second man-up goal of the game by Licata, who tallied another score with 38 seconds remaining.

To close out the first half, just 10 seconds later, Ryan Cunningham took his faceoff win over Machado Rodriguez all the way to the net, where he punched in his first career goal. The Wildcats took a 7-4 lead into halftime, helped by the momentum of those two goals in the final 40 seconds.

Tyler Sandoval won nine of his 16 faceoffs taken, maintaining his above 50% average in the circle. Along with his goal, Cunningham won three of the faceoffs he took on in Saturday's game.

To start the back half, Licata picked up right where he left off, scoring in the first minute of the third quarter on a diving attempt after juking two defenders coming around the net.

As the third quarter wound down, the Bulldogs made the Villanova Stadium crowd feel déjà vu from week one's match as they scored three goals over the next seven minutes to narrow the Wildcat lead to just one at 8-7.

With one minute remaining, the Villanova defense forced Yale's Carson Kuhl to turn the ball over twice, ultimately leading to Gavin Michener's first career goal after Jake Melchionni ran down the field on a fast break and dished it off.

The Wildcats made quick work of Yale's mistakes to open final frame, both coming after turnovers that VU held long possessions after that ultimately resulted in goals for Raymond and the first collegiate score for Melchionni.

Yale held Villanova scoreless over 10 of the final 11 minutes while scoring three of their own. In the midst of the run, Wilson saved two crucial shots that Yale took with their eyes staring down the goal to cut the lead to one. Both shots came on wide open looks, but the redshirt sophomore was able to thwart the chances. 

"Our kids did a really good job of stopping those runs and going on some runs of their own," coach Mike Corrado mentioned. "A couple of times we didn't clear the ball... but we made the plays when we needed to, like that empty netter."

Once Chris Lyons scored with 1:12 remaining, a frenzy ensued on the next possession, with both teams committing a turnover apiece at midfield until Raymond picked up the ground ball. A timeout was granted alongside a penalty after Yale's Patrick Pisano slashed the younger Michener brother as he was running out the clock.

While VU was a man up, Nicholas Lucchesi scored an empty net goal to bring the Wildcat lead to two at 13-11, icing the game.

On the Bulldogs side, Krevsky, Johnson, and Peter Moynihan recorded two goals each. Johnny Keib caused two VU turnovers and added a crucial goal to cut the Wildcat lead during the first run. Yale's goalkeeper, Hugh Conrad, tallied 11 saves in the contest.

Gavin Michener made his collegiate debut in the Villanova win.

UP NEXT 
Villanova Men's Lacrosse will return to action Saturday, February 22, at 12:00 P.M., when they travel up to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on the Colgate Raiders.

TICKETING
The next home game for the 'Cats takes place on Friday, February 28, against Lehigh University at 4:00 P.M. Season tickets and individual game tickets are available; please check here for more information and to purchase tickets for upcoming games.

SOCIAL 
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