NEW YORK – After their valiant comeback win over the Marquette Golden Eagles, Men's Lacrosse had two players earn weekly honors for their individual performances in the victory.
Graduate student attackman Matt Licata and sophomore LSM Jake Melchionni were named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week and BIG EAST Specialist of the Week, respectively, for their outings against Marquette, the conference announced Monday.
Matt Licata scored a career-high five goals and added an assist in his final career regular season contest at Villanova Stadium. This week is his second time earning Offensive Player of the Week honors after doing so for the week of March 18, 2024. He scored two goals in 11 seconds with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 13-all. Licata has recorded three or more goals in each of the four games he has participated in while Villanova has been celebrating senior days, totaling 14 goals and 4 assists in those games. The graduate student ranks second on the team in goals, assists, and points on the season.
Melchionni scored two goals, caused two turnovers, and scooped up two ground balls. The Bernardsville, N.J., native, who earned a Weekly Honor Roll nod and USILA Team of the Week honor after his performance against St. John's, followed it up with a standout offensive game. Both goals that he scored stopped 3-0 runs by the Golden Eagles. He is the first Villanova defender since Chris Piccirilli in the 2013 BIG EAST Championship against Syracuse to score multiple goals. After causing two turnovers on Saturday, Melchionni tied Beau Kemler's streak, set earlier this year, of four consecutive games causing multiple turnovers. The sophomore LSM also broke the record for goals by an LSM in a season by scoring his sixth with 10 minutes remaining, passing John LoCascio's record of five in 2014. His 19 caused turnovers this year currently tie Chris Hervada and Chris Conroy for 17th in a single season in program history.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
The Villanova Wildcats have clinched a spot in the 2025 BIG EAST Tournament, held in Denver, Colorado.
Despite starting off 2-5 and having two 10-plus goal losses, VU has fought hard into conference play, starting off 3-0 for the first time since 2013. The squad has made 12 consecutive tournaments and faced the threat of not making it for the first time in the history of the BIG EAST until their impressive start during conference action.
Ticket information can be found below.
UP NEXT
Villanova will take to the road for their final regular season contest of the year against the Georgetown Hoyas at Cooper Field in Washington, D.C.
BIG EAST TOURNAMENT TICKETING (RELEASE COURTESY OF BIG EAST)
The semifinal games will take place on Thursday, May 1 at 6 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET, while the title game will take place on Saturday, May 3 at 5 p.m. ET. All three games will air live on CBS Sports Network.
General admission to the event for a single session starts at $30 per ticket. Reserved seating is also available for purchase starting at $46. All session tickets are available for both general admission ($50) and reserved seating ($65). In addition, a group discount is available for groups of 10 or more individuals. Large groups tickets are $18 per person, per session.
Youths under the age of two are free of charge. Students from any BIG EAST institution are also free with their student ID.
Tickets can be purchased HERE or by calling the Denver Ticket Office at 303-871-4625.
SOCIAL
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