VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova men's lacrosse suffered a setback in its home opener on Saturday afternoon, falling 11-9 to Saint Joseph's at Villanova Stadium.

Luke Raymond scored four goals to lead No. 14/16 Villanova (1-1) while Nick Lucchesi added a pair of goals and an assist for the only other multi-point game on the VU side.

Nolan Sabel contributed his first career point with an assist in the second quarter as Colin Michener, Gavin Michener and Lucas Newton (one goal each) added the other scores for the 'Cats.

Denis Fargione made 10 saves between the pipes, Jack Shoemaker caused a trio of turnovers and Ryan Cunningham scooped up six ground balls with eight faceoff wins.

The first frame was dominated by the visitors as Saint Joseph's scored the first three goals before Raymond converted one for the Wildcats, then SJU ended the period with five more to lead 8-1 after 15 minutes.

Quarter two saw VU's best performance of the day as the 'Cats managed a quintet in a row to trail by just two at halftime. C. Michener and Lucchesi struck on unassisted efforts to start, then Sabel fed G. Michener to make the deficit four. Raymond went behind-the-back off a Lucchesi feed to add another, then a strong Villanova ride gave Raymond a look at an empty net to make it 8-6 after one half.

A low-scoring third saw just two goals from the Hawks and none for the 'Cats, turning it into a four-score game with just 15 minutes remaining.

Newton and Lucchesi each found the twine in the fourth quarter to bring it back within two, but SJU got one back less than a minute later. Raymond scored with 3:49 left for a pair deficit again and the 'Cats had a number of chances after that, but none fell as Villanova took an 11-9 loss.