NEW YORK -- A pair of Wildcat men's lacrosse players picked up major weekly awards from the conference on Monday afternoon as Denis Fargione was named the Defensive Player of the Week and Jake Melchionni earned Specialist of the Week.

It's the first time this year that the Wildcats have picked up two of the league's four major awards in one week, but the third time in as many weeks that VU has earned multiple players on the accolades. Fargione made his first appearance on the honors this season while Melchionni is on the list for the second time of his junior year.

Fargione is the league's top defensive player this week after he tied a career-high with 19 saves against Rutgers, keeping the Wildcats in the game with a .704 save percentage. The lone netminder to see time for the 'Cats this year, Fargione made six saves to keep it a scoreless third quarter and only allowed one goal in the entirety of the second half. The sophomore also added his first career point with an assist in the fourth quarter, making a save and taking the clear over the midline himself before finding a wide open teammate for the game-tying goal.

Melchionni earned Specialist of the Week after totaling a career-high nine ground balls in Saturday's loss to Rutgers, also causing three turnovers against the Scarlet Knights for a game-high in both categories. The junior LSM is Villanova's team leader on the season in both GBs (16) and CTs (8), topping the BIG EAST in caused turnovers per game as well as ground balls per game among players with three or more games played.

Fargione, Melchionni and the Wildcats will stay on the road this weekend, heading to Newark for a battle against the Delaware Blue Hens at 1 p.m. on Saturday.