STORRS, Conn. – Villanova women's lacrosse stayed hot on Wednesday afternoon as the No. 24 Wildcats picked up their sixth win in the last seven games with a 10-8 outlasting of the Connecticut Huskies at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium. 

Allie Bell made a career-high 10 saves between the pipes for Villanova (8-3, 2-0 BIG EAST), earning her third straight victory as VU's starting netminder.

Leslie Iorio contributed a hat trick for the 'Cats while Rose Christie (three points) and Kathryn Monaco each added a pair of goals. Mary Moore totaled a quartet of assists, Ashlyn Hickey put forth a goal and two helpers and Bella Piselli added two assists as Villanova moved to 2-0 in conference games.

The Villanova defense was the headliner in the first, causing three turnovers and a shot clock violation while Bell made two saves to keep the Huskies off the board in the first 15 minutes. Monaco and Jillian Vaught each scored in the opening period with assists going to Hickey and Piselli as the 'Cats took a 2-0 lead into the second.

UConn struck twice before six minutes had elapsed in the second quarter, but a pair of Moore feeds were finished off by Christie and Iorio to keep Villanova ahead then Iorio turned around a Hickey feed less than a minute later to put the Wildcats up three at the media timeout. The Huskies answered after that pause, then a Hickey howitzer on the free position stung a corner for the half's final goal and a 6-3 VU lead after 30 minutes.

With Villanova down two players to start the second half, Connecticut managed two straight to turn it into a one-goal game early in the third quarter. But the VU defense clamped down and the offense got going, starting with another Monaco-Piselli connection. Iorio reached a hat trick when Moore set her up for a long-range rocket, then with six seconds remaining Elena Torres got on the board as Christie facilitated the chance to have VU up 9-5 after three.

Again it was Connecticut opening up the final period with back-to-back goals, but a strong individual effort by Christie after a Moore feed moved the Wildcat lead back to three. Nobody scored for the next eight-plus minutes until a UConn goal at 2:40, then the VU defense stamped out any chance for the home team and finished it as a 10-8 victory. 

With the win, Villanova picks up its fifth ever victory over the Huskies and pulls out its third in a row against the BIG EAST rival.