VILLANOVA, Pa. – This weekend is the start of a home-heavy final month for the Wildcats as Villanova men's lacrosse (4-5, 1-0 BIG EAST) hosts the No. 20/RV Denver Pioneers on Saturday at noon from Villanova Stadium.

ROUTED THE RED STORM    
It was an impressive start to the BIG EAST campaign as the Wildcats set a season-high in goals with a 21-7 defeat of St. John's on Saturday afternoon at Belson Stadium. Luke Raymond scored a career-high seven goals for Villanova while David Link added six points on a score and a season-high five assists. Colin Michener contributed a hat trick as Lachlan Moffatt totaled his first career goal as part of a two-score day and both Scot Mackie and Aidan Haggerty also put forth the first goal of their careers. It was the Villanova debut for five different players on the day, including senior goalkeeper David Sadasivam in addition to Tucker Hess, Will Stewart, Reid Chisholm and Parker Harms. Ryan O'Connor also won his first three collegiate faceoffs and Ryan Martin made his first ever start for the 'Cats. The victory marked the 10th win for Villanova in BIG EAST lidlifters (10-6 record since 2010), and moves them to 3-0 when opening the conference campaign against the Johnnies.

DANCING WITH DENVER    
A foe that's only in the BIG EAST for lacrosse enters Villanova Stadium this weekend as the 'Cats welcome the Denver Pioneers to the Main Line. VU is 7-18 overall against the Pios, 3-8 at home but winners of the last two in the series. Last year was a Villanova overtime victory thanks to five points (including the OT game winner) from C. Michener and a 10 GB, 3 CT day for Beau Kemler. Prior to that was a 10-9 BIG EAST semifinal win the previous year with 12 saves from Anthony Wilson. Denver's last win was in 2024 despite two goals by Dan Martin, a goal and assist from Nick Lucchesi and four caused turnovers for Jack Shoemaker.

CONNECTIONS WITH THE COLORADANS    
There are a number of connections between these two programs despite nearly 1,700 miles separating them. Five different Pioneers went to the same high school as a current Wildcat, including Matt Swirbalus (St. Sebastian's with Chris Merageas), James Beeghly (Collegiate School with John Seevers), Quinton Cepiel and Tate Seeman (Deerfield Academy like Justin Tavares and Watt Muir) and Nolan Sabel (Seton Hall Prep with Brody Davis). VU's Martin brothers also hail from the same area as Denver's Billy Carr (Wall/Wall Township, New Jersey), while all of the DU coaches have previously played or coached against the Wildcats.

PREVIEWING THE PIONEERS

• Denver comes to the Main Line with a record of 4-5, but 0-1 in BIG EAST play after a 17-5 loss to No. 14 Georgetown to open the conference slate. DU missed the BIG EAST Tournament last year after dropping its last two games to close the year.
• This will be the first time since Jan. 31 that the Pioneers have played a team not receiving votes in the Top 25 polls. Denver went 0-4 in March with the squad's last win being on Feb. 28.
• The Pios are led by redshirt junior attacker Cody Malawsky's 17 goals while Marek Tzagournis adds 22 points. Grayson Manning leads the country in save percentage and Luke Smaeder has a league-best 5.67 ground balls per game.

GAMEDAY DETAILS
Tickets are sold online here with both season and single game tickets available for purchase. It's $25 to buy a tailgate spot in the A2 lot behind the stadium, and there is also paid rate parking available in the I1 garage located across the street from the Jake Nevin Field House. Be advised, on-site parking can only be purchased with credit cards, cash will not be accepted.

The bout will stream live on ESPN+ while statistics for the contest are available on StatBroadcast.