PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The postseason is upon us this week as #3 seed Villanova men's lacrosse (6-7, 3-2 BIG EAST) heads north for a BIG EAST semifinal bout against the tournament host and #2 seed Providence Friars at 7:35 p.m. on Thursday evening.

WRAPPED UP THE REGULAR SEASON    
The regular season came to an end with a 9-6 loss to the No. 8 Georgetown Hoyas at Villanova Stadium on Friday night. Sloppy play early led to a 2-0 Georgetown lead to open the first, then after VU got on the board the Hoyas scored the next three before another Villanova score for a 5-2 game after one. The visitors managed the first two of the next frame before two unassisted Wildcat tallies made it 7-4 at the half. Georgetown struck a few minutes into the third then Nick Lucchesi became Villanova's first multi-goal scorer to make it 8-5. It was another Hoya goal to start the fourth's scoring before the 'Cats closed the deficit back to three, but the final eight minutes went by with no more scores to end the game as a 9-6 loss for the Wildcats. Villanova got strong play from its specialists with 13 saves by Anthony Wilson, 11 faceoff wins for George Glomb and a career day from Jake Melchionni, but it wasn't enough as the 'Cats dropped down to the #3 seed for the conference tournament.

SHIPPING UP TO PROVIDENCE    
It's tournament time in the BIG EAST and a quartet of teams will descend upon Providence's Chapey Field on Thursday for the conference semifinals. Georgetown won the regular season title after going undefeated in conference play to earn the #1 overall seed. They'll face Denver in the semifinals, who emerged victorious last Friday in a win-and-you're-in matchup against Marquette. Providence picked up the two seed due to the head-to-head victory over Villanova, also defeating Denver and St. John's during the conference campaign. The Wildcats are third in the pecking order and essentially play a true away game on Thursday with the Friars hosting this year's tournament, though the 'Cats are far better on the road this year (5-2) than at home (1-5).

PREVIOUSLY AGAINST PC    
The Wildcats head up to The Ocean State for this year's tournament and will take on the Friars on Thursday evening. The 'Cats now own a 13-7 advantage all-time over Providence with all but one of those games coming with Mike Corrado as head coach. Providence won the regular season bout between these two teams in overtime, storming back from multiple four-goal deficits to put themselves in line for the higher seed in the tourney field. David Link contributed his first career hat trick in that game while Wilson made 15 saves between the pipes, but it wasn't enough for a Wildcat win. Villanova swept last year's matchups with an 11-8 regular season victory powered by Colin Michener before five points out of Luke Raymond and nine ground balls from SSDM Scot Mackie granted the 'Cats a 16-14 win in the 2025 semifinal matchup 364 days ago. 

GET A FEEL FOR THE FRIARS

• Providence earned the #2 seed in this year's championship after a 7-8 campaign with a 3-2 record in conference, including a 10-9 toppling of Villanova on April 11.
• PC holds opponents to an 82.8% success rate on clears, racks up 7.13 assists per game, saves more than 11 shots per contest and wins over 50% on faceoffs.
• The Friars had three players on the All-BIG EAST First Team this year as their only all-conference representation: midfielder Rhett Chambers (unanimous), attackman Richie Joseph and LSM Ian Olenik.

The bout will stream live on ESPN+ while statistics for the contest are available on Providence's SIDEARM site.