VILLANOVA, Pa. // The seventh-ranked Villanova men's lacrosse team (7-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) jumped out to a 7-1 halftime lead and never looked back as the Wildcats eased past a short-handed Navy (3-6, 0-2 Patriot League) squad, 17-6, Tuesday afternoon at Villanova Stadium. The Mids played without five starters, including three of their top-five scorers, due to injuries.
Navy looked strong in the opening minutes of the game with
Jon Jarosz (M / Jr / Gambrills, Md.) scoring his first of three goals in the contest to give the Mids the early 1-0 lead.
Just over five minutes elapsed before the Wildcats leveled the game with Austin Fraser (M / Gr) stuffing his lefty shot past Navy goalie
Pat Ryan (Sr) at 6:47 in the first quarter. On the ensuing faceoff, Justin Coppola (FO / Sr) would fight his way through a scrum to pick up the loose ground ball and score a goal as he was falling to the ground.
Villanova went on to close out a 6-0 run by scoring four goals in the last two minutes of the opening quarter, including two in the final 24 seconds.
The Wildcats tacked on a goal in the second quarter by Patrick Daly (A / Gr), his third of the game, to take a 7-1 lead into the half.
Navy again struck first to open the third frame with Jarosz bulling his way past his defender for a 5-yard goal to cut into Villanova's lead (7-2). However, the Wildcats used back-to-back goals scored just 10 seconds apart by Matt Licata (A / Jr) to propel them to a 4-0 run and an 11-2 lead by quarter's end.
Jarosz notched his fourth-career hat trick and first since March 26, 2022 (Holy Cross) when he powered in his 10-yard shot past Villanova keeper Will Vitton (Gr) to open the fourth quarter.
Villanova, meanwhile, answered by scoring the next five goals, including a pair of extra-man strikes, to give the Wildcats a 16-3 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the contest.
Navy went on to score three of the final four goals in the contest, including
Paul Garza's (M / Fr / Frederick, Md.) first-collegiate goal in which he split a pair of defenders to get his name in the scorebook. Attackmen
Tommy Hovivian (Jr / Dallas, Texas) and
Jeff Lachenmeyer (Fr / Wading River, N.Y.) scored the final goals of the day for the Midshipmen.
Navy, who had 39 players see time in Tuesday's game against the Wildcats, turned the ball over 19 times, while the Mids forced 9 of Villanova's 17 turnovers.
AJ Hernandez (Fr / Dayton, Md.) made his second start on defense and recorded a career-high 4 caused turnovers, while All-American
Jackson Bonitz (D / Jr / Shrewsbury, Pa.) tallied 2 takeaways and became just the seventh player in program history to post 40 or more caused turnovers in a career.
After seeing success in the faceoff game throughout the better part of the season, the Mids struggled against the Wildcats. While Villanova held a narrow 15-10 advantage in draws, Navy won just four of the 14 faceoffs in the first three quarters.
Villanova's starting attack and midfield combined for 14 of the 17 goals and all 10 assists en route to its sixth-consecutive victory dating back to a 13-12 win over then-#10 Delaware on February 26. Two-time All-American and fifth-year starter Matt Campbell led the Wildcat charge with a team-high six assists to go along with his pair of goals. He became the third player in school history to reach 200-career points with his season-high tying eight-point performance against the Mids. He is just nine points away from tying the program record.
Meanwhile, Daly led the way with a season-high tying five goals and recorded his seventh hat trick in eight appearances this season.
After playing back-to-back nonconference games against top-10 ranked opponents, Navy returns to conference action on Saturday when it travels to Worcester, Mass. to face Holy Cross. Faceoff is slated for 12:00 pm with live coverage on ESPN+.
### Go Navy ###
