Oct. 23, 2005

Box Score

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The No. 17 Wildcats (14-4, 4-1 Big East) beat the Providence Friars 4-1 Sunday afternoon at Villanova Stadium to clinch a share of the Big East regular season championship and the number one seed in the conference tournament. This is the first regular season title in program history as well as the first time the team will go into post-season play with the top seed.

With Connecticut beating Syracuse Sunday, 3-2, the Huskies are 3-1 in the Big East with a game against Providence remaining on October 29th. If UConn were to win, they would be named Co-Big East Champions and get the number two seed in the conference tournament because of a loss to Villanova back in September. Head Coach, Joanie Q. Milhous, is not reflecting on the strong regular season but instead looking towards the post-season.

"This entire year has been a total team effort with a very special team. They work hard for each other and have great attitudes," she said. "We will continue to stay focused for the tournament and take it game by game."

Against Providence, the Wildcats got ahead 4-0 before the Friars were able to get on the board due to numerous penalties. Providence had two infractions resulting in penalty strokes just two minutes apart in the first half. Senior Natalie Balthrop (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) took both strokes for Villanova and hit them on a day honoring herself and the other seniors in their final home game. This made the score 2-0 at halftime.

In the second half, freshman Allison Boris (Shavertown, Pa./Lake Lehman) continued her impressive rookie season to score seven minutes in with a goal off of a penalty corner play. Stephanie Campbell (Gibbsboro, N.J./Eastern Regional) then hammered one home in the fiftieth minute as the shooter in a penalty play taking the ball from Sara Schmidt (Mullica Hill, N.J./Wilmington Friends) and Lauren Campanelli (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy).

Providence tallied a goal at 59:08 when Emily Ewens found the back of the net during a scramble to make the final 4-1.

Stephanie Scavelli had the loss for the Friars with four saves dropping her to 6-12 for the year. Alex Whalen (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) had the win making her record 6-1. The junior keeper tallied five saves on the day. Villanova outshot Providence 17-8 and outnumbered them in penalty corners 15-3.

The Wildcats now look ahead to the Big East Tournament November 4th and 6th in Piscataway, N.J. Seeding will not be announced until the conclusion of the regular season.