- Chris Jastrzembski
Previewing Villanova's 2022 men's lacrosse schedule
The Villanova Wildcats are the 39th team in our 2022 men’s college lacrosse schedule preview series and the fifth team from the Big East. Villanova went 7-5 overall in 2021 and 6-4 in Big East play. The Wildcats fell to Georgetown in the Big East semifinals.
Here's their entire 2022 spring schedule:
WHO'S IN?
Fairfield Stags (2/26)
Brown Bears (3/1)
WHO'S OUT?
Lehigh Mountain Hawks (16-8 W)
Maryland Terrapins (13-12 W in 2020)
CIRCLE THESE DATES
2/12 at Penn State: The last two times the teams met resulted in blowout wins for Penn State. Mainly because they had Grant Ament, Mac O'Keefe, and Gerard Arceri. With all three gone, does momentum shift back in Villanova's favor. Would be a great win to start the season and head into Yale.
2/19 at Yale: This should be a big game in New Haven for the Bulldogs, who didn't play at all in 2021. Could Yale be a little rusty? Maybe, but they had a fall season and should have spring scrimmages. It's a different looking team than when we last saw them in 2020, but they will still be a contender in the Ivy League.
4/9 vs. Denver: Villanova lost to two teams last year: Denver (twice) and Georgetown (thrice). Safe to say if they want to win the Big East, they will need to beat at least one of those teams in the conference tournament. More than likely they'll need to beat both programs. The Wildcats lost to the Pioneers in overtime in their second meeting of the season on the Main Line.
4/29 vs. Georgetown: Odds are we'll probably see something closer to their last two meetings than the 16-1 blowout loss from early in the 2021 campaign. The Hoyas lose Jake Carraway but return TJ Haley, Graham Bundy Jr., Gibson Smith, and Owen McElroy. They also bring in transfers Will Bowen, Tommy Sopko, Alex Trippi, and Connor Morin. This team has Championship Weekend aspirations.