No. 15 Villanova defeats Providence 10-9 on Saturday afternoon to advance to their seventh straight BIG EAST Tournament. In a must win game sophomore Connor Kirst led the Wildcats with six points on four goal and two assists. A game that came down to the wire was tied with just over five to go in the third quarter after the Friars netted three in a row. Danny Seibel put Villanova back up with a goal on a dish from Eric Overbay and Keegan Khan netted another goal on a pass from Kirst to give Villanova a 9-7 lead at the end of the third. Providence’s Sean Leahey, who had a team high five points, netted one quick in the fourth to bring the game back within one. Seibel would set up Kirst for what would be a needed insurance goal at 10:53 to pull the Wildcats back up by two. Michael Toomey got his second career start in goal against the Friars and came up big in the final quarter have three huge saves. The Friars did net one final goal with 4:54 to go in the game to put Villanova up one. Khan had a career high four caused turnovers today including one with just over a minute remaining to give Villanova back possession. The Wildcats would keep the ball for the next minute before Providence forced a turnover and give themselves one final change. With just a couple seconds on the board Providence had a chance to tie the game up but Ryan Nawrocki shot went wide and Villanova won 10-9. The Wildcats dominated early in the game being up 3-0 at the end of the first after a Devin McNamara opening goal and a pair of goals from Kirst. Both the Wildcats and Friars would net three in the second, Khan and Kirst scored Villanova goals, to take a 6-3 lead heading into halftime. Dan Fisher went 14-for-22 (.636) from the faceoff dot and had a team high nine ground balls. In the final quarter Fisher went 4-for-4. Toomey finished with eight saves and two ground balls while picking up his third win of the season. With the win the Wildcats are headed to the BIG EAST Tournament, they are the only program to have clinched the conference tournament every year since it was started in 2012. Villanova will play in the second game of the BIG EAST Tournament which will be hosted at Villanova. Game time is set for 7:00 P.M. Check back for more information regarding seeding and opponent. Prior to today’s game the team honored the 10 graduating seniors, managers Sam Antczak and Sam Wilm, along with Matt Barrett, Kieran Byrnes, Christian Cuccinello, Max Derham, Nick Ellis, Luke Palmadesso, Danny Seibel, and Matt Wysota. This class has won 34 games over their four year and has clinched the conference tournament every year.