No. 2 Notre Dame will host No. 8 Wildcats on Saturday

No. 8 Villanova (7-2, 0-1) travels to South Bend, Ind. this weekend to face No. 2 Notre Dame (6-0, 1-0) for the continuation of their BIG EAST schedule.

The Wildcats are coming off a 5-4 defeat versus No. 1 Syracuse on March 26th and face the two top-ranked teams in the nation back-to-back.  Saturday's contest will mark the 15th overall meeting between the two schools, with ND holding the 9-5 advantage in the all-time series.

Villanova claimed the last victory in the series on April 3rd, 2010 in a 9-8 win at Villanova Stadium. The Irish last won on March 31st, 2009, 9-7 in South Bend.

The No. 3 Notre Dame men's lacrosse team opened BIG EAST play on Sunday afternoon with an 8-3 win over Rutgers at the RU Turf Field. The Fighting Irish are 6-0 this season. Senior attackman Colin Igoe notched three points on two goals and an assist, while senior midfielder David Earl also chipped in two goals for the Fighting Irish. Junior attackman Sean Rogers registered one goal and a career-high three assists.

Notre Dame will bring a perfect 6-0 record into Saturday's showdown against the Wildcats. The Fighting Irish are coming off a BIG?EAST victory vs. Rutgers, 8-3, on March 27th and have claimed wins over No. 5 Duke (12-7), Penn State (6-2), No. 16 Drexel (11-7), No. 14 Denver (10-9) and No. 20 Ohio State (8-7).

The Wildcats enter Saturday's contest with a 7-2 record after their six-game win streak was broken by No. 1 Syracuse this past Saturday. Three of Villanova's seven wins have come against opponents ranked at the time of their meetings: the Wildcats bested No. 16 Drexel, 14-13, in a Philadelphia showdown, and also topped No. 9 Penn, 9-8 in VU's lone overtime game of the season. Against No. 11 Princeton, Villanova claimed their first-ever win against the Tigers, 10-9, in the Class of 1952 Stadium.

Senior Brian Karalunas made the play of the game with under a minute left on the clock, stripping Syracuse's JoJo Marasco of the ball and assisting on Kevin Cunningham's goal with 57 seconds left to play, but the Orange clinched the nail-biter with six seconds remaining to secure the 5-4 victory. 

With a school-record crowd of 6,289 in attendance, Villanova played their best defensive game of the season despite falling in their first BIG EAST matchup of the year against the Orange. The Wildcats held Syracuse scoreless for 40:06 - the longest scoring drought Villanova has held opponents to this season. Villanova also kept Princeton scoreless for 31:11 on March 15th.