The Official Newsletter of Villanova Athletics

Good Morning, Nova Nation. That one’s not coming back folks!

What all do we have in today’s edition? Check it out below!

🥎 Sluggin’ Away
🏀 A Growing Family
🥍 The Country’s Finest
🔷 And much more!

Tommy’s Tavern + Tap is proud to be an Official Partner of Villanova Athletics!

🔼 Sluggin’ Away. The scoreboard definitely got plenty of work this week as the Villanova softball team slugged their way to a midweek victory over city rival, Penn, on Wednesday.

The ‘Cats pounded out 13 hits, including five HRs, en route to the 16-11 win over the Quakers.

Highlighting the slugfest was Maranda Runco, who launched her 30th career home run in the first inning. She becomes the fifth player in program history to reach the 30 homer mark and stands alone in fifth place in all-time home runs, trailing Ryan Henry (31) by one for fourth all-time.

🥎 The Full Recap

Building Careers That Help Patients Pursue Life®

At Maxx Orthopedics, helping patients Pursue Life® is everything. We're growing... and we're hiring. Our King of Prussia based company welcomes Villanova students and alumni in engineering, clinical support, business & more. People-first culture. Meaningful work. Close to home. Every career here helps a real patient get back to living.

🔼 Welcome To The Fam. Former McDonald’s All-American Kwame Evans is headed to Finneran Pavilion to join the ‘Cats.

The 6-10 forward out of Baltimore started 30 games at Oregon as a junior in 2025-26 and will join Villanova for his senior year in 2026-27. Evans averaged 30.9 minutes, 13.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game last season. He finished ninth in Big Ten rebounding.

🏀 Meet The Newest ‘Cat

🔼 And Another One. Make it three newcomers signed this week for the Villanova men’s basketball program.

On Thursday, the Wildcats officially welcomed Jake Fiegen, a 2025-26 first team All-Ivy League selection at Cornell University.

The 6-4 native of Wilmette, Ill., averaged 17.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while connecting on 41.4-percent of his attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

🏀 More On Fiegen

🔼 The Country’s Finest. For the second time this season, Villanova men's lacrosse had a player selected to the USILA Team of the Week as Colin Michener earned mention this week.

The senior attackman joins Jake Melchionni as Wildcats to pick up the honor this year, becoming the 10th Villanovan ever to earn a Team of the Week accolade.

It comes after Michener was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week by scoring a career-high seven goals in the postseason-clinching victory at Marquette, tying the team's single-game best this season.

🥍 More On The Award-Winning Performance

🔼 Breakin’ Out. The historic Penn Relays are well underway and right in the middle of it is the breakout stories amongst the Villanova women’s track & field program.

It was the last week of May in 2021 in Jacksonville, Fla. just before the third quarterfinal heat in the women’s 800 meters at the NCAA East regional meet. Spots were on the line for the NCAA Championships two weeks later, and before that last heat a freshman from the University of New Hampshire was getting ready to step up to the starting line when she glanced at the scoreboard.

Nobody may have known it at the time, but that moment was instrumental in the wave of momentum that has energized the Villanova women’s track & field and cross country program nearly five years later.

👟 Read More About The Breakout Year From The ‘Cats

What’s Ahead is brought to you by our friends at Visit Delco, the #1 source for information on all there is to see and do in Delaware County, PA. Find fantastic places to stay, incredible food and drink, and music and art—and you may even find a few surprises

Friday, April 24th
🎭 PCS Theater Presents: The 39 Steps
🥎 Softball at Providence @ 3pm
⚾️ Baseball at Seton Hall @ 4pm
🥍 Men’s Lacrosse vs. Georgetown @ 7pm
👟 Track & Field at Penn Relays (Philadelphia, Pa.)
🚣 Rowing at Lake Wheeler Invitational (Raleigh, N.C.)

Saturday, April 25th
🐑 Colonial Pennsylvania Farmstead: Sheep Shearing
🥍 Women’s Lacrosse at Butler @ 12pm
🥎 Softball at Providence @ 1pm
⚾️ Baseball at Seton Hall @ 1pm
👟 Track & Field at Penn Relays (Philadelphia, Pa.)
🚣 Rowing at Lake Wheeler Invitational (Raleigh, N.C.)

Sunday, April 26th
🫖 The Painted Tea Cup: Sunday Afternoon Tea
🥎 Softball at Providence @ 12pm
⚾️ Baseball at Seton Hall @ 12pm

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Have a great one, Nova Nation!