Villanova Alum Struck, Killed During Homecoming

A female graduate who returned to Villanova University for homecoming weekend was struck and killed by a car Saturday night, police say.

Family members tell the Daily News 23-year-old Lauryn Ossola of Pittsburgh was struck and killed late Saturday night by a sport-utility vehicle. Police say she was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Ossola returned to see friends and her younger sister, who is a junior at Villanova, her father Jerry Nickodemski told the Daily News. He said that she was trying to catch up with friends when she was hit.

Ossola was crossing Lancaster Avenue from the north side in Bryn Mawr at about 11:20 p.m., when she was struck by a 2008 silver Jeep Liberty, police say.

"The entire Villanova community mourns the loss of Lauryn Ossola, a member of the University’s Class of 2010," Jonathan Gust, director of media relations at Villanova, said in an e-mail to USA LOCAL NEWS.  "All of us at the University extend our deepest sympathy and prayers to Lauryn’s family and friends on their loss."

Gust said that a Mass was offered for Ossola at St. Thomas of Villanova Church Sunday evening.

No charges have been filed but police are still investigating.

Ossola was a 2010 graduate working at PNC Bank in Pittsburgh as an analyst.

“I can’t grasp that this beautiful woman, who had everything going for her, with whom I made all these happy memories, is gone,” a friend of Ossola wrote on a blog after the fatal accident. “Life is not fair.”