Villanova alumna killed in car crash

A Villanova University alumna visiting the area for the school's homecoming weekend was killed Saturday night when she was struck by a car, police said.

Lauryn Ossola, 23, of Pittsburgh, had returned to see college friends and her younger sister Ellen, a Villanova junior, said her father, Jerry Nickodemski.

Ossola, a former president of Chi Omega sorority, was a "very, very outgoing person who really enjoyed her four years at Villanova to the fullest," Nickodemski said by phone yesterday from the family home in Southington, Conn. "All her friends were there this weekend."

They were with Ossola - as was her sister - when she was struck by a 2008 silver Jeep Liberty about 11:20 p.m. in Bryn Mawr, Lower Merion police said. She was crossing Lancaster Avenue from the north side near Thomas when the eastbound Jeep hit her, police said.

Ossola was taken to Bryn Mawr Hospital with head injuries and died at 11:52 p.m., police said.

The police department's traffic-safety unit is investigating the accident. Nickodemski said he spoke with some of his daughter's friends who were with Ossola - they said she was trying to catch up to a pal - and one told him the accident was "unavoidable."

Police last night would not say whether any charges would be filed.

The tragic death cast a cloud over the usually festive weekend. The accident was witnessed by a 'Nova football player, who took to Twitter about the tragedy.

"That girl getting hit keeps re-playing in my mind . . . still kinda shook up," wrote senior running back Lawrence Doss, whose handle is @LDoss_2.

Ossola graduated in 2010 with a degree in economics and a minor in finance and math, her father said. She was working at PNC Bank in Pittsburgh as an analyst in the global treasury-management department.

Nickodemski said a Memorial Mass for Ossola was to be held last night at the university. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Father Ray Jackson Memorial Fund, c/o Villanova University, 800 E. Lancaster Ave., Villanova, Pa. 19085.

Email Regina Medina at medinar@phillynews.com