Vigilante, Villanova Streak Past Binghamton
from press release
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova men's lacrosse team (1-1,
0-0) relied on a heavy group of underclassmen to propel themselves
to victory over the Binghamton Bearcats (1-2, 0-0) in their first
home game of the season. Sophomore Michael Vigilante (Massapequa,
N.Y.) and freshman Kevin Cunnigham (Garden City, N.Y.) led the
Wildcats with with a combined 10 points while freshman Jack Rice
(Baltimore, Md.) added a hat trick to seal the win for Villanova.
Binghamton's Matt Springer tied a school record with six goals in
the non-conference defeat.
Villanova head coach Mike Corrado states, "We were excited to get
our first win of the year against a tough Binghamton team. Our
offense played well, scoring 15 goals. It was great to see a lot of
our points coming from our young guys, too. Cunningham, a
sophomore; Vigilante, another sophomore; Rice, a freshman;
Casertano, a freshman; Matt Bell, Small... they all stepped up and
played really well for us today."
Despite the on and off rain that plagued the turf, the Wildcats put
together a strong first half showing, outscoring the Bearcats by a
7-6 margin through two quarters of play.
VU opened up the first fifteen minutes with a quick goal from
junior midfielder Mike Brennan (Manhasset, N.Y.) a minute into the
start of the game, but it was equalized just 43 seconds later by
BU's Springer to tie the game at 1-1. Freshman attackman Will
Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) and Vigilante both found the back of
the net for the Wildcats off of assists from Cunningham
and C.J. Small (San Diego, Calif.) to answer, but BU's
Springer, Adam Mazzoni and Frank Dolon scored three unanswered
goals to give Binghamton a 3-4 lead at the end of the quarter.
The second stanza was all Villanova with Vigilante, Cunningham,
senior Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y) and sophomore Matt Bell
(Serverna Park, Md.) scoring four in a row to give the `Cats an 8-2
lead with three minutes remaining in the half. Heading into the
locker room, Villanova held a slight edge over Binghamton, 7-6.
To open the third quarter of play, Rice and Vigilante scored two
quick ones with Rice and Casertano following suit with four minutes
remaining in the quarter. Binghamton's Springer added two more
goals during the period to give VU a 11-8 edge going into the final
fifteen minutes of play.
The final quarter found the teams trading scores, with senior
co-captain Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.), Webber, Rice and
Cunningham fielding goals for Villanova.
Villanova dominated in all areas of play, including denying
Binghamton of all five of their man-up opportunities while
capitalizing on 2 of 4 of Villanova's own. "Our man-up team played
incredibly well today. We scored two goals on our man-up
opportunities while they were 0-5 in man-up ops., especially when
we were down two men at one point... and we won by three goals.
That was a huge difference maker for us," said Corrado.
"Our defense played well in sprits. Sophomore Dan [Gutierrez]
played very well in the second half. When the game was on the line
he made some very critical saves."
Gutierrez (Chevy Chase, Md.) made nine saves in the victory while
BU's Dan Solazzo recorded 15 in the defeat.
The Wildcats will continue their home stand on Saturday, March 6th
when they take on Fairfield University at 4 p.m. in Villanova
Stadium.
