Villanova Upends No. 11 Drexel; Big East Next
from press release
VILLANOVA, Pa. -- Senior Paul Webber
(Manhasset, N.Y.) had four goals while six other players netted
scores to raise the Wildcats over Drexel, 10-8, at Villanova
Stadium on Wednesday night. The win marks the second consecutive
game Villanova has defeated a former CAA conference rival and
top-20 team in the national rankings.
"It was a great win for our program to beat the No. 11 team in the
country in addition to Drexel being a former CAA and Philadelphia
rival," said Wildcats coach Mike Corrado. "Paul Webber's four goals
were huge - he really stepped up and scored at crucial times in the
game for us."
Although Drexel got on the board first to begin the game,
Villanova rebounded with four unanswered goals from junior Mike
Brennan (Manhasset, N.Y.), freshman Nick Doherty (Bernardsville,
N.J.), senior Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.) and Webber to give
the Wildcats a 5-3 advantage to end the first half. Drexel senior
Colin Ambler scored two of his four goals of the game in the first
thirty minutes in addition to a goal from Robert Church to give the
Dragons their points for the half.
To begin the third period, Villanova found two goals from freshman
Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) and classmate Jack Rice
(Baltimore, Md.) off assists from sophomore Kevin Cunningham
(Garden City, N.Y.) to further their lead within the first seven
minutes of the quarter. Webber then netted his third score off an
unassisted play with 3:55 remaining while sophomore Michael
Vigilante (Massapequa, N.Y.) followed suit just two minutes later
to give the 'Cats their biggest lead of the game, 9-4, going into
the final quarter.
Drexel quickly rebounded in the fourth stanza with two goals each
from Church and Ambler to get the Dragons within two points of
Villanova, but Webber netted the final VU goal of the game off a
Brennan assist to give the Wildcats what they needed for the
victory.
Defensively, junior Brian Karalunas (Dewitt, N.Y.) led the
Wildcats with five caused turnovers and six ground balls while
junior T.J. O'Donnell (Randolph, N.J), senior Bryan McCartney
(Doylestown, Pa.) and junior Chris Ficke (Madison, N.J.) each
contributed with two ground balls each.
Villanova freshman goalkeeper Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J.)
captured the second win of his career with tonight's effort, making
11 saves in the victory. Drexel's Mark Manos tallied eight saves in
the loss.
"Billy [Hurley] had another good game against another tough
opponent. He had great saves and played really well for us," said
Corrado.
Villanova will next be in action on Monday, March 29th when they
travel to upstate New York to face Syracuse University in their on
campus home in the Carrier Dome at 3 p.m. ET.
Said Corrado: "We're really excited to begin the BIG EAST portion
of our schedule and we're ready to compete against our conference
rivals."
