Villanova Rally in Fourth Sinks Notre Dame
from press release
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The No. 15 Villanova Wildcats
(6-3, 1-1 BIG EAST) secured their first-ever BIG EAST win with a
four goal fourth quarter performance to rally over No. 18 Notre
Dame (5-4, 0-2 BIG EAST), 9-8, at Villanova Stadium on Saturday
afternoon. Sophomore Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) led the
team with three goals and one assist while senior classmates Paul
Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.) and Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.)
each contributed with two goals apiece in front of the biggest home
crowd of the season with 1,293 fans in attendance.
With the victory, Villanova reached their ninth consecutive home
win dating back to March 14, 2009 and gained their first win over
the Irish since 1992.
Junior LSM Brian Karalunas (Dewitt, N.Y.) states, "It's an awesome
win for us. We take pride in all our home wins, but this is really
special to us with it being our first BIG EAST win and it coming on
our turf in our stadium."
With only six goals coming in the first 30 minutes of play,
Villanova got off to the right start with four unanswered goals
coming within the first two quarters from freshman Jack Rice
(Baltimore, Md.), Cunningham, sophomore Matt Bell (Serverna Park,
Md.) and Scioscia all tallying scores.
Notre Dame bookended the four VU goals with the first score of the
game just 2:10 into the contest off a Grant Krebs score. Zach
Brenneman followed with the second score of the day late in the
second period with 4:11 remaining in the half. Going into
intermission, Villanova held a 4-2 advantage.
The third quarter saw points from ND's Steve Murphy and Villanova's
Cunningham at the 5:39 and 1:48 marks, respectively.
With more goals coming in the fourth quarter then throughout the
first 45 minutes of play, the Wildcats held a 5-3 advantage going
into the final period. Notre Dame began the scoring barrage with
five unanswered scores within seven minutes, with goals coming from
Zach Brenneman and Mike Creighton on man-up and man-down
opportunities at the 14:23 and 13:46 marks. ND's Neal Hicks, Max
Pfeifer and David Earl followed suit just two minutes later to give
the Irish an 8-5 advantage with just seven minutes left to
play.
After a Villanova timeout, the Wildcats got the ball rolling with a
Cunningham goal from a Chris Creighton (West Chester, Pa.) pass to
get VU within two of the Irish. 36 seconds later, Scioscia netted
his second goal of the game and his tenth of the season off an
unassisted play while Webber tallied two scores, including the game
winner, with five minutes remaining to give the Wildcats the 9-8
advantage and the victory over the Irish.
Karalunas states, "Coach [Corrado] always talks about how it's a
game of runs. In the fourth [quarter] we knew we couldn't break so
we just kept running; we weathered the storm. The final fifteen
minutes really showed that we have the grit to compete with
anyone."
Karalunas led the Wildcats defense with four caused turnovers and
three ground balls. Senior Bryan McCartney (Doylestown, Pa.),
junior Mike Brennan (Manhasset, N.Y.) and freshman keeper Billy
Hurley (Morristown, N.J.) all tallied four ground balls on the day.
Notre Dame's Mike Creighton, brother to Villanova's Chris
Creighton, led the Irish defense with three caused turnovers and
three ground balls for the day.
In goal, VU's Hurley is credited with the win while making nine
saves. For the season, Hurley is 3-1 in the cage for the Wildcats.
Notre Dame's John Kemp tallied 10 saves in the defeat.
The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday, April 10th when
they travel to Bronx, N.Y. to face the Jaspers of Manhattan.
Face-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
Notes: Villanova had previously lost nine straight meetings to the
Irish between 1995-2009 before today's victory... Villanova had won
four straight against Notre Dame between 1987-1992... The win marks
the third of season for the Wildcats versus a ranked opponent...
Villanova is 10-1 at home since the beginning of the 2009 season...
With today's victory, the Wildcats have won nine straight at
Villanova Stadium.
