No. 13 Villanova Trumps Manhattan 14-6
from press release
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The No. 13 Villanova men's
lacrosse team (7-3, 1-1 Big East) brought home a 14-6
non-conference victory over the Manhattan College Jaspers (4-6, 2-1
MAAC) this evening at MC's Gaelic Park in Riverdale, N.Y. Villanova
senior Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.) tallied his second four-goal
game of the season while junior Mike Brennan (Manhasset, N.Y.)
aided with a three goal, one assist performance. Nine different
players tallied points for the Wildcats in the victory.
With the win, Villanova improves to 4-0 all-time over the Jaspers
while Manhattan dropped their second game in a row versus a ranked
opponent.
To begin the game, senior co-captain Mark Scioscia (East Hampton,
N.Y.) got the Wildcats on board first with an assist by Matt Bell
(Serverna Park, Md.) just two and a half minutes into the start of
the contest. Sophomore Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.)
followed suit just four minutes later off another Bell assist,
while Webber and Brennan tallied the third and fourth Wildcat goals
of the period.
For Manhattan, Sal Perrotto netted the only Jasper goal of the
quarter to close out the first fifteen minutes, 4-1, in favor of
Villanova.
The second quarter marked Manhattan goals from Sal Spatarella and
James Synowiez to inch the Jaspers to within two of VU, but a
second Mike Brennan goal off a Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.)
assist stifled the short-lived Jasper comeback. Going into
intermission, `Nova led Manhattan 5-3.
The third stanza saw repeat goals from VU's Webber and MC's
Perrotto within one minute of each other at the 13:33 and 12:36
marks. Villanova's Michael Vigilante (Massapequa, N.Y.) netted his
tenth goal of the season with ten minutes remaining to put the
Wildcats up, 7-4, until Manhattan's Synowiez netted a repeat score
off a Justin Jensen assist with 8:31 left to keep the Jaspers
within two.
Manhattan made quick work in the final fifteen minutes with MC's
Sal Spatarella getting the Jaspers within one point of the
Wildcats, but it wasn't enough to stop the seven goal fourth
quarter performance by Villanova to end the game.
Sophomore C.J. Small (San Diego, Calif.) tallied two goals while
Webber netted his third and fourth goals of the game off unassisted
plays with additional scores coming from Brennan, Scioscia and
freshman Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md.) off a man-up opportunity.
Assists were provided by Brennan, Cunningham and Bell with the
final scoreboard marking a 14-6 win for the Wildcats.
Villanova held a 38-19 and 39-35 advantage in shots and ground
balls, respectively, while each team was even at face-offs, going
12-24 each.
Defensively, senior Bryan McCartney (Doylestown, Pa.) and sophomore
Nolan Vihlen (Germantown, Tenn.) led VU with five ground balls
each. Bell led the team in caused turnovers with four, while 11
other Wildcats tallied one caused turnover for the day
In goal, VU freshman Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J.) posted five
saves in the victory while Manhattan's Jon Fiorillo made 13 saves
in the defeat. Matt Solomito tallied one save in the final two
minutes for the Jaspers. With the win, Hurley improves to 4-1 in
goal for the season.
