Villanova Rallies Past Lehigh 9-8
from press release
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Billy Hurley came up big down the stretch and finished with eight saves for Villanova. © Kevin P. Tucker |
VILLANOVA, Pa. - A third-quarter rally prompted
by four Villanova scorers made the difference as the Wildcats (1-0,
0-0 BIG EAST) tallied a 9-8 victory over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks
(1-0, 0-0 Patriot League) on Saturday afternoon.
Junior Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y./Kellenberg) led the
team with two goals and two assists while sophomore Will Casertano
(Millbrook, N.Y./Salisbury School) posted two goals and an assist
of his own for the balanced offensive effort.
Said Villanova head coach Mike Corrado: "I'm proud of how our
team came back at the end of the game, scoring four straight goals
at the end of the third quarter and going into the fourth to cement
the win."
Villanova took the early 4-2 lead in the first quarter, with
freshman Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md./Boys' Latin) , Casertano and
Cunningham leading the scoring effort with four tallies within a
six-minute time span at the 12:08, 8:28, 6:56 and 6:09 marks.
Lehigh responded at the end of the first quarter with 1:16
remaining when Brian Hess rifled a low shot into the net off a Noah
Molnar assist, beginning a series of unanswered scores from
Johnston, Stumpf and Hess to give Lehigh a 6-4 advantage to start
the third quarter.
Villanova broke a 21:41 scoreless streak when sophomore Nick
Doherty (Bernardsville, N.J./Delbarton) captured his first point of
the game with 11:19 left in the third stanza to get VU to within
one of Lehigh at 6-5, lighting a fire under the Villanova offense
to began what would prove to be the game changing series of
scores.
Following the lead of Doherty, Matt Bell (Severna Park, Md./St.
Mary's) pulled Villanova to 7-6 of Lehigh with 5:09 remaining while
the Wildcats converted a pair of transition, unsettled situations
late in the quarter. Rice converted a Andrew Henrich (Wyndmoor,
Pa./La Salle) pass at the 1:13 mark to tie the score at seven-all,
while Casertano solidified the backbreaker with 0.1 seconds
remaining to help regain an 8-7 advantage heading into the
fourth.
Sophomore Max Hart (Bethesda, Md./Georgetown Prep) contributed an
all-important fourth-quarter goal with 13:54 remaining to put the
Wildcats up 9-7 on Lehigh, which proved to be enough for the
victory after the Villanova defense stifled a series of last-minute
attempts from the Hawks. Lehigh's Johnston notched a late-effort
goal to give the Hawks a fighting chance, but the score would stand
9-8 in favor of VU.
Defensively, senior T.J. O'Donnell (Randolph, N.J./Delbarton) led
the team with four ground balls while classmate Brian Karalunas
(Dewitt, N.Y./Jamesville Dewitt) contributed four takeaways and
three ground balls for the match. Sophomore keeper Billy Hurley
(Morristown, N.J./Delbarton) added eight saves for the afternoon
and earned his first victory of the 2011 season in the effort.
Corrado adds on the win, "Billy Hurley made a few big saves for us
at the end of the game and came up big for us.I was happy to see
some balanced scoring, especially with Kevin Cunningham being the
quarterback of our offense and scoring four points. Casertano had a
big game for us as well."
Villanova will enter a three game away stand beginning a week from
today when they travel to Lewisburg, Pa. to face Bucknell. Game
time is scheduled for Noon on the Bucknell University campus.
