Oct. 12, 2003

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats used strong defense and a goal from senior midfielder Scott Rodemer (Doylestown, Pa.) to defeat the No. 13 ranked Seton Hall Pirates in a Big East contest played here.

The first half ended without a score but it wasn't for a lack of effort on Villanova's part. Villanova outshot the Pirates 8-4 in the stanza and Seton Hall goalkeeper Boris Pardo was forced to make five saves to keep the Wildcats off the scoreboard.

Seton Hall picked up its best scoring chance of the day in the 64th minute when Tom Dziamba lifted a header that just missed the top of the net, sailing over the cross bar.

Less than two minutes later, Seton Hall's Luke Vercollone was whistled for a yellow card just outside the box in front of the Pirate net. Rodemer took the free kick and tucked a low hard shot into the left corner of the goal to make it 1-0 in favor of the 'Cats.

Seton Hall (4-3-4 overall, 2-2-3 Big East) was unable to dent Villanova's defensive wall for the rest of the day and the Wildcats emerged with their second Big East victory of the campaign (7-5-1 overall, 2-4-0 Big East).

Sophomore goalkeeper Craig Bald (Edgewater, Md.) was credited with his fourth shutout of the season as he made five saves.

Next up for Villanova is a Wednesday afternoon match against Georgetown at the Soccer Complex. Kickoff for that Big East battle is set for 3:30 p.m.