Sept. 28, 2003

PITTSBURGH- The Villanova Wildcats handed the Pittsburgh Men's Soccer team its third Big East conference loss by defeating the Panthers 3-2 on Sunday at Founders Field in Indianola, Pa..

The loss drops the Panthers to 2-7-0 overall and 1-3-0 in Big East play, while the victory raises the Wildcats record to 5-4-1 overall and 1-3-0 in the Big East.

The visiting Wildcats opened the scoring in the 29th minute of play when Marcelo Rodriguez crossed the ball to Chris Blatz for the early 1-0 lead.

Pittsburgh responded in the 50th minute of play, when freshman midfielder Brendon Smith (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) blasted a loose ball home to tie the score at one apiece. Smith's goal was his first career goal as a Panther.

Villanova answered back with two goals just minutes after Pittsburgh tied the game. The second Wildcat goal came from Colin Raws who beat his defender and scored the ball just inside the near post. The final Villanova goal came in the 56th minute of play when David O'Donnell finished the ball into the far post past a diving Panthers goalkeeper Justin Lowery (Atlanta, Ga./Paideia School).

The Panthers mounted several attacks on Craig Bald the Villanova goalkeeper, but were only able to find notch one more goal in the 69th minute of play when freshman Brian Madden (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) crossed the ball to the hustling Tyler Bastianelli (Bear, Del./St. Marks). The assist by Madden was his second in two games, and the goal was Bastianelli's first career goal as a Panther.

Lowery faced 11 total shots, including a penalty kick, while making three saves.

Pittsburgh's offense registered eight total shots for the game; seven of which came in the deciding half to go with five second half corners, but the Panthers could not capitalize on their scoring chances.

With the win, Villanova equals its victory total for 2002. The Wildcats return to action on Tuesday when they host Saint Joseph's at the Villanova Soccer Complex.