Nov. 3, 2004
Final Stats
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lions got a goal from Anthony Calvano with 3:42 left in regulation time to help forge a 1-1 tie with the Villanova Wildcats on a blustery afternoon at the Villanova Soccer Complex. The contest marked the final regular season match for Villanova (7-5-5 overall, 5-3-2 Big East), which now will prepare for Saturday afternoon's Big East Tournament quarterfinal here against Georgetown.
Penn State (9-3-7 overall, 1-3-2 Big Ten) carried much of the play in the first half, building a 6-2 advantage in shots and forcing Wildcat goalkeeper Craig Bald to make several strong saves to keep the match tied at zero at halftime.
The tone changed early in the second half, however. Villanova created two terrific scoring chances in the 50th minute off a corner kick, as both junior Pat Gallagher (Harrisburg, Pa.) and senior Chris Edgar (Las Vegas, Nevada) sent quality shots at the Nittany Lion goal. But Lion goalie Conrad Taylor got a hand on Gallagher's shot while Edgar's sailed just wide.
A critical moment came in the 58th minute, when Villanova defender Jon Wells (Montclair, N.J.) picked up his second yellow card of the day, resulting in automatic ejection. The `Cats were forced to play one man down for the balance of the afternoon.
Villanova managed to score first off a corner kick at 62:18. Freshman Craig Moscetti (Hackettsown, N.J.) served a beautiful ball into the box for Gallagher who headed a shot over Taylor's hand for his third goal of the campaign.
Penn State applied furious pressure down the stretch and finally got the equalizer at 86:18. Calvano picked up a ball in the central part of the field and was unmarked. He patiently dribbled in for several steps and then let go a 24 yard blast that went into the top part of the net, over the hand of goalkeeper Jason Friel (Dublin, Pa.), who had come on to replace an injured Craig Bald in the 55th minute.
The Nittany Lions owned the better chances in overtime. The closest Penn State came to scoring was when Simon Omekanda sent a strong shot towards the net that Friel just managed to get a hand on to knock over the crossbar.
"I thought it was a good effort on our part," said Villanova coach Larry Sullivan. "Anytime you have to play short a man as a young team, it puts pressure on you. I thought our guys held up well in that situation."
