Oct. 5, 2008

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VILLANOVA, Pa. - After a stagnant start offensively, Villanova (10-3, 3-2 Big East) found its footing in the second half and senior Erin Hardiman (Galloway, N.J.) tied the school's single-season assist record on Sunday afternoon in a 3-0 win over Syracuse (4-5-2, 1-2-1 Big East) at the West Campus Soccer Complex. The Wildcats snapped a scoreless tie early in the second half and later added two more goals to secure their third straight shutout.

Villanova's offense has proven itself to be ready to strike when chances present themselves and such was the case when freshman Kaitlin Ryan (Wayne, N.J.) scored the first goal of the game less than two minutes into the second half. Sophomore Justine Wollner (Downingtown, Pa.) stuck her leg out and was just able to steal a pass by the Orange near midfield and she sent a through ball up ahead for Ryan, who went 1-on-1 with Syracuse goalkeeper Eliza Bennett-Hattan to finish the play.

Ryan's impact on the front line is becoming more and more of a turning point in games for the Wildcats. In a 3-0 win over St. John's on Friday afternoon, Ryan took five shots in the game's final 14 minutes and scored a late goal against the Red Storm. In today's game, she came off the bench late in the first half, remained in the game to start the second half and used her speed to give the Villanova offense a dimension that the Orange would struggle with the remainder of the afternoon.

Following the opening minutes of the game, Syracuse seemed energized when it had the ball and outshot the Wildcats 7-3 before halftime. None of their shots got near the back of the net however, as the Villanova defense forced the Orange into taking long distance shots directed right at junior goalkeeper Molly Williams (Hinsdale, Ill.). Williams registered five of her seven saves in the opening period to keep Syracuse off the board and along with winning her 10th game of the year extended her shutout streak to 292:53 in goal.

The Wildcats never really relinquished the momentum gained from the game's first goal and wound up with a 10-2 edge in shots after the break. One-goal leads by their nature are precarious though, and a pair of goals in the final 15 minutes sealed the outcome. Hardiman's record-tying assist came in the 76th minute when she delivered a long pass from the backfield to junior Grace Hawkins (Northport, N.Y.), who mimicked Ryan with a 1-v-1 finish for her fifth goal of the season.

Hardiman added a goal of her own - the third time this season she has had at least one goal and one assist - at 83:31 to close the scoring. Senior Nicole Coia (Simpsonville, S.C.), just moments after entering the game, intercepted a pass at midfield and drilled a pass right to Hardiman, who recorded her fourth goal of the season to go along with the 10 helpers.

This afternoon's win was the third straight shutout against a BIG EAST foe for Villanova, which has outscored the opposition 7-0 during the three-game streak. The Wildcats also move over .500 in league play for the first time this season as they come to the virtual midpoint of the conference schedule. Villanova has not surrendered a goal in the last 291:04 of play and owns a 32-19 scoring edge over its opponents for the season.

A five-game homestand for the Wildcats will wrap up next weekend with the final two home games of the regular season. First up, Villanova hosts DePaul on Friday at 4 p.m., followed by a matchup against currently top-ranked Notre Dame next Sunday at 1 p.m.

NOTES: Today was Breast Cancer Awareness Day at Villanova and the women's soccer team wore limited edition pink Villanova soccer t-shirts for their pre-game warm-up ... Hardiman snapped a tie with Ryan for the team lead in points and retakes the lead with 18 points for the year (four goals, 10 assists) ... Ryan is right behind with 17 points (seven goals, three assists) ... Hardiman joins three other Wildcat players who have had 10 assists in a season, including Cathy Ford (1983), Ann Brennan (1986) and Marcy Micek (1993) ... Today's win gives Villanova double figures in the win column for the 10th consecutive season and guaranteed the team a 12th straight campaign with at least a .500 record ... The Wildcats now lead the all-time series with Syracuse by a 6-1-1 margin ... The Orange were playing at Villanova for the first time since 2003 ... Wollner has assisted on three of Ryan's seven goals this season and Hardiman has assisted on three of the five goals scored by Hawkins ... The Wildcats are unbeaten in their last 25 games (17 straight wins) when they score at least one goal in the first half and unbeaten in their last 109 games (27 straight wins) when they score the first goal of a game ... Villanova has 32 goals in its first 13 games this season after scoring 33 goals in 21 games all of last season.