April 10, 2010
Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The No. 13 Villanova men's lacrosse team (7-3, 1-1 Big East) brought home a 14-6 non-conference victory over the Manhattan College Jaspers (4-6, 2-1 MAAC) this evening at MC's Gaelic Park in Riverdale, N.Y. Villanova senior Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.) tallied his second four-goal game of the season while junior Mike Brennan (Manhasset, N.Y.) aided with a three goal, one assist performance. Ten different players tallied points for the Wildcats in the victory.
With the win, Villanova improves to 4-0 all-time over the Jaspers while Manhattan dropped their second game in a row versus a ranked opponent.
To begin the game, senior co-captain Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.) got the Wildcats on board first with an assist by Matt Bell (Serverna Park, Md.) just two and a half minutes into the start of the contest. Sophomore Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) followed suit just four minutes later off another Bell assist, while Webber and Brennan tallied the third and fourth Wildcat goals of the period.
For Manhattan, Sal Perrotto netted the only Jasper goal of the quarter to close out the first fifteen minutes, 4-1, in favor of Villanova.
The second quarter marked Manhattan goals from Sal Spatarella and James Synowiez to inch the Jaspers to within two of VU, but a second Mike Brennan goal off a Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) assist stifled the short-lived Jasper comeback. Going into intermission, `Nova led Manhattan 5-3.
The third stanza saw repeat goals from VU's Webber and MC's Perrotto within one minute of each other at the 13:33 and 12:36 marks. Villanova's Michael Vigilante (Massapequa, N.Y.) netted his tenth goal of the season with ten minutes remaining to put the Wildcats up, 7-4, until Manhattan's Synowiez netted a repeat score off a Justin Jensen assist with 8:31 left to keep the Jaspers within two.
Manhattan made quick work in the final fifteen minutes with MC's Sal Spatarella getting the Jaspers within one point of the Wildcats, but it wasn't enough to stop the seven goal fourth quarter performance by Villanova to end the game.
Sophomore C.J. Small (San Diego, Calif.) tallied two goals while Webber netted his third and fourth goals of the game off unassisted plays with additional scores coming from Brennan, freshman Max Hart (Bethesda, Md.) and freshman Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md.) off a man-up opportunity. Assists were provided by Brennan, Cunningham and Bell with the final scoreboard marking a 14-6 win for the Wildcats.
Villanova held a 38-19 and 39-35 advantage in shots and ground balls, respectively, while each team was even at face-offs, going 12-24 each.
Defensively, senior Bryan McCartney (Doylestown, Pa.) and sophomore Nolan Vihlen (Germantown, Tenn.) led VU with five ground balls each. Junior Brian Karalunas (Dewiitt, N.Y.) tallied five caused turnovers for the day.
In goal, VU freshman Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J.) posted six saves in the victory while Manhattan's Jon Fiorillo made 13 saves in the defeat. Matt Solomito tallied one save in the final two minutes for the Jaspers. With the win, Hurley improves to 4-1 in goal for the season.
Looking ahead, the Wildcats will return to BIG EAST Conference play next Saturday when they take on the St. John's Red Storm at 7 p.m. in Villanova Stadium.
