April 17, 2010
Box Score
VILLANOVA, Pa. - It took a fourth quarter comeback and five unanswered goals to guide the No. 13 Villanova Wildcats (8-3, 2-1 Big East) to a 12-10 victory over the St. John's Red Storm (5-6, 2-2 Big East) on Saturday night.
Seniors Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.), Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.) and sophomore Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) led the Wildcats by providing a combined 16 points through nine goals and seven assists to give the Wildcats their tenth consecutive win at home and second consecutive in BIG EAST play.
To begin the game, Villanova and St. John's were held even with three goals apiece with scores coming from St. John's Garrett Mitchell, Tom Manes and Matt Hurst at the 13:14, 10:20 and 2:58 minute marks. For the Wildcats, Webber notched all three of VU's goals off unassisted plays to keep the `Cats even with the Red Storm, 3-3, going into the second period.
Beginning with the final score of the first period, St. John's went on to score five unanswered goals from Tyler Novotny, Hurst, and Ryan Herits to give the Red Storm their biggest lead of the game at 7-3 with just over three minutes left to play in the half. VU's Scioscia broke the STJ scoring streak off a Cunningham assist at the 3:15 mark, while Cunningham netted his own score just 45 seconds later from a Webber assist to get the Wildcats to within two going into intermission. At half time, St. John's led Villanova, 7-5.
Villanova opened up the second half of play with a Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) score and a Scioscia goal at the 10:03 and 9:20 marks to make the game even at 7-7, but the Red Storm continued to fight with Nick Messinger and Novotny tallying goals to keep the STJ two-goal cushion. Rounding out the third period, Scioscia captured his third goal of the game with 3:12 left on the clock to get the Wildcats within one of the Red Storm going into the final fifteen minutes.
The fourth quarter showcased the Villanova scoring prowess with the Wildcats tallying four straight goals from sophomore Michael Vigilante (Massapequa, N.Y.), Casertano, Webber and Cunningham to give VU their first lead of the game since the 6:18 mark in the first quarter. With Cunningham's goal, Villanova led, 12-9, for their biggest lead of the night with less than two minutes to play.
St. John's managed to sneak in a last-minute score with 1:41 remaining from Charlie Holenstein, but it wasn't enough to secure the victory. With the win, the Wildcats move into sole possession of third place in the BIG EAST with three conference games remaining in the season.
The victory also continues the Villanova home winning streak, dating back to the beginning of the 2009 season and now at 11-1.
Defensively, junior classmates Brian Karalunas (Dewitt, N.Y.) and Mike Brennan led the team with five ground balls apiece while Karalunas also provided three caused turnovers for the evening. As a team, VU held a 29-10 advantage over the Red storm in ground balls and won 15-24 face-offs courtesy of sophomore Nolan Vihlen (Germantown, Tenn.) at the X.
St. John's Mike Sherry, Dan Cremens and Nick Messinger each captured three ground balls to lead the Red Storm defensively. Tyler Novotny tallied a hat trick for STJ while Matt Hurst provided two goals for the night.
In goal, freshman Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J.) captured 13 saves for the `Cats and garnered his fifth win of the season. St. John's Jeff Lowman made 16 saves in the defeat.
Looking ahead, Villanova will next be in action for an out of conference match with the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks on Tuesday evening in Bethlehem, Pa. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Ulrich Sports Complex.
