Oct. 2, 2011

Recap | Box Score

Villanova defeated West Virginia for the first time since registering a pair of wins during the 2004 season, the latter one coming in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Championship. The Wildcats trail the all-time series by a 9-5-5 margin after today's win; at one point the series had been knotted up at 4-4-4.

Since the two wins over the Mountaineers back in 2004, Villanova had gone 0-6-1 in head-to-head meetings. Five of the six losses were by just one goal and three of those slim defeats were overtime affairs.

West Virginia had not lost to a BIG EAST opponent since a 2-1 loss at Marquette last season on September 23, 2010. The Mountaineers won their final nine regular season conference games last year, picked up three more wins in the BIG EAST Championship and were off to a 5-0 start in league play this season.

The four goals scored by the Wildcats was one more than West Virginia had allowed in its first five conference games combined. The Mountaineers surrendered just three goals in a 5-0 conference start and began the day tied for the league lead with a 0.60 goals-against average in conference games. The four scores by Villanova were the most West Virginia allowed to a BIG EAST foe since a 5-1 loss to Notre Dame on October 8, 1999.

Villanova scored a total of exactly one goal in its first four conference games, all losses. In the last two games the team has erupted for seven goals, including today's 4-1 win and a 3-1 win over Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon. The last time the Wildcats had as many as four goals in a conference game was in a 4-0 win over Pittsburgh on October 5, 2001.

West Virginia is the first nationally-ranked opponent Villanova has played this season. The last win over a nationally-ranked team for the Wildcats was last season in a 3-2, double-overtime victory over Wake Forest on September 12, 2010.

Senior forward Katie Ryan (Wayne, N.J.) scored six points in today's game on two goals and two assists. The six points are a new career high and also marked the highest individual total in a BIG EAST game for Villanova since Quinn Sellers scored all three goals in a 3-1 win over Georgetown on October 7, 1999.

Ryan broke the school record for career game-winning goals with her 15th career game winner. She had previously been tied with both Ann Brennan (1983-86) and Cathy Ford (1983-85) with 14 game-winners. Brennan and Ford were each a part of the inaugural Villanova varsity soccer squad in 1983.

Ryan also continued her ascent up the Villanova career leader boards, moving up one spot in career goals, assists and shots in addition to setting the game-winning goals record. Here is where she currently stands:

Career Game-Winning Goals (15) - breaks school record
Career Points (96) - remains in third place, 16 points behind Cathy Ford (1983-85)
Career Goals (37) - moves past Jean Hajjar (1985-88) into third place; seven behind Cathy Ford
Career Assists (22) - ties Julie Battista (1999-02) for seventh place; two behind Erin Hardiman (2005-08)
Career Shots (198) - moves past Nikki Mabery (2004-07) into second place; 77 behind Laura Johnson (2001-04)