Feb. 24, 2011
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The No. 20/RV Villanova men's lacrosse team (1-0, 0-0 BIG EAST) takes to the road this Saturday when they travel to Lewisburg, Pa. to face the Bucknell University Bison (1-0, 0-0 Patriot League) in their second Patriot League matchup in as many games.
Villanova holds a slight 6-5 advantage over Bucknell in the all-time series, with VU winning the last outing on March 9th, 2004, 16-11.
Villanova began the 2011 season last Saturday on the winning end of a close 9-8 battle against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. Junior Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y./Kellenberg) led the team with two goals and two assists while sophomore Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y./Salisbury School) posted two goals and an assist of his own for the balanced offensive effort.
Defensively, senior T.J. O'Donnell (Randolph, N.J./Delbarton) collected four ground balls while classmate Brian Karalunas (Dewitt, N.Y./Jamesville Dewitt) contributed four takeaways and three ground balls for the match. Sophomore keeper Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J./Delbarton) added eight saves for the afternoon and earned his first victory of the 2011 season in the effort.
For his performance, Hurley was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the first week of the season. The award was the second BIG EAST accolade in his career, with Hurley earning his first conference award on May 3rd, 2010. His start on Saturday vs. Lehigh was the 11th of his career.
On the opposing side, Bucknell was also victorious in their opening game of 2011, posting a dominate 17-2 win over Canisius on the Bison's home turf. Junior Nick Gantsoudes scored a career-high five goals to lead the offense, while sophomore goalie Kyle Feeney stopped nine of 10 shots on goal. Senior faceoff specialist Jake Clarke went 9-for-14 at the X and captured seven ground balls in the effort.
Bucknell's starting close defense trio of seniors John Collett, Alex Lyons and junior Jason Neithamer combined for seven ground balls and five caused turnovers.
The 15-goal margin of victory was Bucknell's largest since a 21-5 win over Lafayette in 1996. The 17 goals scored and the two goals allowed are both program records for a season opener.
