March 23, 2012
Villanova Game Notes
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VILLANOVA, Pa. - No. 14 Villanova (4-3) travels to Syracuse, N.Y. this Sunday, March 25th for the start of their BIG EAST Conference schedule against the ninth-ranked Orange (4-2). Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Carrier Dome and can be viewed nationally on SNY/TWCS.
Sunday marks just the fifth overall meeting between the two schools with the all-time series favoring the Orange, 4-0. Syracuse claimed the latest outing on March 26th, 2011 in a narrow last-minute 5-4 victory in Villanova Stadium with nearly 7,000 fans in attendance. The Wildcats look to break a two-game losing streak against teams ranked in the top-20 after consecutive losses to No. 16 Princeton and No. 7 Maryland.
Villanova This Season: The Wildcats enter Sunday's contest with a 4-3 recording after falling to No. 16 Princeton, 14-8, and to No. 7 Maryland, 11-5, last week. Villanova is currently in the midst of a five-game stretch against opponents ranked in the top-20 in the national polls and will face Syracuse, Penn State and Georgetown in the upcoming weeks. Additionally, Villanova's tough March schedule includes only one home game that occurred on Tuesday, March 13th vs. Princeton.
As of the latest USILA Coaches and Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Polls released on Monday, March 19th, Villanova has scheduled eight ranked opponents on their calendar this season: No. 6 Maryland, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 9 Syracuse, No. 11 Lehigh, No. 13 Princeton, No. 17 Penn State, No. 18 Georgetown and No. 20 Bucknell.
`Nova Offense: The Villanova junior and senior classes have combined to produce 86% of offensive production through six games. The Wildcats average 10.57 goals per game compared to 10.42 from the competition, including a .629 shot on goal percentage over their competitors .623.
Junior Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) leads the Villanova attack with 22 points via eight goals and 14 assists while seniors Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) and C.J. Small (San Diego, Calif.) follow closely behind with 17 points each. Junior Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md.) leads the team with 15 goals after posting a career-high six scores against Bucknell. Sophomore face-off specialist Thomas Croonquist (North Caldwell, N.J.) has posted a .591 win percentage from the X, taking 65-of-110 attempts.
'Nova Defense: Senior Dan Gutierrez (Chevy Chase, Md.) has been the mainstay in net for the Wildcats through six games. For the season, Gutierrez posts a 10.41 goals against average and a .486 save percentage.
The starting trio at close defense, seniors Chris Creighton (West Chester, Pa.), Ryan McDonagh (Huntington, N.Y.) and sophomore Chris Conroy (Chatham, N.J.) have combined for 32 ground balls and 23 caused turnovers while sophomore LSM John LoCascio (Farifield, N.J.) has grabbed 29 ground balls and caused nine turnovers for the year.
A Look at Syracuse: Syracuse brings a 4-2 record into Sunday's showdown with the Wildcats. The Orange are coming off a 10-6 victory over Providence on Wednesday evening and have posted wins over Albany (12-7), Army (10-9) and St. John's (9-8). SU's two losses of the year have come from No. 1 Virginia (14-10) and No. 2 Johns Hopkins (11-7).
Orange Offense: Syracuse averages 9.67 goals per game on offense and surrenders 9.17 goals per game defensively. Derek Maltz leads the team with 18 points (13g, 5a) while Tim Desko (10g, 3a) and JoJo Marasco (5g, 8a) follow closely behind with 13 points each.
Orange Defense: Matthew Lerman and Dominic Lamolinara have split goaltending duties on the year and have combined for a 9.17 goals against average and a .495 save percentage. Their close defensemen, Brian Megill, Matt Harris and David Hamlin have combined for 48 ground balls and 26 caused turnovers while LSM Peter Macartney has picked up 13 ground balls.
The Last Meeting (3/26/11): Senior Brian Karalunas made the play of the game with under a minute left on the clock, stripping Syracuse's JoJo Marasco of the ball and assisting on Kevin Cunningham's goal with 57 seconds left to play, but the Orange clinched the nail-biter with six seconds remaining to secure the 5-4 victory. With a school-record crowd of 6,289 in attendance, the match also marked the first lacrosse game between two top-10 teams in Villanova Stadium.
