Box Score Oct. 29, 2016 Final Stats
Washington, D.C. -
Goals in each half weren't enough for the Wildcats as they fell to the Georgetown Hoyas in a BIG EAST men's soccer match played on Saturday afternoon. Georgetown defeated Villanova by a final count of 3-2.
"We were pretty happy with how we came out," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "We got one early and we had the momentum that we needed. We were in an environment where we knew we needed to play to for a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament."
Lucas Hodges crossed the ball from the right side and place it right to Padraic McCullaugh who was able to use his size to head the ball into the back post. The goal in the 27th minute put Villanova up 1-0.
Just minutes later things changed for the Wildcats, first Miguel Polley and Hodges collided in front of the Villanova sideline followed by a Hoya goal. The goal was on the 9th Georgetown corner of the game when Dylan Nealis found the back of net to tie things up in the 38th minute.
Polley took a strong shot just minutes before halftime that required Georgetown goalie JT Marcinkowski to make a diving saving. The Hoyas also had a chance to score with just two seconds left before intermission but the Georgetown attacker was called offsides and the shot called off.
The contest remained deadlocked at halftime.
"Georgetown came out pushing in the second half and after the collision and allowing the Georgetown goal our momentum swung. We spent more time defending and on out heals more than we would have liked in the final 45 minutes," shared Carlin.
The Hoyas took a total of 14 corners on the day and scored their second goal of the day on the 13th when Zach Knudson placed a header off the kick into the back of the goal in the 60th minute. Just minutes later the Hoyas scored what would be the game winning goal when Arun Basuljevic was able to break away and feed the ball to his teammate Jon Azzinnari who sent a shot from the top left of the box into the back of the net and just out of the reach of Villanova goalie Will Steiner.
"After the third goal we changed our formation and made our attack stronger to give us a chance to get back into the game," Carlin shared. This worked as the Wildcats scored in the 80th minute when Jacob Anderson sent the ball in from the near post and Conor Bradley was able to head the ball in and bring Villanova within one.
Bradley had a chance to tie things up in the 85th minute on a header that was placed to the far corner of the goal but Marcinkowski was able to make the save making the final 3-2.
Both teams were tied with eight shots in the first half but Georgetown edged out the Cats in the second half nine to seven.
The Wildcats have one more regular season game left to play at home this Thursday, November 3rd when they host Seton Hall for Senior Day. Kickoff is set for 3:00 P.M. and can be seen on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
