Box Score March 7, 2017 Final Stats
Providence, R.I. -
The Villanova men's lacrosse team went on a 7-3 run in the third quarter to help lift them over the Brown Bears by a final of 17-15 in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Wildcats were trailing the Bears 5-3 at the end of the first quarter. Danny Seibel got Villanova on the board just over two minutes into the game and seconds later Kurtis Naslonski put the Cats up two. Brown tied things up with eight to go, both goals were assisted by 2016 Tewaaraton Award Winner, Dylan Molloy, who finished with six points. Villanova freshman Connor Kirst scored an unassisted goal to break up the Bears run, but Brown scored the final three goals of the quarter to take the lead.
Villanova came out strong in the 2nd quarter scoring the first four goals. Seibel was able to find the back of the net on a pass from Christian Cuccinello, just over a minute later it was Jack Curran who found Jake Froccaro to tie the game up at 5. Cuccinello would score the third goal and would assist Curran on the fourth and final goal of the Villanova run.
Brown would score the next two goals just seconds apart and tie the game up again at 7. Joey Froccaro was able to cut, drive, and score with just over six minutes remaining in the half. Molloy would score his first goal of the game a minute later and would tie the game up at 8-8 heading into halftime.
The Wildcats came out strong in the 3rd quarter. After Molloy found the back of the net just 30 seconds into the second half, Villanova would score the next six goals to jump out to a 14-9 lead. Seibel found Cuccinello on a man-up opportunity to get things started. Next Cuccinello would find Jake Froccaro, Jake was able to get his shot to fall. Freshman Kirst netted his second goal of the game on a pass from classmate Jared Nugent. The final three goals were scored by Cuccinello, Curran, and John Kluh were all unassisted.
Brown's Luke McCaleb would end the 10 minute run by the Wildcats, he scored on a pass from Jack Kniffin. The Bear's Michael Panepinto scored an unassisted goal to bring them within three but after winning the faceoff TJ Comizio got the ground ball and found Curran with seconds to go in the third.
To start the final quarter Curran would find Cuccinello inside to give the Wildcats what would be their largest lead of the day, 16-11. Molloy would complete the hat trick on an unassisted goal at the 12:50 mark but then it was Cuccinello who this time would find Curran inside to score the final Villanova goal of the day. Brown would score three over the final 5 minutes to make the final 17-15.
Cuccinello would finish with a career high eight points, he had four goals and four assists. Curran earned seven points, he also had four goals and dished out three assists.
After winning just 3-of-18 faceoffs in the first half and going 0-9 in the 2nd quarter, the Wildcats went 14-for-18 from the X in the second half. Jake Froccaro went 14-for-21 (.666) and had 10 ground balls while Joey Froccaro went 3-3 with one ground ball.
Comizo had a team high three caused turnover, seven ground balls, and two assists. Freshman Patrick Kennedy caused two turnovers and collected two ground balls.
Nick Testa played the first half in goal and had four saves and was replaced in the second half by Dan Willis. Willis would earn the win and finish with three saves.
Villanova will return to action on Tuesday, March 14th when they host Bucknell. Game time is set for 4pm inside Villanova Stadium.
