April 21, 2018 Final Stats
Queens, N.Y. -
A strong first quarter helped lift No. 15 Villanova over St. John's by a final of 10-8. Villanova moves to 9-4 on the year and 2-2 in BIG EAST play while St. John's is 6-7 overall and 0-4 in conference play.
The Red Storm got on the board first just over a minute in but Christian Cuccinello netted his first to tie the game at one. Joe Madsen would give St. John's the lead again but Villanova would answer back scoring three straight.
TJ Comizio dished out a pass to Connor Kirst with just over four minutes remaining in the quarter to tie the game at two. Kieran Byrnes scored his first goal of the season minutes later on a pass from Colin Crowley to put the Cats up. Cuccinello would find Kirst during another man up opportunity to make the score 4-2 at the end of one.
Danny Seibel kept the scoring going in the second finding the back of the cage on a pass from Cuccinello. Jason DeBendictis would dish out his second assist of the day for the Red Storm on a Declan Swartwood goal with just under seven minutes before halftime. Crowley would put Villanova on the board one final time in the second quarter to make the lead 6-3.
Cuccinello got things going in the second half, giving Villanova their biggest lead of the day before St. John's answered back. The Red Storm netted three goals to bring the game within one but Devin McNamara would pull Villanova back up by two before the end of the third.
Kirst would complete a hat trick early in the fourth quarter to put Villanova up 9-6. The next goal of the game wasn't scoring for over 10 minutes until Seibel found the back of the net. St. John's would close out the game with two goals to make the final 10-8 Villanova.
Michael Toomey got his first career start in goal for the Wildcats today and had 10 saves and two ground balls. Seibel had a career high eight ground balls while Matt Webster and Dan Fisher had four apiece. Fisher also went 11-for-22 (.500) from the face off dot.
Villanova will close out the regular season next weekend at home against Providence. Game time is set for 1:00 P.M. and can be seen on Fox College Sports. With this being the final game of the season all eight seniors will be honored at 12:30 P.M.
