Box Score VILLANOVA, Pa. – A goal by senior Kian Zapata off a rebound in the 76th minute lifted Villanova (6-3-1 overall, 1-2 BIG EAST) to its first conference victory of 2018, a 1-0 triumph over DePaul (4-6 overall, 1-2 BIG EAST) on a sun-splashed afternoon at the Higgins Soccer Complex Saturday.
"It didn't matter who scored, we knew someone would," stated Zapata, a senior from Morristown, N.J., who spent most of the early part of his career on defense before moving to a forward position this season. "It was just a matter of us sticking with it."
The Wildcats had survived some dangerous moments created by DePaul in the first half before they began to turn the tide in the second period. The game-winning play began when sophomore Yusuf Cueceoglu sent the ball to junior Andres Camacho on the left side of the Blue Demons' net. Camacho's bid for the game-winner hit the left post and caromed back out to the right side of the net, where Zapata was waiting. He converted his opportunity.
"Yusuf played the ball in and I wanted to be in position if Camacho wasn't able to score," Zapata said. "It's a new position and I knew that around the goal you always have to expect the worst and hope for the best. I was just there in the right spot."
It was the first goal of Zapata's Villanova career.
"The one thing you know with Kian is that he's always going to work hard," said VU head coach Tom Carlin. "He's going to be a nuisance to defend. Credit to Kian for how hard he works."
In many respects, the match was one of two contrasting halves. The Blue Demons had the better tempo early and were it not for two spectacular saves by redshirt freshman Carson Williams, DePaul might have gotten the early advantage.
Williams' best save came in the 35th minute when he stopped a bid from Zach El-Shafei that seemed destined for the left side of the net. A diving save kept the contest scoreless.
"Our original plan didn't work," said Carlin. "It's the Big East and everyone scouts each other pretty intensely. They did a great job with their game plan. They disrupted what we wanted to do. So we had to go to Plan B and then Plan C. Plan C started to work. Once we got to that point we started to get the chances, get the looks and settled into the game."
Though the Wildcats were outshot 6-5 in the second half, the quality of their chances was much better than in the first 45 minutes. And once the lead was gained at 75:02, Villanova shut down the Blue Demons the rest of the way to claim their first BIG EAST win of the season.
"That's huge," Zapata stated. "We were looking for that first Big East win and now we've got a little travel ahead. We've just got to carry the momentum into our next game."
Villanova is idle until next Saturday when it visits Xavier in another BIG EAST match. That one gets underway at 7 p.m.
