VILLANOVA, Pa. – After picking up a pair of BIG EAST victories away from home, Villanova returns to the Higgins Soccer Complex Saturday to host St. John's (7-3-1 overall, 2-1-1 BIG EAST) at 1:05 p.m.
The Wildcats downed Xavier 1-0 in Cincinnati last Saturday and followed that with a 1-0 double overtime win Wednesday night at Connecticut. Villanova is 4-0 in BIG EAST Conference regular season action (8-2 overall) for the first time in program history. Villanova last played at home on Sept. 25, recording a 1-0 victory over Butler.
In Wednesday night's win, senior goalkeeper
Carson Williams recorded his fourth shutout of the campaign and 18
th of his career. That moved him past former teammate Will Steiner (17 from 2014-17) into the top spot in career shutouts in the Blue & White.
"Carson made some huge saves for us, especially in the first part of the game when they were on their front foot," noted head coach
Tom Carlin.
Wednesday's win moved Carlin's record as head coach at Villanova to 112-111-21. He is now two victories shy of becoming the program's all-time winningest head coach. Larry Sullivan, whom Carlin succeeded in 2007 after serving a season as an assistant coach, holds the program record with 114.
At halftime Saturday, Villanova will salute several of its most accomplished teams in program history. The 1980 and 2012 teams share the program record for single season victories (12) while the 2016 side, which became the first Wildcats' squad to reach the NCAA Tournament, celebrates the fifth anniversary of its achievement. Members of each those teams will be on hand and they will be recognized in an on-field ceremony.
This week Villanova also earned a 2020-21 Team Academic Award from the United Soccer Coaches Association after posting an overall grade point average of 3.46.
Saturday's match will be live streamed via the BIG EAST Digital Network presented by Flo Sports. Nick Mantegna will be on the call.
This is the start of a two-game home-stand for Villanova. The Wildcats will be back on West Campus Wednesday afternoon to meet Creighton at 3 p.m.
