VILLANOVA, Pa. –  A goal late in the first half by reigning NCAA champion Georgetown changed the tempo of a match that had been mostly even to that point, and helped propel the Hoyas to a 3-0 victory over Villanova Saturday afternoon at the Higgins Soccer Complex.
 The Hoyas (1-0 overall, 1-0 BIG EAST) added two more scores in the second half as the Wildcats looked to press forward in search of the equalizer. Villanova goalkeeper Carson Williams made five saves on the afternoon while Seidu Shamsudeen and Lyam MacKinnon each had a pair of shots for the Wildcats, who fell to 0-3-0 overall, 0-1-0 BIG EAST.
Dante Palvara scored both second half goals for the Hoyas. The first came off of a corner kick fed into the 18 yard box by Aidan Rocha and the second off a penalty kick after the Wildcats where whistled for a foul in front of Williams in the 67th minute.
 But it was a goal by Chris Heigand with just over three minutes remaining in the first period that altered the complexion of the match in the view of Wildcats' head coach Tom Carlin.
 "Giving up a goal in the last three minutes of the first half after I thought we played a pretty even first half for us hurt," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "I thought that in the first 10 minutes of the second half that we were able to change the possession, the territorial game if you will. And then we gave up a set piece goal.
"Any time we had a little momentum we shot ourselves in the foot. But that's the best the Big East has to offer. I thought we stood toe to toe with them. I don't think the score line is indicative of the effort and our success.
 "I'm as happy as you can be losing 3-0."
Gerogetown owned a 16-7 advantage in shots for the afternoon. Ethan Koehler earned the shutout in goal for Georgetown.
Villanova will host its second BIG EAST clash of the spring 2021 campaign Wednesday at 2 p.m. when Providence is slated to visit the Higgins Soccer Complex.
