VILLANOVA, Pa. – A goal in the 81^st minute off the foot of senior forward Seidu Shamsudeen lifted Villanova to a 1-0 victory over Butler in a BIG EAST game played on a delightful weather afternoon at the Higgins Soccer Complex.
 
The Wildcats improved to 6-2 overall, 2-0 BIG EAST.
 
"Seidu didn't log a lot of minutes," noted head coach Tom Carlin of his forward who entered the game as a reserve and totaled 19 minutes on the day. "But he sure made the most of what he did have."
 
Redshirt junior Kent Dickey stepped up too in the absence of Carson Williams, who received a red card in Tuesday night's loss at Penn State. That prevented him from suiting up in this one. Dickey made four saves in posting his first career shutout, including a couple of big stops in the first 45 minutes when the Bulldogs (3-4-1 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST) were pressing forward in a big way.
 
In fact, Butler outshot the Wildcats 19-3 over the course of the first period.
 
"We came out on the back foot and had to defend a lot in the first half," stated Carlin. "I thought we were a little slow to start for some reason. We've been starting games slow and this was slower than usual.
 
"We stuck with it though. Our center backs really did some good things and I thought we competed better in the second half. We started to win balls in the air more, recover better. Credit to Butler for outworking us in the first half."
 
There weren't an overabundance of scoring chances after intermission but Villanova made the most of its best opportunity. Sophomore Jorge Garcia threaded a ball to Shamsudeen near the top of the 18-yard box and the senior drilled a left-footed blast along the synthetic surface into the lower left side of the net at 80:05.
 
It was his second goal of the season.
 
Sophomore Jack Bonas and junior Viktor Benediktsson helped lock down the middle of the field and Dickey was ready whenever called upon. He closed down a trio of scoring bids by coming off his line to either collect or punch an incoming cross out of harm's way.
 
"Our goalkeeper situation was the least of my worries coming into this one," Carlin said. "Kent is an emerging leader for us. He's ready for this. We have two really good keepers in Kent and Carson so as a coach you're always comfortable."
 
At halftime, Villanova honored the 1980 Wildcats who established the single-season program record for victories (12) and still hold the best winning percentage in program history (.750). Ironically, with this win over Butler, the fall 2021 edition improved its season winning percentage to .750.
 
The Wildcats are idle until next Saturday