VILLANOVA, Pa. – A second half rally fell just short Saturday as Georgetown held off Villanova 3-2 in a BIG EAST match played under sunny skies and mild temperatures at the Higgins Soccer Complex on West Campus.
 
The Hoyas scored three times in a span of 25 first half minutes and then held off Nova, which got second half goals from Balthi Saunders and Branden Johns.
 
The Wildcats fall to 5-6-2 overall, 2-4-1 BIG EAST while Georgetown (6-4-3 overall, 4-1-1 BIG EAST) won its third straight conference matchup.
 
"It's funny," stated head coach Tom Carlin. "In the beginning of the game I thought what we were doing looked good. And then they got us in transition, and they got us bad. They were three great moments by them. We just got stuck in transition. That was the game, unfortunately."
 
Indeed, neither side had generated any shots in the contest's first 14 minutes when the Hoyas struck quickly on what began as a relatively harmless looking opportunity. Kyle Linhares threaded a ball along the endline that found Jacob Murrell, who deposited a shot into the net at 14:36.
 
The Hoyas struck again from the right side at 37:16. This time it was a cross from Trevor Burns that found Marlon Tabora. The Tabora finish put the margin at two goals.
 
Georgetown picked up its third goal on another bang-bang play, this time 118 seconds after its second goal. Kieran Sargeant found Max Viera for the score at 39:14.
 
At halftime, the Wildcats were staring up at a three goal deficit.
 
Villanova narrowed its deficit to 3-1 at 69:12. Akinjide Awujo deflected a ball that Balthi Saunders came up with just beyond the top of the 18 yard box. Saunders fired a shot past Ryan Schewe for his third goal of the campaign.
 
The goal helped energize the 'Cats and they were able to cash in another chance at 88:14. This time Saunders got the ball to Branden Johns, who put the ball into the goal for his first of the season to draw the Wildcats' closer with under two minutes remaining. But the Hoyas were able to run out the rest of the clock to secure the victory.
 
"In the second half we showed a lot of character, a lot of fight," Carlin said. "We made it close. But we've got to do better with our possessions and those transition moments."
 
The Wildcats return to action Wednesday at the Higgins Soccer Complex when they host BIG EAST rival Connecticut at 3 p.m. That match will be streamed live via the BIG EAST Digital Network on Flo Sports. It is the first of four regular season matches remaining as the end of the campaign draws near. Villanova will also travel to Seton Hall (Oct. 22), host the United States Naval Academy (Oct. 25) and travel to Chicago to conclude the regular season at DePaul.