CHICAGO, Ill.– A Villanova goal with time winding down in the 90^th minute from Branden Johns earned the Wildcats a 3-3 draw in a BIG EAST men's soccer match played Wednesday at Wish Field here.
 
Each of Villanova's three goals came as a result of corner kicks. Sophomore Balthi Saunders earned two assists on the afternoon, including one on the critical score with 42 seconds left on the game clock.
 
"The biggest key with set pieces is creating them," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "We were able to stretch them out, get in behind them and make them defend us, which led to those opportunities. I think we've been a handful for
 
The Wildcats complete their season with a 6-8-3 overall record 2-6-2 in BIG EAST play.
 
"This is a tough game to play in with the Big East playoffs out of reach for both teams," said Carlin. "For us, it means going on the road and then we fall behind early. But we were resilient and fought our way back."
 
DePaul gained the upper hand midway through the first half. Omar Ramadan fed a ball to Jack Richards that went into the net at 23:48. Less than two minutes later, the Wildcats were whistled for a foul within their own 18-yard box, setting the Blue Demons up for a penalty kick. Jake Fuderer converted the chance at 25:12 to stake DePaul to a two-goal advantage.
 
"Our possessions were good in the first half but they scored the first one on what was basically a set piece," noted Carlin. "Then we got on the wrong side of a guy and it was called a PK. So that put us into the hole."
 
The scored remained 2-0 at halftime.
 
But from the start of the second half, Villanova began pressing and forcing DePaul backwards. That set up the first set piece in which Saunders served a corner kick into the box that Viktor Benediktsson re-directed with his head. Akinjide Awujo collected the ball from the and sent it into the bottom right side of the net at 50:49.
 
A few minutes later, another set piece helped the Wildcats draw level. This time Dominic Cyriacks and Saunders got the assists as senior Marcus Brenes scored his first goal of the season at 54:40.
 
DePaul moved back in front with a goal scored at 67:40 by Fueder.
 
"We were a little aggressive and got caught in a transition moment fouling them," Carlin said.
 
That set up the frantic final moments. From the right corner, Saunders served a ball into the 6-yard area directly in front of DePaul goalkeeper Gandhi Cruz. Johns sneaked in to re-direct the feed from Saunders to tie the match at three at 89:18 for his second goal of the day.
 
"It starts with a good service in from Balthi," said Carlin. "BJ just went in there and found it."
 
"I'm proud of our effort today. From the start of the season, we didn't reach the goals we had set for ourselves. But the effort, the resilience was always there. We fought every step of the way. A lot of that had to do with our seniors, the guys who always represented our program with class. We're grateful for their efforts and we think this effort can be a building block as we look toward next season."