STANFORD, Cal. – Villanova and Stanford fought a tightly contested battle in the regular season opener for both teams Thursday night here. The Cardinal emerged with a 1-0 win thanks to the game's only goal, scored in the 10^th minute.
 
"I thought we played well," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin, who guided to its first ever NCAA Tournament victory in 2021. "We were on our front foot, we created chances and minimized their chances.
 
"But, they're also a good team. They play hard and make this a hard place to play. On the whole, I was pretty happy with our overall effort. We saw some big performances. Everybody that stepped on the field was ready to play."
 
The Wildcats arrived approximately two hours prior to kickoff for this one to acclimate themselves to the natural grass surface at Cagan Stadium (they flew to California on Tuesday night). This was a beautiful evening with a game time temperature of 81 degrees with the sun setting above the adjacent Stanford Stadium.
 
The Cardinal had the better chances over the match's first 10 minutes. Goalkeeper Kent Dickey made a save for the 'Cats in the third minute to keep things level but Stanford capitalized on a rebound opportunity in the tenth minute. Jackson Kill collected a rebound off a shot by Cam Cilley. The official time of the goal was 9:00.
 
"We made a mistake with a square ball right across the middle," noted Carlin. "We had a game plan and that was a little bit in contrast with our game plan. Credit to them for capitalizing. But the reality is we had our chances to neutralize it and there was still a ton of time left. It would have been nice if we had gotten one to go for us."
 
The Wildcats got their second shot on goal of the evening off a throw in during the 20^th minute when Viktor Benediktsson sent a header on frame that Stanford goalkeeper Matt Frank collected.
 
In the 34^th minute Luke Pompliano, on for starter Branden Johns, drew a yellow card foul on Stanford that set the Wildcats up for a direct kick from 24 yards out. A Balthi Saunders shot was saved by Frank to keep the Cardinal in front by a goal.
 
The Cardinal would retain that 1-0 lead as the game reached halftime. Stanford held a 10-6 edge in shots. Dickey made five saves over the first 45 minutes while Frank stopped four shots by Villanova.
 
Saunders and junior Akinjide Awujo teamed up to create a wonderful opportunity in the 51^st minute off a Stanford turnover. Saunders threaded a beautiful ball to Awujo on a run towards net. But a sliding Cardinal defender got a piece of Awujo's bid, deflecting it over the top of the net.
 
Following a pair of Wildcats corner kick opportunities in the 75^th minute that were thwarted by the Cardinal, Dickey had to make a diving stop for his eighth save of the night to keep the deficit at one goal.
 
Branden Johns' speed on the right side allowed him to fire a cross to Gray Ricca that looked promising before the shot went just wide to the left in the 82^nd minute.
 
Villanova kept pushing but was unable to collect the equalizer.
 
The Wildcats (0-1 overall) will conclude their trip west on Sunday when they face the Golden Bears of Cal at 4 p.m. eastern time in Berkley.
 
"We came here to play in games like this," Carlin stated. "You look at our schedule this year. There's going to be a bunch of games like this. We've got to recover and look forward to the next one."