JAMAICA, N.Y. –  A three goal outburst in the span of 19 first half minutes helped carry Villanova to a convincing 4-0 victory over St. John's on a windy night here.
 
In truth, Villanova began with a sluggish start.
 
"Things weren't going that well for us early in this game," stated head coach Tom Carlin. "St. John's pressure was causing problems for us. It felt like we were defending a lot. But then we got a goal, and when you get the first goal on the road it changes a lot. It took the edge off."
 
The Wildcats (3-2-2 overall, 1-0-1 BIG EAST) broke into the scoring column at 23:09 when sophomore Balthi Saunders connected with Gray Ricca. Saunders chipped a ball from the left side of the box to Ricca, who got control of the ball and lofted it past goalkeeper Emanuel Smalios to give Nova the early advantage.
 
In the 31^st minute Villanova was able to add to its lead. This time Vincent Petrera found Lyam MacKinnon, who put the ball into the net for his third goal of 2022. After a quick re-set, Petrera dribbled down along the left sideline before feeding MacKinnon towards the middle of the pitch. MacKinnon fired a shot inside the left post to extend the Nova lead to two goals.
 
The night's third goal was Villanova's third in as many games off a corner kick. Once again, Viktor Benediktsson provided the finishing touch, this time off a service into the 18-yard box by Dominic Cyriacks. Benediktsson gained control of the ball and sent a shot inside the near post at 40:15 to make it a 3-0 advantage.
 
"The service we have gotten on the corner kicks the last few games has really made a difference," noted Carlin. "Tonight, it was Dom serving a great ball into Viktor. Viktor's been open in there before but we weren't always finding him. We've found him these last few games and he's a handful for the defense to deal with."
 
From there, the Wildcats used a stifling defense to contain the Red Storm. In fact, neither team produced a shot on goal in the first 28 minutes of the second half.
 
"Gray Ricca really did a great job defending and so did our back line," said Carlin. "Kent was there to make a big save when we needed him early. We knew they were going to have to come at us in the second half and we did a great job of holding the line. With them pressing that much, we thought we'd get a chance at another goal and fortunately we did."
 
Villanova's fourth goal of the evening came in the 75^th minute. MacKinnon sent a cross from the left side that caromed off a Red Storm defender before finding its way to Petrera. The sophomore from Maryland sent a shot past the second St. John's goalkeeper of the night, Ryan Foley, to cap the scoring for the night.
 
Redshirt senior Kent Dickey posted his third clean sheet of the season in goal for Villanova.
 
St. John's, outshot 11-7 on the night, fell to 2-5-1 overall, 1-1-0- BIG EAST.
 
"I thought during the Providence game last weekend we lost our cool for 15 minutes or so," noted Carlin. "I challenged the guys about that. We're an experienced team and they responded tonight. We kept our composure over those early minutes when we weren't playing the way we wanted to. It paid off in the end."
 
The Wildcats return to the Higgins Soccer Complex on Wednesday for a non-conference clash with Penn State. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. and the match will be streamed via the Villanova Network on FloSports.