VILLANOVA, Pa.—In a high-scoring shootout that featured a combined eight players who scored multiple goals, visiting Yale (1-0) rallied from a first half deficit to defeat Villanova (1-1) by a final tally of 20-14 at Villanova Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Junior attackman Matt Licata (Sandown, N.H.) continued his strong start to the season as he and fifth year Patrick Daly (Shrewsbury, Mass.) paced the Wildcats with three goals apiece.
 
Licata and senior midfielder Mason Reale (Westport, Conn.) each scored two goals in the first 6:07 of the contest as Villanova jumped out to a 4-1 advantage. After three straight goals by the Bulldogs led to the first of three tie scores on the day, Daly and fifth year midfielder Austin Fraser (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) scored 31 seconds apart to restore the Wildcats lead. Fraser added another goal in the waning seconds of the period to forge a 7-4 margin through the first 15 minutes.
 
The teams alternated scoring two goals in a row early in the second quarter, with scores by fifth year midfielder Matt Campbell (Madison, N.J.) 38 seconds apart putting Villanova in front, 9-6, with 9:49 remaining in the half. Yale answered with three goals in a stretch of 71 seconds to draw even as the breakneck scoring pace continued. Each team netted one more goal before halftime, including the Wildcats on the first career tally by sophomore attackman Dan Martin (Wall Township, N.J.) with 2:35 to play and a response by the Bulldogs with 1:40 left which made the score 10-10 at the half.
 
Yale scored five unanswered goals after halftime and led 15-10 at the 8:44 mark of the third quarter. After goals by junior midfielder Tucker Goodelle (Mooresville, N.C.) and the second tally of the day by Daly, the turning point of the game came with Villanova trailing 16-12 and less than three minutes to play in the period.
 
Freshman defenseman David Evanchick (Darien, Conn.) caused a Bulldogs turnover with 4:30 left in the quarter and the Wildcats held possession for nearly three full minutes as its potent offense peppered one shot after another at Bulldogs goalie Jared Paquette. Beginning with a shot on goal by Daly with 2:59 on the clock and ending with a shot by Daly at the 1:48 mark of the period, Paquette saved five consecutive shots at point-blank range in a span of 71 seconds to thwart the Villanova attack.
 
The relentlessness of the Wildcats offense was on display plenty of times during the game, with Daly taking a game-high 17 shots and Campbell adding 16 attempts. Villanova held a slim 53-51 edge in shots over Yale despite the final scoring margin. Senior faceoff specialist Justin Coppola (Garden City, N.Y.) had a big game with 18 faceoff wins (18-35) and 12 ground balls.
 
Coppola moved up two spots in school history into seventh place with 238 career ground balls and tallied his seventh career game with at least 10 pickups. He also notched his 17^th career game and second in a row this season winning 15 or more faceoffs. Freshman Scot Mackie (Larchmont, N.Y.) saw his first career action in the fourth quarter and won both of his faceoff chances on the day.
 
On the defensive side, junior Reid Colwell (Westfield, N.J.) and sophomore Tripp Robinson (Westfield, N.J.) each had two caused turnovers. Fifth year goalie Will Vitton (Summit, N.J.) added 10 saves, five of which came in the fourth quarter. Vitton has 31 career games with 10+ stops, including each of the first two outings this season. He is averaging 14.0 saves per contest early in the year and has recorded 10 total stops in the fourth quarters of the first two games.
 
Villanova played its first two games of the season at home but will now face a stretch of five straight away from home over the next few weeks. The first road game of the season is next Sunday – February 26 – at Delaware for a 12 p.m. matchup.