HEMPSTEAD, N.Y.—Fifth year midfielder Matt Campbell (Madison, N.J.) scored the record-breaking 129^th goal of his collegiate career with 4:30 left in the third quarter and No. 18/15 Villanova (3-1) used a strong effort on both sides of the ball to tally a 15-8 win over Hofstra (2-4) at James M. Shuart Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Campbell's milestone goal makes him the all-time leading goal scorer in Wildcats history. He entered the day tied for the program's career record with former Villanova standouts Chris Sullivan (1988-91) and Jack Rice (2010-13).
 
Campbell needed only one goal to become the Wildcats career record holder outright but he assisted on two goals before eventually getting the record-breaker on his eighth and final shot of the day. The three points on the day nudged Campbell's career total in that category up to 184 (129 goals, 55 assists) which moved him up a spot into fourth on the Villanova career list. He is 29 points away from tying the program's career record of 213 held by Rick Bontatibus (1991-94). Campbell started the day ranked third in goals and sixth in points among all active Division I players.
 
An outstanding defensive effort allowed the Wildcats to keep the Pride off the scoreboard for a stretch of 24 minutes during the contest. Villanova poured in eight unanswered goals during its scoreless defensive streak, turning a 4-3 deficit in the opening minute of the second period into a commanding 11-4 advantage before Hofstra ended the drought at the 5:30 mark of the third quarter. Fifth year attackman Patrick Daly (Shrewsbury, Mass.), senior midfielder Mason Reale (Westport, Conn.) and junior midfielder Tucker Goodelle (Mooresville, N.C.) all scored two goals during the decisive eight-goal run.
 
Fifth year midfielder Austin Fraser (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) keyed much of the Wildcats offense with a career-high six assists, the most in a game by any Villanova player in nearly 20 years since Brian Marks had seven helpers in a 10-3 win at Colgate on March 23, 2003. Daly scored a team-high four goals and has now registered three or more scores in each of the first four games of the season while scoring on better than 40% of his shot attempts.
 
Reale netted his first career hat trick and the Wildcats had eight different goal scorers in what eventually became a lopsided victory. Sophomore midfielder Tyler Boes (Marblehead, Mass.) scored the first two goals of his career in the second half and Goodelle also had two scores for Villanova's balanced offense.
 
The defensive effort by the Wildcats was just as notable. Fifth year goalie Will Vitton (Summit, N.J.) made six of his eight saves in the first 18 minutes of the contest and junior defenseman Reid Colwell (Westfield, N.J.) had three of his career-high four caused turnovers by halftime. It was a monster game for Colwell, who picked up a career-high seven ground balls and recorded the first game by a VU defender with at least four caused turnovers since teammate Brody LaPorte had five in a game last season.
 
Villanova was held scoreless for nearly the first 10 minutes of the game as Hofstra raced out to early momentum and led 2-0 by the 8:34 mark of the opening period. Daly finally got the Wildcats on the board with 5:15 left in the quarter on a pass from Campbell, then scored again exactly a minute later on a feed from sophomore attackman Luke Raymond (Crownsville, Md.). There were three times during the game when Villanova scored two goals in the span of a minute or less. In the third quarter it was Daly and Goodelle scoring 48 seconds apart, while early in the fourth quarter Boes and Raymond poured in goals separated by a mere 17 seconds.
 
Even after the second Daly goal made the score 2-2, the Pride would still take the lead on two more occasions. Hofstra went in front 3-2 with 4:09 to play in the opening period; the score was tied 3-3 at the end of the quarter thanks to Reale's first goal of the day with 1:37 remaining in the quarter. The Pride outshot the Wildcats by a 15-6 margin in the first 15 minutes before Villanova owned a 40-20 edge in shots the rest of the way.
 
In the second period Rory Jones scored an extra-man goal for the Pride just 30 seconds into the period for a 4-3 advantage. That would be the last time Hofstra found the goal until well past the midpoint of the third quarter, however. Reale's second goal of the day at the 10:56 mark of the second period tied the score, 4-4, while Goodelle scored at the 7:59 mark of the period to give the Wildcats their first lead of the day and account for the game's only lead change.
 
Villanova led 6-4 at halftime but scored two man-up goals in the first four minutes of the third quarter and went on to push the margin to 11-4 by the time fifth year midfielder Austin Fraser (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) bounced in a shot with 6:51 left in the period. The power play goals by Reale just 33 seconds after the intermission and by Daly with 11:23 on the third quarter clock had the Wildcats off to the races. Midway through the period senior SSDM Stevie Jones (Reston, Va.) scored on a rocket of a shot from long range with 8:33 remaining and Fraser capped the eight-goal outburst less than two minutes later.
 
The run finally ended at the 5:30 mark of the period when Danny DeSanti scored an unassisted Hofstra goal. Villanova answered just 60 seconds later however, and it was a big one as Campbell notched his record-breaking 129^th career goal.
 
Vitton recorded his 29^th career win in goal and was charged with seven of the eight Pride scores. He was relieved late in the contest by senior Justin Clark (Rockville, Md.) who played the final 1:38 and had Hofstra score a man-up goal against him.
 
Villanova will play during the midweek for the first time this season when it next takes the field for the first of two contests in the Philly 4 Lacrosse Classic. The Wildcats face Drexel at 5 p.m. on Wednesday in the first game of a doubleheader at Saint Joseph's, while its second game in the tournament will be against Penn at Franklin Field next Saturday at 3:30 p.m..