VILLANOVA, Pa. – Providence snapped a 7-7 tie in the third quarter and went on to down Villanova 15-12 in a BIG EAST game played Saturday at Villanova Stadium.
Colin Michener led the Wildcats (6-5 overall, 0-2 BIG EAST) with four goals. Matt Licata contributed three goals and three assists. Ryan Bell had seven assists for the Friars.
Licata opened the scoring on a windy, overcast afternoon at Villanova Stadium. Licata accepted a feed from Mason Reale and fired the ball into the net to put the Wildcats up 1-0 just 59 seconds into this contest. Providence tied it a short while later on an unassisted goal from Chris Cusolito.
The Friars moved on top, 2-1 at the 8:06 mark on a Jack Harrington goal. Providence capitalized on a man-up situation a few moments later to push its lead to 3-1 before Licata answered with his second goal of the day, also off an assist from Reale. Less than a minute later, with 2:42 to play in the first period, Providence added another goal to move on top, 4-2.
An apparent Lucas Newton goal with 40.2 seconds on the clock was overturned after an officials' video review. After one period, Providence led 4-2.
Cusolito scored the first of two Friars goals in the opening 3:25 of the second quarter to expand their lead to 6-2.
Reale picked up his third assist of the day with 9:20 left in the second quarter, setting up Colin Michener, who fired a shot past Providence goalie James Corasaniti. Richie Joseph then scored a goal in response, giving the Friars a 7-3 lead with 5:48 to play in the period.
Licata scored a man-up goal for Villanova off an assist from Tyler Boes to cut the deficit to 7-4. The Wildcats then added two more goals in the final 3:16 of the second period as Nick Lucchesi and David Link scored to pull VU within 7-6 after 30 minutes of action.
Lucchesi notched his second goal of the afternoon 2:51 into the third quarter off an assist from Newton to tie the game at seven. Providence went back in front 8-7 a short while later. It then added another at the 9:46 mark of the third to go up, 9-7.
The second goal of the day for Michener – off a pass from Aidan Ahearn – cut the margin to 9-8 at the 6:26 mark of the third. The assist was the first of Ahearn's career. Joseph answered with a Friars' goal with 5:06 left in the period to make it 10-8. Jack Horrigan then added a man up goal for Providence to stretch the lead to 11-8. Parker Kennedy then put the Friars up 12-8.
Providence added a final goal of the third with 31 seconds on the clock to push its advantage to 13-8 after 45 minutes.
The Friars notched their sixth consecutive goal one minute into the fourth period to expand the lead to 14-8. Michener recorded his third goal of the day to snap the six goal Friars' run before the Friars' goalkeeper Corasaniti, lofted a shot from his own end of the field into a vacant net to push the Providence edge to 15-9.
Licata set up Dan Martin for a Nova goal to make it 15-10 at the 8:24 mark of the period. Michener added two more goals in the game's final minute to make the final score 15-12 in favor of the Friars.
Villanova's defense caused 20 turnovers in the loss, that sets a new program record. The 'Cats caused 16 against Colgate this season and against Rutgers in 2010. Stephen Zupicich had four as Stevie Jones and Jack Shoemaker recorded three.
Prior to the game, Villanova honored its graduating class on Senior Day, including nine seniors, a trio of graduate students and a student manager. Villanova hits the road next week as they travel to St. John's next Saturday for a one o'clock start.
