JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Villanova used a 65
th minute goal from
Madison Shumate to take down Jacksonville, 1-0, on Thursday night at Southern Oak Stadium.
The win marks three straight clean sheet victories for Villanova (3-1) and back-to-back 1-0 wins. Jacksonville (0-4) did hold a 6-3 shot advantage on the 'Cats and a 3-2 in shots on goal, but Nova goalkeeper
Hannah Dickinson saved all three shots that came her way.
"We were lucky enough to get punished in the first half," head coach
Samar Azem said. "I was really proud though. We switched some things up at halftime. The willingness and composure of the team to adapt, the leadership of these two (
Alex Fava and
Ire Omotayo) plus Hannah (Dickinson) in the back, Myla (McLeod) and Olivia (Neal) adding to that really, really accentuated our ability to stay in the match and start to regain some momentum. And then the next two lines did a fantastic job, again, of adapting our game plan and then coming back to how we want to play."
It took nearly 31 minutes into the contest for either side to register a shot attempt. A Jacksonville throw in found Anaya Black who darted toward the 18-yard box. Beating out a trio of 'Cats, she sent a chance near the middle of the box that was quickly grabbed by a jumping Dickinson in net.
Villanova's first shot attempt came from
Amalia Cardo on the right side of the penalty box, but her chance was saved by Jacksonville's Pia Bozic.
Early in the second half, Dickinson was called upon by the Dolphins again to make a big save. Andrea Zwinkels sent a launch from the top of the 18-yard box that bent toward the upper 90 but was punched away by Dickinson to keep it scoreless in the 50
th minute.
Shumate was in the right place at the right time to break the scoreless tie in the 65
th minute.
Susanna Soderman battled a pair of Dolphin defenders outside of the left side of the penalty box before sending a cross inside. The freshman forward had a Jacksonville player on her shoulder but was able to knock a look past Gretchen Duttenhofer, who subbed in between the posts at the break, and into the back right of the net to make it a 1-0 Villanova lead.
The goal marks the third of the season for the Wildcat newcomer, a total that now sits as a team-high on the year.
Jacksonville had one final chance in the 89
th minute to equalize the game. Manuela Restrepo took a long shot off of a set piece but it was pushed away from Dickinson.
Laura Di Mascio led everyone on the pitch with two shot attempts. Duttenhofer recorded the loss for the Dolphins, moving to 0-3 on the season.
Villanova finishes its Florida trip on Sunday as the team heads to Tallahassee to take on No. 1 Florida State at 12 p.m.
