VILLANOVA, Pa. – More than two weeks after it opened the regular season portion of its schedule on home turf, the Villanova Wildcats return to the Higgins Soccer Complex Saturday at 4 p.m. to host Lafayette (2-0-1 overall).
Prior to the game and at halftime, Villanova will celebrate Alumni Day with Wildcats across multiple eras of the program expected to attend. Saturday is also Villanova's University wide St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service. The Men's Soccer team will participate in a volunteer activity earlier that day on campus.
"We always look forward to bringing back our soccer alums and honoring their contributions to this program," stated Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow.
On the pitch, the Wildcats have spent the last few days of training zeroing in on details after a challenging Labor Day weekend road trip to Michigan State (1-0 loss) and Western Michigan (5-1 defeat). Villanova is 0-3-1 overall.
"It's always good to be back at home," Fetrow said. "Our guys have had a chance to recover, get back to class and as a team we're working together so that we can get the kinds of results we all want."
Mostly, a side with 11 newcomers is still finding its way to thrive as a unit. After some shaky defense in its first two matches, the Wildcats were in better form defensively at Michigan State and for the first 50 minutes at Western Michigan, where it was down by just one goal at that point to the No. 5 team in America.
Alas, youthful mistakes multiplied over the final 40 minutes and resulted in the highest opponent goal total of the young season.
"We've got some things to clean up in defending inside the 18-yard box," stated Fetrow.
Saturday's late afternoon matinee is the 10th all-time meeting between two schools located approximately 47 miles apart. The Wildcats posted a 2-1 victory over the Leopards in the most recent series meeting in 2012, on Villanova's West Campus site prior to its transformation into the Higgins Soccer Complex.
"Ironically, Lafayette is similar to Western Michigan in its style," Fetrow said. "It is well-coached and composed. It was down 2-1 at Fairfield with under 20 minutes to play and rallied to score two goals."
But the opponent isn't the primary matter in Fetrow's mind.
"No matter who the opponent is, we can only control what we do," Fetrow stated. "We haven't put a full 90 minutes of Villanova Soccer together. We've played well for 45 minutes or 50 minutes. Now it's a matter of putting it together for a full 90."
Note: The Wildcats have added a third goalkeeper to the 2024 roster. Connor Margo, a graduate transfer from Hawaii Pacific, will wear No. 38 in the Blue and White.
