VILLANOVA, Pa. – A strong second half helped Villanova earn a 1-1 draw Saturday afternoon at the Higgins Soccer Complex against Lafayette (2-0-2 overall). Senior Vincent Petrera notched his first goal of the campaign in the 73^rd minute off a nice pass from graduate transfer Jason Bouregy to get the Wildcats (0-3-2 overall) back to level.

The Wildcats kept applying pressure over the final minutes as nearly full house on Alumni Day roared its approval.

"We really wanted to get them that second goal," said Petrera of the crowd following the game.

Midway through the first half, Lafayette began to put pressure on the Wildcats. They broke through at 34:13 on a play inside Villanova's 18-yard box. The Leopards' Cade Maglione fired a blast towards the left side of the net that was blocked by a Wildcats' defender. But the ball deflected directly back to Maglione who was facing a wide-open net after Villanova goalkeeper Alex Yagudayev had leaped to his right to save the original shot.

The goal was unassisted.

Lafayette outshot the Wildcats 11-6 in the first half. Yagudayev made four of his five saves in that period, helping to keep the Wildcats close.

"You could see Yagu's confidence grow as the game went on," said Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow. "He made some big saves in that first half that kept it at 1-0. I thought he really played well for us today."

Fetrow, though, was less pleased with the circumstances that put Villanova into that early hole.

"I think we saw some of the same things we saw in the first four games today," Fetrow noted. "We can't give up soft goals. We've got to be clinical in the final third. We've got to create more chances out of our possessions. We've got to do a better job of connecting passes. We had way too many unforced turnovers for a team that wants to focus on possession.

"We didn't do that well in the first half. We did well in the second half. But once again it's not a 90-minute performance that we're proud of."

The Wildcats turned the tables on Lafayette in the second half, applying pressure that led to greater possession and more offensive opportunities.

"Any time you concede first, and you can come back to tie things up, that's always a positive," Fetrow said. "It shows the fight and belief that the guys have. That was good. It just wasn't enough."

The highlight of the half came at 73:09 when Petera finished off a nifty feed from Bouregy, sending the ball into the middle part of the net to tie the game.

The Wildcats have a break in their schedule after this one. They are idle until returning to the road next Saturday night, Sept. 14, at FDU (7 p.m.).