WASHINGTON, D.C. – No. 15 Georgetown grabbed the upper hand in the first half over Villanova and went on to post a 3-0 victory in an East Division matchup of BIG EAST play Saturday night at Shaw Field.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Yagudayev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) did his best to stifle the Hoyas, making a season-high 11 saves in this one. Georgetown generated 14 shots on goal over the course of 90 minutes.
 
"Georgetown is very good," said Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow. "You know coming in here that they are going to play 1-2 touch soccer and move the ball. I thought we almost played nervous in the first half and weren't as composed with the ball as we need to be. One thing we can learn from this is how good Georgetown's decision-making is."
 
The Hoyas, ranked No. 15 this week in the United Soccer Coaches poll, began to build pressure over the match's first 15 minutes. The Hoyas earned three corner kicks, but the Wildcats turned away each of them without allowing a shot.
 
But on their fifth corner kick of the first 15:35, the Hoyas notched the game's first goal. Zach Zengue served a beautiful ball from the right side into the area directly in front of the Villanova net. Tate Lampmann rose up and re-directed the ball into the top half of the goal at 15:38.
 
Georgetown followed up with a pair of chances that Yagudayev made the saves on.
 
A counterattack led to the Hoyas' second goal. Max Viera took a feed from Mitchell Baker on the right side with lots of space and sent a shot along the natural grass surface inside the left post at 23:10.
 
Midway through the first half, the Hoyas held a 6-0 advantage in shots and a 6-0 edge over the Wildcats on corner kicks.
 
Georgetown found the back of the net a third time in the 28^th minute but the play was ruled to have been offsides.
 
The two-goal lead stood up as the teams broke for halftime. Georgetown held a 12-0 edge in shots. Yagudayev made four saves over the first 45 minutes.
 
"We had a good road game plan that we felt could help us relieve some of the pressure they apply," Fetrow stated, "but I don't think we did a good job of executing it in that first half. They're well-drilled and well-coached. Their re-pressing kept us on our back foot to the point where we spent a lot of time defending."
 
Yagudayev was sensational, giving the Wildcats the chance to mount a response.
 
"Yagu was all over the place making saves," noted Fetrow. "He made some saves I'm not sure you even expect him to make. It was just a great performance."
 
Villanova got its best bid of the first 60 minutes when junior Marcello Mazzola fired a shot that Georgetown goalkeeper Tenzing Manske made the save on.
 
"It was better in the second half," said Fetrow. "We had more possession and kind of settled into the game. We still didn't do enough in the final third to get the goal that could have changed the tenor of the game."
 
At 79:56, Baker scored the Hoyas' third goal of the night. The shot went into the lower left side of the net.
 
Villanova will have a full week to regroup with two league matches and one non-conference clash still on the 2025 regular season docket.
 
"We just have to keep getting better," stated Fetrow. "We have some time to recover, and the focus right now isn't on the standings or statistics. It's about improving so that we can get a result against St. John's."
 
On Saturday, Nov. 1, the 'Cats will welcome the Red Storm to the Higgins Soccer Complex (noon/ESPN+) and they close out the regular season at Marquette on Friday, Nov. 7. A non-league clash vs. Holy Family is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 4 (2 p.m./ESPN+).