VILLANOVA, Pa. – First half scoring came up big for Villanova on Sunday as the Wildcats went on to beat Lehigh 4-0 at Higgins Soccer Complex.
Villanova (4-2) has now won four consecutive games in shutout fashion, marking the longest winning streak since the 2021 team started the season with six straight. It is also the longest string of clean sheet victories since the 2006 team took seven straight.
Four different Wildcats found the net in the win over Lehigh (2-3-1) to match the most goals scored in a game during the
Samar Azem era. The last 4-0 result came against Temple last season.
Hannah Curtin,
Avrie Nelsen and
Amalia Cardo each had two-point games with their respective goals while
Alex Little had a pair of assists.
Morgan Kotch led all players in scoring, netting her second goal of the season and tapping in an assist.
"That first 45 minutes was the best I've seen us play," head coach
Samar Azem said. "The second 45 minutes, you know, we're not used to these experiences where we're in the driver's seat and we're so far in advance and we let that get the best of us. We really lost a lot of the momentum that we had. Credit to Lehigh; they changed a few things they did defensively, but at the end of the day when you can play a lot of players and give a lot of people experience, it's because they're doing a fantastic job in training."
Curtin started the scoring in the 15
th minute with a timely rebound inside the box. Cardo sent an arching cross into the box that was deflected by a Mountain Hawk. Little immediately got a head on the redirect that was once again stopped by the Lehigh defense near the left post that fell to the ground and was immediately kicked in with Curtin's left foot.
The graduate striker is up to a team-high three goals on the season.
Two and a half minutes later, Nelsen punched in her second goal of the year. A Wildcat throw in was briefly corralled by Lehigh's defense. The freshman forward cut in to steal the ball and get it into the box where she got a look past a sliding Maggie Ousouljoglou to make it 2-0.
Cardo's number was called in the 33
rd minute to extend the Blue and White lead. Little was played a solid ball by
Gabby Koluch down the right side of the 18-yard box that the junior crossed into the box.
Morgan Kotch slid in for a chance that redirected back to a charging Cardo, punching it in from just above the six-yard box.
The sophomore has now recorded at least a point in five of the team's six games on the season, four of those in each of the last four games. The goal marked her first since she scored on a penalty kick in the season opener. Her four consecutive games with at least a point are the longest scoring streak by a Wildcat since Chloe O'Neill had either a goal or an assist in seven straight in 2021.
Kotch got into the goal column in the 43
rd minute thanks to a miscue by Lehigh's defense. She sent a rocket toward the net that was hit in by a Lehigh defender to make it 4-0 ahead of the break.
Villanova led shots 8-2 in the opening 45, 5-1 for shots on frame with
Hannah Dickinson saving that lone Mountain Hawk from Summer Hill in the 26
th minute. In the second half, Lehigh answered in the shot tally with an 8-5 advantage, leaving Villanova with a narrow 13-10 shot lead. Dickinson moved to 4-2 on the season with one save in 78:55 on the pitch before
Allie Vincent subbed in for the combined shutout. She made three saves down the stretch including a big save at the goal line in the 88
th minute.
Lehigh's Lola Wojciechowski led all players with four shots. Ousouljoglou was credited with the loss, allowing four goals without a save in the first half. R'Reeyah Mabry-Francis came in for the second half, making one save along the way.
Villanova hits the road for back-to-back road games this week, first heading to Princeton on Thursday for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
