VILLANOVA, Pa. – Junior Fynn Lahrsen notched a goal and an assist to help lead Villanova (5-5-1 overall, 0-3-0 BIG EAST) past New Haven in a non-conference match played on a sun-splashed fall afternoon at the Higgins Soccer Complex.
The win gets the 'Cats back into the win column after being shut out by Xavier and UConn.
Villanova scored two goals in the first 16:28 of the contest to grab a lead that they never relinquished.
"The early lead gives us some momentum, gives us some energy," said redshirt junior midfielder Luke Martelli, who scored the third goal of the match in the second half to give Nova a two-goal cushion. "We've been trying to get on the scoresheet. It's been two games without scoring a goal.
"We got the two early and felt pretty good about it. We've just got to do a better job in terms of maintaining it, maintaining the energy. Overall, a win is a win."
The first goal began with work on the right side by Jasper Zulman who dribbled near the end line before feeding Lahrsen, who sent a feed to sophomore Luca Mazzola. In his second game back in the lineup after missing time with injury, Mazzola fired a blast into the lower right corner of the net at 9:20.
Seven minutes later, Lahrsen was applying pressure inside the Chargers' 18-yard box when a miscue by goalkeeper Garrett Smith, left the ball at his feet with an open net before him. The native of Frankfurt, Germany calmly pushed the ball into the net at 16:28 to extend the advantage to two.
"I think the goals were just a byproduct of us trying to be more forward thinking," said Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow. "In our scouting report we talked about wanting to serve into the box. We thought that was an area where New Haven had struggled. Once we started getting service into the box, we started creating opportunities. That led to the first goal and fortunately for us, they kind of gifted us the second goal."
Villanova's domination of the early minutes was such that it appeared they might be able to be in control the remainder of the way. But the Chargers applied substantial pressure, forcing junior goalkeeper Alex Yagudayev to make a series of key saves. New Haven cut the margin to 2-1 on a set piece goal that began with a corner kick. Vinicius Lemke sent a header into the net at 30:22
"We started getting away from what had made us successful early," Fetrow said. "I thought our backs got better as the game went on but for a stretch there we had a hard time winning second balls. We just need to be a bit more clinical and make sure we're ending plays before they develop into dangerous moments for the other team."
As he has done so often in his Villanova career, it fell to Martelli to provide a bit of breathing room late. Senior Sam Nyenka threaded a through ball that Martelli collected in stride with the New Haven defense scrambling back in transition. He turned the semi-breakaway into his third goal of the season at 81:02.
"Luke Martelli is such a hard-working player," Fetrow said. "It showed again today. His GPS metrics for work rate are off the charts. There is no tired switch for him. Sam did a great job with his holdup play to kind of pin their center back, he played the ball beyond and he knew that Luke was going to run on to it."
The Wildcats wrap up a three-game homestand on Saturday. Villanova returns to league play when Providence (5-4-1 overall, 0-2-0 BIG EAST) visits the Higgins Soccer Complex at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).
