Box Score PRINCETON, N.J. – The Villanova Wildcats got a stern test Friday night in their first road contest of 2026 but came up with a hard-earned point in a 1-1 tie at Princeton. The Tigers, the 2025 Ivy League champions, finished 15-2-2 a season ago.
Junior Luke Martelli helped Nova answer after the Tigers broke through with the first goal conceded by the Cats this season at 71:44. Martelli took a feed from Karson Vazquez and fired the shot into the net.
"Karson got me the ball and I had a chance," Martelli said. "It's something I've been working on in practice – opening my hips and I put it in the corner."
Villanova improved to 2-0-1 this season while Princeton is 0-0-1.
"We've got a bunch of fighters," said Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow. "We've got guys who give it everything they have. We conceded the first goal of the season and the guys didn't get down. They came right back and got one and changed the momentum of the game against a good Princeton team in a great road atmosphere."
The Tigers had a couple of chances in the opening 15 minutes on a beautiful late summer night at Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium. The first was off a free kick to the right of Nova keeper Alex Yagudayev that VU was able to fend off. The second was a shot off the foot of Jackson Martin that went wide of the right post. Yagudayev then made his first save with a dive to his left to stop a bid by Bardia Hormozi.
Villanova, meanwhile, served some balls from its back line ahead, hoping to catch the Tigers' defense out of position. There were a couple of near misses and Fynn Lahrsen collected one such pass with room to operate but his shot sailed over the net.
Princeton had its best chance of the first 38 minutes when Kevin Kelley fired one off the crossbar off a nice setup in the middle part of the 18-yard box.
At halftime, the game was scoreless. Villanova limited the Tigers to just five first half shots but had only the one from Lahrsen on their ledger.
Villanova got some help from the post early in the second half. Noah Hammerschmidt sent a blast that caught the right post flush and rolled harmlessly over the end line. Yagudayev punched another bid by the Tigers out of harm's way off a corner kick from the right side in the 57th minute to keep the match level.
A lofted ball from Brody Crampton found Javon Daniels on the right side across midfield. Daniels sent a ball toward net that the Tigers keeper Andrew Samuels was able to collect.
Yagudayev came up with a huge save in the 72nd minute as he stopped Roke Tsunehara at point blank range. But a short while later, Hormozi fired a blast into the upper part of the net beyond Yagudayev's reach to put the Tigers up 1-0.
But some crafty passing in the midfield helped Villanova level matters at one. Vazquez gained possession and fed Martelli on the right side. Martelli made his shot count, beating Summers at 73:49.
The Wildcats weren't done. They generated a handful of quality chances in the final 15 minutes, including two bids by Gleb Bogdanov that were just off target.
"We know we've got to score more goals," Fetrow said. "We have to work on that. But our collective defense has been great and that's our foundation. And it's great to have Luke Martelli back."
Prior to the game, Princeton recognized Wildcats' assistant coach Antoine Hoppenot, one of the most decorated Tigers in the program's history. Hoppenot is in his first season as part of Mark Fetrow's coaching staff.
