George Washington got three goals in the game's first 60 minutes and then held off a late charge from Villanova to post a 3-2 victory Sunday in non-conference Men's Soccer action at the Higgins Soccer Complex.
Villanova scored its goals in the final 10 minutes. A corner kick served in by graduate transfer was re-directed into the goal by Brody Crampton at 81:30 and then Fynn Lahrsen converted a penalty kick at 89:54 after Sam Nyenka was taken to the turf by a GW defender with the final seconds of the game clock ticking down.
As they assessed a loss that dropped them to 3-2-2 overall, the Wildcats couldn't help but zero in on the first 27 minutes when they sent five high-quality shots at GW goalkeeper Diego Pena, only to see each one saved. Three of the chances on frame came from senior forward Sam Nyenka.
"Everything changes if we get one there," said head coach Mark Fetrow. "We've been struggling to put the ball into the net. It's not something that we're worried about, but it is something we are actively working to improve on. The forwards are doing all the right things. They're staying after training every single day to get extra reps.
"We've got the belief in these guys that they're the guys to do it. You've got to finish one of those early chances because then it's an entirely different game."
That scoreless first period allowed a GW goal scored off a set piece just outside the six-yard box to the left of freshman goalkeeper Dane Johnstone to stand up as a 1-0 advantage at halftime. Jaden Dubon touched the ball to Joe Brayson, who sent the shot into the net at 26:53.
"I thought we gifted them the first goal," Fetrow stated. "We were confident in what we were doing going into the second half. We just wanted to be a little more clinical in the final third. We didn't do that and they did. Credit to them."
The pair of counter-attack goals cost Villanova early in the second half.
Finn Roberts took a pass on the right side from Yago Torres and broke in with a clean look at Johnstone. His shot gave George Washington a 2-0 advantage at 51:16. Less than eight minutes later, Torres got the goal to push the lead to 3-0.
Villanova kept the pressure on and finally broke through on the set piece from the right corner, when Netanel lofted a beautiful ball in that found Crompton.
"We did get a couple late and hopefully that's something we can build on," Fetrow stated.
The Wildcats played without defensive linchpins center back Lorenzo Avalos and goalkeeper Alex Yagudayev. Johnstone made seven saves in his first regular season college action for Nova.
Villanova opens BIG EAST regular season play Friday night at St. John's.
