A fresh chapter opens for Villanova on Friday night, when it kicks off the BIG EAST portion of its regular season schedule at St. John's (7 p.m./ESPN+). The Wildcats (3-2-1 overall) are looking to regain momentum after suffering their first two defeats at home last week to FDU (1-0) and George Washington (3-2).
"It's always exciting to begin the Big East schedule," said Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow, whose teams has focused on reclaiming the defensive grit that characterized its impressive early season work that included three wins and a draw at No. 11 Princeton.
The Red Storm (3-3-0) posted a 2-0 win over Fordham in their most recent outing at Cox Family Field at Belson Stadium on Sunday night. St. John's capitalized with two scores after a red card in the 36th minute put the Rams down a man for the remainder of the match.
Both the Wildcats and Red Storm have early season victories over Fordham. The 'Cats held off the Rams 1-0 on Sept. 1 at the Higgins Soccer Complex behind the stellar work of goalkeeper Alex Yagudayev, who made a career-high 13 saves.
This contest is a return home for Villanova's mainstay in goal, Yagudayev, who grew up in the neighboring borough of Brooklyn and spent ample time in Queens as he made his way into the NYCFC Academy program, where he began at age 13. Yagudayev has started five times for the 'Cats thus far in 2026, and sports a 0.40 goals against average and .939 save percentage. He has been named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week twice.
"Yagu has been one of the best players in college soccer," noted Fetrow.
The Wildcats have registered six goals in six games. Two of those came in the final nine minutes against George Washington and the belief is that the recent work in training on applying attacking pressure will continue to produce results as league play gets underway Friday night.
"We just want to be better with our possessions and not as reliant on set pieces," said back Bar Netanel, who helped produce one of Sunday's goals with a perfect corner kick into the box that sophomore back Brody Crampton was able to re-direct into the goal in the 82nd minute Sunday afternoon. "We have the guys to do that. We just need to be a little more patient and we'll create more attacking opportunities."
St. John's leads the all-time series between the schools at 28-11-6. Last season, the Red Storm posted a 3-1 win over the Wildcats at the Higgins Soccer Complex. In their last visit to Queens, in 2024 Villanova fell 1-0.
Following Friday night's contest, the Wildcats are scheduled to return to Villanova. On Saturday, they will join students, staff and faculty at Villanova's Day of Service before ramping up training again for another non-league clash at Higgins Tuesday afternoon against Soccer Six rival Drexel (4 p.m./ESPN+).
