March 18, 2006

Box Score

Moon Township, Pa. - Senior Matt Starker (Summit, N.J.) scored a career-high five goals and had one assist for a six-point day as Villanova (3-4, 1-0 Colonial Athletic Association) defeated Robert Morris (1-5, 0-2 CAA) 11-8 this afternoon at Joe Walton Stadium.

Villanova's Chris Mercer (Severna Park, Md.) scored first, off a feed from freshman Tim Langan, Jr. (Madison, N.J.) at 10:16 in the first quarter. Robert Morris's Truett Valentine posted an unassisted goal at 5:03 to tie the game at one.

But `Nova reeled off four straight goals, the only scoring of the second quarter, to take a 5-1 lead the `Cats would not relinquish. Starker scored unassisted at 14:29 before Langan, Jr. and sophomore Chris MacDonald (Westfield, N.J.) each knocked in goals with assists from junior Mike Haas (North Wales, Pa.) at 9:08 and 5:36 respectively. MacDonald scored again at 5:16, this time Starker was credited with the assist.

The Colonials would not roll over, however, and scored two pairs of goals sandwiched around an unassisted goal by Villanova's junior Paul Genovese (Huntington, N.Y.). Lee Davis and Frank Keel notched unassisted goals at 13:58 and 10:09, respectively, and Mike Fleming (unassisted) and Brandon Johnson (from Carlo Sunseri) also scored for the Colonials to move them to within one, 6-5, with 5:54 remaining in a high-scoring third quarter.

Villanova's Starker found the back of the net two consecutive times, unassisted at 2:15, and then off a Tim Driscoll (Montville, N.J.) feed just 12 seconds later to put `Nova back on top, 8-5. RMU's Keel scored with 1:06 left in the period off an assist from Brenden Arthur before Starker scored for the third time in the stanza, unassisted with 39 seconds left, to push the `Cat's edge to 9-6.

Eric DeSalvatore notched a goal at 9:31 in the fourth but Langan, Jr. and Starker each posted goals to put away the game for `Nova.

Villanova held a 37-21 shot advantage and dominated the groundballs (43-17) and the face-offs (19-3). Junior Chris Colliniates (Atlantic Beach, N.Y.) had an excellent day for the Wildcats, earning those 19 face-offs as well as a career-high 18 groundballs. Starker's totals of five goals and six points were also career highs for the senior. Langan, Jr. scored multiple goals for the third time in his young career. Senior goalie Joe Canuso (Moorestown, N.J.) made six saves in the win.