March 23, 2008

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. - A defensive battle between conference rivals came down to a slow offensive start for Villanova (1-7, 0-1 CAA) in an 8-4 loss to No. 16 Delaware (6-2, 1-0 CAA) on Saturday evening at Rullo Stadium. The Wildcats trailed 5-0 at halftime and got only as close as three goals in the second half as the Blue Hens won the CAA opener for both teams.

Junior goalie Andrew DiLoreto (Wilton, Conn.) had 13 saves for Villanova and the Wildcats used a 26-13 shot advantage in the second half to make a run at Delaware. Junior Tim Driscoll (Montville, N.J.) broke the scoreless drought for the Wildcats with a man-up goal just over two minutes into the third quarter. Sophomore Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.) netted his third goal of the year less than three minutes later, scoring at the 9:38 mark of the quarter to draw Villanova to within 5-2.

Any momentum gained by the Wildcats was stemmed quickly by the Blue Hens though, as Cam Howard answered Webber's goal with one of his own a mere eight seconds later. Howard added a second goal with 4:53 to play in the third period to build Delaware's lead back to five at 7-2.

In the fourth quarter, junior Dan Liva (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) scored his first goal of the season at the 13:52 mark to make the score 7-3. Villanova was still within striking distance at that point but the two remaining goals scored in the game came in the closing minutes. Driscoll scored his 13th goal of the season with 2:28 remaining to close the gap to 7-4 and the Blue Hens closed the scoring on Curtis Dickson's tally with 1:54 to play.

Driscoll finished with two goals and one assist and Webber added a goal and an assist for the Wildcats. Tonight's game marked the fourth time in eight contests this season that Villanova has surrendered eight or fewer goals in a game.

Curtis Dickson had three goals for the Blue Hens, who used a 20-9 edge in shots in the first half to build their big lead. Tom Scherr matched DiLoreto in goal by making 13 saves for Delaware, which controlled nine-of-16 face-offs in the game and limited the Wildcats to going 1-of-8 on extra-man opportunities.

The game remained scoreless for much of the opening period before Vincent Giordano's goal with 2:33 left in the first quarter put the first mark on the scoreboard. Dickson added his first goal of the contest with 43 seconds left in the period to make the score 2-0 and the Blue Hens added three more goals in the second quarter.

Villanova comes home for its next game and will host Sacred Heart next Saturday at 1 p.m.