Villanova University

May 8, 2010

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VILLANOVA, Pa. - No. 11 Villanova fell in the regular season finale to No. 14 Georgetown, 15-9, on Saturday evening. GU scored 10 goals in the second half as the Wildcats were defeated by the Hoyas in front of 1,857 fans on a windy night at Villanova Stadium.

Sophomore Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) led VU with a goal and three assists for the evening while Georgetown's Rickey Mirabito led all scorers with eight points for the day.

Prior to the start of the game, Villanova honored seven graduating seniors who have helped contribute to the development of the program over the past four years.

With the loss, VU (10-5, 4-2 Big East) claims third place in the inaugural season of the BIG EAST Conference while GU (9-5, 5-1 Big East) takes second place honors. Both teams will now await the possibility of an NCAA Tournament bid which will be announced live on ESPNU at 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday night.

The back and forth game included three tied scores and three lead changes, as well as three runs in which one team scored five or more consecutive goals.

Head coach Michael Corrado states, "It's cliché to say that it is a game of runs, but it really is and that's just what happened tonight. Our failed clears hurt us, but it was the same thing the other way when we made our run in the second quarter. Georgetown had some failed clears too."

The Wildcats claimed the first score of the day when freshman Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md.) rocketed a shot into the net off a Cunningham assist at the 10:04 mark, but GU began the first run of the night with five unanswered goals from Stu Shannon, Travis Comeau, Scott Kocis, and Mirabito to end the first quarter with a 5-1 count in favor of the Hoyas.

During that run, Georgetown scored five straight goals in a span of 6:24 to take the lead. They also held VU scoreless for 12:08 after scoring the first goal of the game.

The second stanza belonged to `Nova who answered with six goals of their own. Senior Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.) gave the Wildcats life on a man-up opportunity after finding the cage from a Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.) pass at the 12:56 mark. Meanwhile, freshman Nick Doherty (Bernardsville, N.J.) netted his fourth goal of the season just two minutes later on an unassisted play to close the gap to 5-3.

Rice then answered with a set of goals at the 6:57 and 3:10 mark to even the game even at 5-all, giving him his 24th and 25th goals of the season.

With 1:41 left to play in the half, freshman Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) gave Villanova their second lead of the game from a Mike Brennan assist (Manhasset, N.Y.) at 6-5, while Cunningham increased the lead to 7-5 with 30 seconds to play after connecting with Casertano for the final score before intermission.

Coming out of the locker room, Georgetown scored six straight goals in a span of 8:14 to take an 11-7 lead over the Wildcats. GU's Comeau tied the game at 7-7 at the 8:49 mark from a Patrick Murray assist, while Andrew Brancacaccio gave the Hoyas the lead at 8-7 with 5:46 remaining in the quarter.

The Wildcats began a comeback streak in the fourth period with Webber putting two quick scores behind Fisher for his 30th and 31st nets of the season. The scores got the Wildcats to within two at 11-9 in the final quarter, but it wasn't enough to stop the offensive firepower of Craig Dowd and Mirabito who tallied the last four scores of the game. The final favored the Hoyas, 15-9.

Defensively, junior Brian Karalunas (Dewitt, N.Y.) led VU with two caused turnovers and four ground balls, while Brennan added another four for the evening.

Freshman Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J.) made seven saves in the defeat while GU's C.T. Fisher and Jack Davis combined for 10 stops in the win.

Notes: Tonight's loss ends a 10-game home winning streak for Villanova, which is still 11-2 (.854) at home over the past two seasons... The Wildcats are 3-2 against ranked teams this season, including 2-1 at home... VU went 2-for-3 in man-up opportunities, with Scioscia and Webber capturing one man-up goal each... Villanova was held scoreless last 10:35 despite 9-6 edge in shots in the 4th quarter (GU's C.T. Fisher had three of his six saves during that stretch.)