April 6, 2001

Complete Fairfield Game Notes in PDF Format
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Villanova Wildcats
versus
Fairfield Stags

Saturday * April 7, 2001 * 1:00 p.m.

Scouting The Stags: Fairfield enters today's game with Villanova after phenomenal efforts against Manhattan and previously #20 Harvard. The Stags dominated both teams in every aspect of the game and walked away victorious 13-4 over Manhattan and 8-4 over Harvard. Offensively for the Stags, Marc Torrey (13 G, 3 A), Troy Bamann (11 G, 19 A), Tom Werney (16 G, 6A), and Rob Scipioni (11 G, 14 A) are the players to watch. As a team, the Fairfield defense is allowing only 8.75 goals against. The are paced by the play of goalkeeper C.J. Kemp. Kemp currently touts a 8.67 goals against average and .641 save percentage.

Battling for the National Spotlight: Today's game between Fairfield and Villanova features two teams that are on the verge of breaking into the nation's top-20 teams. Villanova was ranked in the USILA/STX Division I rankings as the 25th team in the country last week. Fairfield is currently ranked as the 26th ranked team in the Brine/360lacrosse.com poll. Today's game is almost a must win for both teams if they hope to climb at all in the national rankings the rest of the season.

Making Their Marks: Villanova head men's lacrosse coach Randy Marks has been at the helm of the Wildcats' lacrosse program for 19 years. As the second longest tenured coach at Villanova, Marks has seen his three sons play for his program. His eldest son David played for two years in 1995 and 1996 before transferring to Johns Hopkins. David Marks returned after the two years at Hopkins to now serve as an assistant under his father. Currently, Randy Marks watches as his other two sons, middle son Justin and youngest son Brian, anchor his first attack line. The two have prospered together tallying a combined 30 goals and 17 assists for 47 points. Those marks account for 39 percent of the Wildcats offense. Justin Marks is second on the team in goals with 12 and has also tallied an assist. Brian Marks currently leads the team in points with 34 after tallying 18 goals and 16 assists.

Wilk's Mastery: He often taunts his teammates in practice that they can not score on him and there is a good reason why. Most people can not score on him. Wilk along with a stellar defense has held opponents to a meager 58 goals in eight games. Over his four-year career at Villanova opponents have scored only 354 goals on the Bound Brook, NJ native. Every year, Wilk's goals against average has improved dramatically. In his freshman campaign he touted a 14.5 goals against average. As a sophomore he improved to 10.5 and as a junior he lowered his average to 9.61. Currently, his 7.75 goals against average is 2.25 under his career average of 10.0 goals against. In the most recently released NCAA statistical rankings, Wilk ranks 12th in the nation in save percentage and 10th in goals against average.

Among the National Leaders: Including Wilk's two individual rankings, the `Cats appear as a team or have an individuals appearing ten times in the most recent NCAA statistics. Leading the way is Brian Marks, who currently ranks 13th in the nation in scoring at 4.29 points per game. He is also ranked among the leaders in assists with 2.14 per game, placing him also 13th. Michael Holloway joins Marks' among the assist leaders, ranked 15th with an average of 2.0 per game. Frank Falanga is the only other individual appearing besides Wilk, Marks, and Holloway. He is ranked 19th in the nation in face-off win percentage with a mark of .545. As a team Villanova is ranked 6th in man-down defense, shutting down the opponent .813 percent of the time. Villanova's defense has prospered as well on even strength placing them 12th among the nation's elite in scoring defense. The `Cats tout a 7.57 goals against average. Villanova is also in the top-20 in face-off win percentage, 15th (.555), and scoring margin, 18th (2.14).

Freshman Influence: So far in 2001, Villanova has seen four of their freshman recruits step to the forefront. Matt Lucas, David Cacciabeve, Richie Kratz, and Scott MacMullan all have made a dramatic influence. The four midfielders were all recruited to replace a midfield that was depleted heavily by graduation. Currently, Lucas and Cacciabeve are featured together with junior Michael Holloway on the first midfield line, while Kratz and MacMullan join junior Randall Calvert on the second midfield line. Together the four have combined for 15 goals and six assists for 21 points. Kratz leds the group with six goals and four assists for ten points. Lucas is second amongst his freshman peers with five goals. Cacciabeve has recorded four goals and one assist, while MacMullan has posted one assist.

Second, Third, and Fourth: If Villanova can get past the first quarter tied or ahead, chances are they will emerge victorious in the contest. In the first quarter, the Wildcats have been outscored by their opponents 19 to 20. For the remainder of the game, Villanova has outscored their opponents 61 to 45. In the second quarter the `Cats hold a 19-12 advantage, in the third quarter they have been almost as good, holding a 22-18 lead over opponents, and in the fourth they have been solid outscoring opponents by a margin of five goals, 20-15.