Villanova University

May 6, 2010

Villanova Notes vs. Georgetown

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The No. 13/11 Villanova men's lacrosse team (10-4, 4-1 Big East) will face what could be their biggest game of the season on Saturday evening against the No. 14/14 Georgetown Hoyas (8-5, 4-1 Big East) at 7 p.m. in Villanova Stadium. The night will also serve as the final home game for seven graduating Villanova seniors.

On the line for both teams is a possible bid into the 16-team field of the NCAA Tournament. Both squads enter the contest with identical league records, and, barring a Syracuse victory on Saturday, are vying for second place in the inaugural season of the BIG EAST Men's Lacrosse Conference.

Head coach Mike Corrado states,"We look forward to playing another top-20 opponent like Georgetown in our Big East finale. It will be an emotional night for our seven seniors playing their last game in Villanova Stadium. They have been such an instrumental part of the program winning 21 games over the last two years."

Junior LSM Brian Karalunas adds, "With a possible NCAA tournament bid and second place in the inaugural Big East Conference on the line, you can expect this to be a hard fought game on both sides. Our team cannot wait for the opportunity to take the field Saturday night in front of our home fans and give our best effort to win against a strong Georgetown team. You can expect 60 minutes of great lacrosse."

Saturday's game with mark the 16th all-time meeting between the two sides, with Villanova holding a 9-6 advantage in the series. Georgetown won the last outing in a 15-6 win on April 25th, 1999 under then-VU head coach Randy Marks.

The Wildcats are guided by sophomore midfielder Kevin Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y.) who leads the team in scoring with 41 points. Cunningham has scored 14 goals and leads the team with 27 assists. He is currently second in the BIG EAST in assists per game (1.93) also ranks 13th in the NCAA in assists per game, averaging 1.79 per outing.

The team's top goal scorer is senior midfielder Paul Webber (Manhasset, N.Y.), who has captured 29 goals including five hat tricks this season. Webber is second in the BIG EAST in goals per game (2.07) and tied for first in the conference with three game-winning goals for the season.

Villanova also relies upon freshman Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md.), senior Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.) and sophomore Michael Vigilante (Massapequa, N.Y.) for offensive production. Combined, the trio has produced 56 goals and 11 assists for the Wildcats and nearly 30% of all points for the season.

On the defensive, Karalunas (Dewitt, N.Y.) continues to dominate the NCAA in caused turnovers per game, leading the nation averaging 3.57 per outing. He guides the squad with 55 caused turnovers for the year and is second on the team with 51 ground balls.

In addition to Karalunas, sophomore Chris Creighton (West Chester, Pa.), junior Chris Ficke (Madison, N.J.) and senior Bryan McCartney (Doylestown, Pa.) have helped Villanova limit their opponents to less than 10 goals in nine games this season. They also have contributed to VU's 2nd place standing in the NCAA in man-down defense.

Freshman goalkeeper Billy Hurley (Morristown, N.J.) will most likely be making his ninth start of the season on Saturday evening. This week, Hurley was honored by the BIG EAST and earned Honor Roll accolades for his 12 save performance over Providence. On the season, Hurley ranks second in the conference averaging 9.78 saves per game and is third with a .540 save percentage.

For the Hoyas, Craig Dowd leads the team with 42 points and 31 assists while Andrew Brancacaccio has tallied 24 goals for a team high. Brian Tabb serves as the primary face-off specialist for GU and has posted a .558 win percentage from the X. In goal, C.T. Fisher and Jack Davis have been splitting minutes and combine for a .483 save percentage while allowing 10.53 goals per game on average.

As a team, GU holds steady with a No. 10 spot in the national RPI. For the season, three out of their four losses come from top-20 ranked opponents.

Karalunas states, "Since our first practice in the fall, our goal has been to make the NCAA Tournament to have the chance compete for a championship. We believe that if we win on Saturday we'll have a great opportunity to capture our goal. It will be a great game."