Sept. 13, 2009

EASTON, Pa. - An early goal from senior Adam Amann helped Villanova gain an early advantage and the Wildcats (3-1-1) went on to post a 3-1 victory over the Fordham Rams (0-4-0) in the Lafayette Puma Classic played here this afternoon.

The Wildcats made certain to match the energy of Friday night's 2-1 victory over Binghamton and an early goal from Amann went a long ways towards accomplishing that task. Amann took a feed from senior Mike Seamon and his shot beat Fordham goalkeeper Ryan Meara just 5:28 into the first half to stake the Wildcats to a 1-0 edge.

"I thought we played very well for most of the first half," stated head coach Tom Carlin. "Our ball movement was as good as it's been all year and Amann's goal got us the lead."

Villanova added to the lead at 28:43 when Kyle McCarthy scored his first collegiate goal to make it a two goal cushion.

The Rams cut their deficit in half just before intermission. Meara lofted a ball to Matt Courtenay off a free kick at the 44:32 mark and Courtenay's shot found the back of the net to make it 2-1.

"We played so well in the first half and were cruising along but that play near the end of the half gave Fordham some momentum," stated Carlin. "They made a push in the second half and had us on our heels at time. But our defense held firm."

Fordham attempted to get the equalizer in the second half but it was Villanova sophomore Will Ogden who came up with the match's final score. He got in behind the Ram defense, accepted a pass from Seamon, and sent a shot past Meara at the 77:16 mark to complete the scoring.

Sophomore Chris Bresnahan was solid in net, making seven saves on the day to post his third victory of the young season.

"Nick Rouzier and Emerson Lawrence were very solid for us in the back again today," noted Carlin.

The Wildcats are off until Friday when they open BIG EAST Conference action at the Soccer Complex against Connecticut at 4:00 p.m. The Huskies will be followed into Villanova by Providence on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

"We talked about this after the game with our guys," stated Carlin. "We got two good wins here this weekend and I'm proud of our effort. But now we move into the BIG EAST and have two challenging games ahead this weekend. This is why we came to Villanova to play games like these and I think our guys are excited about the opportunity."