Sept. 17, 2006

Final Stats

VILLANOVA, Pa. - A pair of second half goals lifted Seton Hall (6-2-0 overall, 4-0-0 Big East) to a 2-0 victory over Villanova (3-5-1 overall, 0-4-0 Big East) in a match played on a warm and sunny afternoon at the Villanova Soccer Complex.

The first half was marked by relatively few scoring chances. Both the Pirates and Wildcats sent six shots towards the others' goal but only two apiece forced the opposition goalie to make a save. The game was scoreless at intermission.

Villanova appeared to have grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 54th minute when sophomore Joe Taylor (Southampton, Pa.) and junior Dan DeMasters (Litiz, Pa.) combined to set up freshman midfielder Phil Dillon (Millburn, N.J.) inside the Pirate box. Dillon's shot beat Pirate goalie Ian Joyce but the Wildcats were judged to have been offside, negating the score.

The momentum swung toward Seton Hall almost immediately. Eliseo Giusfredi attempted to split a pair of Villanova defenders with the ball inside the box and contact ensued. Giusfredi was awarded a penalty kick and he sent a shot into the corner past Villanova junior goalie Jason Friel (Dublin, Pa.) to make it 1-0 at the 56:33 mark.

The Wildcats, led by DeMasters, applied pressure but the Hall did not crack. Finally, Jon Lewandowski lofted a long blast from outside the top of the box to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead at 82:52. Christian Vercollone was credited with an assist on the score.

Seton Hall owned a 16-15 advantage in shots. Joyce made three saves in net to record the shutout for the Hall while Friel made six saves for Villanova.

The Wildcats return to action on Tuesday evening at the University of Delaware in a non-conference match scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. This game was originally scheduled for Sept. 5 but was postponed due to wet field conditions.