Villanova University

Sept. 20, 2009

Final Stats

VILLANOVA, Pa. - A goal from freshman Kyle Soroka less than four minutes into the match was the only score as the Villanova Wildcats (4-2-1 overall, 1-1-0 BIG EAST) earned their first conference win of the season with a 1-0 triumph over Providence (3-3-0 overall, 0-2-0 BIG EAST) here on a sunny afternoon.

The win was a nice rebound after a disappointing 2-1 loss in the conference opener to Connecticut on Friday.

"It's funny," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "We played better soccer on Friday than we did today yet we end up with the win today. I thought the most important thing today was that we did a lot of little things well. That's something we talk about all the time in our program and we have our `Nova Club", which tracks all those kinds of attitude plays. We made a lot of them today against a quality team."

The tone for the Wildcats was set early off the game's first corner kick. Soroka fed the ball to fellow freshman Emerson Lawrence a few yards away. Lawrence returned the pass to Soroka who dribbled a few steps in and let loose with a curling shot that eluded a collection of Friars and `Cats in the box as well as Providence goalkeeper Tim Murray. The tally came at 3:44.

"That was a great thing for us," stated Carlin. "It forced them to chase the game and gives us a lot of flexibility with substitutions. We kind of settled in and the pressure fell on them to make plays."

Neither team generated much more offense over the remainder of the first half, with VU owning a 5-3 edge in shots. That would change in the second half, a point Carlin made to his troops.

"We didn't think that goal would hold up," he said. "We talked at halftime about the importance of the next goal."

The Friars engineered a number of quality scoring chances in the half. The first came in the 55th minute when Villanova goalkeeper Chris Bresnahan came the line to stymie Alex Redding's bid for a goal. It was one of four saves the Wildcat keeper would make on the afternoon.

In the 70th minute, Bresnahan again stood tall on a shot from Benjamin Wexler that appeared targeted for the net.

Villanova had some chances of its own, including one excellent opportunity off the foot of Stephen Paresi that Murray stopped.

And, then, finally came a header from Providence's Marc Cintron that sailed just over the cross bar in the final minutes of action.

"The defense played great and I'm just trying to do my part," stated Bresnahan. "It was a tough battle but we hung in there."

There were five yellow cards assessed, all after intermission. But the Wildcats kept their cool and earned the win.

Next up for Villanova is a Friday BIG EAST match at Georgetown.