Sept. 30, 2006

Final Stats

CHICAGO, Ill. - Junior Mike Del Guercio (Chatham, N.J.) notched his second goal in as many games in the 97th minute to lift Villanova (6-6-1, 2-5-0 Big East) to a 2-1 victory in overtime on Saturday afternoon at DePaul (3-8-2, 2-5-0 BE). The Wildcats overcame a 1-0 deficit at halftime to tie the game in the second half before going on to win its second straight conference game.

The host Blue Demons opened the scoring at 15:27 when Erich Reichmann scored on a free kick from just outside the box. His shot bounced off the right post and went into the net for his first goal of the season. Villanova junior goalkeeper Jason Friel (Dublin, Pa.) made three of his four saves in the first half to keep DePaul at bay for the remainder of the period.

The Wildcats were outshot 16-10 for the game, including 10-5 in the second period, but scored the equalizer in the 65th minute to knot the score at 1-1. Junior Farris Fakhoury (Parlin, N.J.) scored his third goal of the season on a rebound in front of the goal at 64:56. Classmate Jon Wells (Montclair, N.J.) was credited with an assist on the play.

Villanova played its third overtime game of the season and picked up its second win in extra time with Del Guercio's game-winner. His one-timer off a free kick was the only shot in the one overtime period and went to the lower right corner for his third goal of the season. Del Guercio also scored the game-winning goal on Wednesday as the Wildcats edged Rutgers 2-1 at the West Campus Soccer Complex.

DePaul generated eight of its nine corner kicks in the game during the second half, when it fired 10 shots towards the Villanova goal. However, Friel saved the only Blue Demon shot on goal in the period and the teams advanced to overtime.

The Wildcats are next in action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. with a road game at Lehigh.