Oct. 29, 2008

Final Stats

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats took a major step towards securing a BIG EAST Tournament berth this afternoon by posting a 1-0 victory over Syracuse (7-6-3 overall, 3-5-2 BIG EAST) in a match played on a cold, blustery day here at the Villanova Soccer Complex. The Wildcats improve to 7-8-2 overall, 4-4-2 in the BIG EAST and now have 14 points in conference play with one game - Saturday at DePaul - remaining in the regular season.

"This was a good win for us," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "We were able to take advantage of an early chance and got Syracuse into a position where they had to chase the game a little bit."

The pivotal play of the afternoon came in the 11th minute. With the ball on Syracuse's side of the field, Wildcat senior Danny DeMasters (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township High School) fed a ball through that found teammate Joe Taylor (Southampton, Pa./Archbishop Wood High School) breaking towards the net. Taylor was met by a sliding Syracuse goalkeeper, Robert Cavicchia, and was upended. A whistle blew and Taylor was awarded a penalty kick.

"Danny fed me a great through ball into the box," stated Taylor. "I was a little surprised to see the keeper come at me because I wasn't sure I had a good angle to the net. But he did and I heard the whistle."

Taylor then stepped to the penalty kick line, the second time he has been on that spot in 11 days. Just as he did against Louisville on Oct. 18, Taylor calmly deposited the ball into the net.

"That gave us a little early momentum," stated Carlin. "That's why you push the ball ahead and into the box. You never know what might happen when you make a run."

In a game that featured only 19 shots that lead seemed formidable. Each team generated five shots in the first half and neither goalie was really challenged. The score remained 1-0 at intermission.

The Orange pressed forward in the final 45 minutes, hoping to land the equalizer. But there were few set pieces in the period and only one corner kick, minimizing the danger for Villanova's defense. Though much of the game was played in VU's end, there were relatively few moments where the a scoring opportunity arose.

In part that was due to the conditions. Winds gusted between 20 and 30 miles per hour throughout the day and it made long passes problematic.

"It definitely affected the game," noted Taylor.

Freshman Chris Bresnahan (McLean, Va./Gonzaga High School) made three saves in posting his seventh shutout of the campaign.