Aug. 31, 2008

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BURLINGTON, Vt. - A late barrage of goals erased a scoreless deadlock and Villanova (3-0) surged to a 3-0 win over Vermont (1-2) on Sunday afternoon at Centennial Field to claim the championship at the TD Banknorth Classic. The Wildcats scored all three of their goals in the final 13 minutes to become the ninth different champion in as many years since the tournament debuted in 2000.

Senior Erin Hardiman (Galloway, N.J.) was named the tournament's Offensive MVP while senior Laura Sylvester (Broomall, Pa.) and sophomore Rachel Schuyler (Cheshire, Conn.) each were named to the All-Tournament team.

Schuyler headed in the first goal of the game at the 77:57 mark to notch her first career game-winning goal. Freshman Kaitlin Ryan (Wayne, N.J.) dribbled the ball up the right side and delivered a pass to classmate Erin Ryan (Doylestown, Pa.) just outside the right edge of the box. Ryan slid a pass to Schuyler, who scored her first goal of the season to put Villanova ahead to stay.

Before the Catamounts really had an opportunity to push for an equalizer, the Wildcats struck two more times to put the game out of reach. Kaitlin Ryan scored her first collegiate goal with 7:01 remaining on a one-timer from the middle of the box. Hardiman recorded the assist on that goal on a slick pass from the right side, then scored a goal of her own just 62 seconds later on a feed from freshman Lauren McCoy (Spotsylvania, Va.).

Villanova owned a 12-5 edge in shots for the afternoon but was forced to battle Vermont for control of the ball throughout much of the contest. The Catamounts, fresh off a 2-1 victory over Central Connecticut State on Friday, matched the Wildcats energy level in the early going. Junior goalkeeper Eliza Bradley kept the game scoreless until late in the contest, finished with six saves and was named the Defensive MVP of the tournament.

In goal for Villanova, junior Molly Williams (Hinsdale, Ill.) had one save and posted her second solo shutout in three games to begin the season. The Wildcats have outscored their opposition by a 12-1 margin thus far and improve to 3-0 for the seventh time in program history.

With today's victory, Villanova has now won nine straight regular season tournament games since 2005. The Wildcats also continue to dominate in the month of August, improving to 14-1-1 (.906) since the start of the 2001 season. Villanova is also 6-0-1 specifically on August 31 in the last eight years.

Next up for the Wildcats is their own home tournament next weekend, which will feature La Salle, Loyola (Md.) and San Diego State. Villanova hosts San Diego State at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 5 and entertains La Salle at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 7.

NOTES: Hardiman has had at least one point in all three games to start the season, totaling three goals and four assists for 10 points ... She leads the team in all three categories and had one goal and two assists in this weekend's tournament ... Hardiman was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career last week ... McCoy, Erin Ryan and Kaitlin Ryan each registered their first collegiate points in today's game ... At one point in the first half, all six Wildcat freshmen were in the game at the same time.