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Familiar Formula Leads Wildcats to 2-1 Victory over DePaul
Oct. 23, 2005
CHICAGO, Ill. - The Wildcats tenacious late-game offense was a decisive factor once again as Villanova (10-4-4, 6-1-3 Big East) defeated DePaul (5-8-4, 3-5-3 BE) 2-1 on Sunday afternoon at Wish Field. With the win, the Wildcats clinched second place in the Division B conference standings and secured a home game in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.
For the second time in its last three victories, Villanova rallied to win a game in which the opposition scored first. The team had been 0-14-3 since 2003 when its opponent netted the first goal until breaking through with a 3-2 victory over Louisville on October 9.
On Sunday afternoon it was sophomore forward Nikki Mabery (Phoenix, Ariz.) who was the driving force behind the Wildcats comeback. With Villanova trailing 1-0 in the 83rd minute, Mabery had a ball at the top of the box and blasted a shot towards the left goalpost. Blue Demons goalkeeper Cara LaRocca dove to her right to deflect the ball away from the net, but the Wildcats were awarded a corner kick as the deflection went over the back line.
Sophomore defender Kayce Blandford (Columbia, Md.) took the corner kick from the left side and the ball, while still in the air, caromed off a DePaul player and into the left corner of the net to tie the game. The score was officially recorded as an own goal.
Just 88 seconds after her shot led to the sequence of plays that tied the game, Mabery struck again from nearly the same spot. She was in the center of the box when she took a feed from freshman forward Ali Foley (Short Hills, N.J.) and drilled the ball into the back of the net. It was Mabery's sixth goal of the season and third career game-winner, while Foley registered her first collegiate point with the assist.
The two late Villanova scores brought the tally of goals scored after the 70th minute to 10 for the season. The Wildcats have scored 19 of their 26 goals (73.1 percent) after halftime and have been particularly potent late in regulation when the game is on the line.
Although Villanova controlled the pace of play early on in the game, it was clear that the Blue Demons were determined to make good on an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a victory. Neither team broke through with a goal in the first half, but DePaul got on the board in the 60th minute on a goal from Margo Sackmaster.
As was the case with Mabery's game-winning goal, Sackmaster was positioned in the center of the box when she scored the game's first goal. Fellow senior Julianne Sitch seized a free ball and left it in the box for Sackmaster, who headed the ball into the right side of the net.
The Wildcats started strong out of the gates and freshman forward Nicole Coia (Simpsonville, S.C.) had the team's first shot just 33 seconds into the contest. Villanova owned a 6-1 shot advantage in the first 16 minutes of the game before the Blue Demons defense started to slow down the pace. The Wildcats managed just six shots the rest of the way and wound up being outshot 14-12 for the game by DePaul. Junior goalkeeper Jillian Loyden (Vineland, N.J.) had two saves on the afternoon.
The Blue Demons nearly took a lead in the closing seconds of the first half when Lauren Spacht had a shot from the right side into an empty net. Loyden had come out of the net in an effort to collect possession away from DePaul, but Spacht was there and saw a wide-open goal looming in front of her. Loyden managed to get a piece of the shot at the last minute and the ball eventually went left of the net.
Sunday was the final day of the regular season conference schedule, and the scenarios for the conference tournament started to take shape during the afternoon. Villanova finished in second place in Division B by going 6-1-3 in conference games and earning 21 points. The Wildcats will now take on the third seed from Division A in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. That quarterfinal game will pit Villanova against West Virginia in a game that will take place on Sunday, October 30 at 1 p.m.
Notre Dame (10-1-0 Big East) earned the top seed in Division B, while Louisville (6-5-0) finished in third place. Rutgers (5-6-0) and Georgetown (4-6-1) were the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively, and will face a first round play-in game in order to reach the quarterfinals. In Division A, Connecticut (10-1-0) earned the top seed and was followed by Marquette (9-2-0), West Virginia (7-2-1), Syracuse (3-5-3) and Pittsburgh (3-6-2).
NOTES: The Wildcats had a regular season game against the Mountaineers that was rained out on Friday, October 14 ... Since all seeds were determined by the outcome of Sunday's games, the game will not be made up ... Villanova will face West Virginia in the conference tournament for the third straight season ... The Wildcats advanced on penalty kicks in the semifinals of the 2003 tournament and defeated the Mountaineers 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2004 event ... Next Sunday's game will be the first of those three postseason contests to be played at Villanova ... The Wildcats lead the all-time series by a slim 4-3-4 margin ... Villanova is 2-4-2 this season when its opponent scores first ... The squad is also 3-2-1 when the opposition has more shots ... The Wildcats won all three of its games during the regular season against the new members of the Big East ... Villanova also defeated Cincinnati (2-1) and Louisville (3-2) ... The Wildcats have not faced other conference newcomers Marquette or the University of South Florida ... The only other time Villanova completed the regular season conference schedule with just one loss was in 2002 ... That season the Wildcats were 14-2-5 overall and finished with a 4-1-1 record in conference play ... During that season only games against division opponents in the conference counted towards the conference record ... Mabery's other game-winning goals came against Bucknell last season and versus Pittsburgh this season.
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