Nov. 13, 2004

Final Stats

PRINCETON, N.J. - Senior forward Laura Johnson (Ambler, Pa.) turned away from a Yale defender and blasted a shot from just over 20 yards into the top right corner of the net with 11:33 remaining in the game, lifting Villanova (14-5-2) to a 2-1 victory over Yale (13-5-0) in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Championship on Friday evening from a soggy and cold Lourie-Love Field. In the nightcap of Friday's doubleheader, the #7 seed and host Princeton blanked Central Connecticut State 5-0. Villanova will now meet Princeton in a second-round match on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Johnson scored early and late to lift the Wildcats to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the third time in the last four years. She netted the game's first goal just 39 seconds into the game to give Villanova a quick 1-0 lead. Freshman midfielder Melissa Murowski (Warren, N.J.) tapped the ball towards Johnson in the game's opening moments, and Johnson then broke away from the back and beat the Yale goalkeeper in a 1-on-1 situation.

After that opening goal, the teams played nearly even throughout much of the first half, but late in the period momentum began to swing towards the Bulldogs. That momentum eventually led to a goal with 8:52 left in the half, as Stephanie Delvecchio took a pass from Jamie Ortega and aimed a shot into the right side of the net to even the score at 1-1.

Yale began the second half with the same level of intensity it finished the first period with, and nearly took the lead in the 53rd minute. On a Bulldog breakaway, a Yale forward dribbled in for a 1-on-1 encounter with Wildcat sophomore goalkeeper Jillian Loyden (Vineland, N.J.), but Loyden came out of the net and picked the ball off the feet of the Yale player for one of her six saves. Loyden then preserved the lead in the 81st minute when she reached up to push a hard shot by the Bulldogs over the net. The play yielded the only Yale corner kick of the game, but Loyden pushed the corner attempt out of harm's way, allowing Villanova's defense to return the ball downfield.

With the Bulldogs attacking at full force to find an equalizer, the Wildcats sent the ball deep into Yale territory with just under four minutes remaining. Then, in an outstanding display of ball control, Villanova kept possession of the ball for nearly the entire rest of the game, never allowing Yale to get anywhere close to the midfield as time trickled down. Yale had one throw-in with under a minute remaining, but the Wildcats immediately took back possession. The final 10 seconds counted down as the Villanova bench celebrated the victory.

Villanova's defense was in its usual top form, as starting defenders Michelle Biehl (Southampton, Pa.), Laura Koch (Blackwood, N.J.), Kristin Anderson (Annapolis, Md.), and Valerie Grow (Cumberland, R.I.) kept a potent Yale offense at bay for much of the game. The Wildcats outshot the Bulldogs 14-11 for the evening, and had an 8-1 edge in corner kicks.

NOTES: Sunday's second round game will be a rematch of the 2003 first round contest in which Villanova defeated Princeton 1-0 in Charlottesville, Virginia ... The Wildcats went on to reach the third round before being eliminated on penalty kicks by BYU ... Princeton defeated Villanova 1-0 earlier this season in a tournament at Penn ... Johnson moved into sole possession of the school's career list for goals scored with her 29th and 30th career goals ... She also upped her career point total to 88, tying for third all-time at Villanova with Jean Hajjar (1985-88) ... Game-time temperature on Friday night was in the mid-30's and a steady downpour lasted throughout the entire game ... The addition of a 14 mph wind created a game-time wind chill of 27 degrees.