Villanova University

Oct. 1, 2007

VILLANOVA, Pa. - For the second straight season the midpoint of the regular season has come and gone with an undefeated record still intact for the Villanova women's soccer team. The Wildcats are currently 7-0-4 overall and 1-0-2 in BIG EAST play. In two games last week, Villanova played to a scoreless draw against Rutgers and then settled for a 1-1 tie against Seton Hall. Below are some news and notes for the coming week.

BIG EAST Accolades: Sophomore defender Kelly Eagan (St. James, N.Y.) was named to the weekly honor roll by the BIG EAST Conference. Eagan continued her stellar defensive play in the two games last week, as she helped the Wildcats extend their shutout defensive streak to more than 487 minutes before a goal by Seton Hall in the second half of Sunday's game. Eagan marked highly-regarded forwards from Rutgers and Seton Hall in the two games while also being involved in every one of the team's offensive set pieces. This is the second straight week of awards for Eagan, who last week was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week while also receiving honors from Top Drawer Soccer and Soccer Buzz Magazine.

Conference First: Senior forward/midfielder Kaley Guthrie (Ogdensburg, N.J.) scored her third goal of the season to account for the lone Villanova score in Sunday's 1-1 tie against Seton Hall. The goal was the first of her career to come in a BIG EAST game and her sixth career goal overall. After scoring one goal in each of her first three seasons with the team, Guthrie has found the back of the net three times already this season. Her other goals this year have come in victories over Lafayette and St. Peter's. Guthrie has started eight of 11 games for the season and has provided a spark to the team's front line.

Near Record: Through the first 11 games of the season, Villanova has done a good job of creating offensive opportunities with corner kicks. Earlier in the year, the Wildcats set a team record with 19 corner kicks in a win over Robert Morris. That was just three attempts shy of tying the NCAA record for a single game. More recently, in the game against Seton Hall on Sunday, Villanova took 15 corner kicks. That mark was just one away from tying the BIG EAST record for a conference game. The league mark of 16 was set by Notre Dame against Seton Hall on October 24, 1997. Through 11 games, Villanova is tied for the BIG EAST lead with 89 corner kicks.

It Had Been a While: Aside from netting the first score of the game, Seton Hall had another reason to celebrate the goal it scored against Villanova on Sunday. It had been five years and more than 463 minutes of play since the Pirates last notched a goal against the Wildcats traditionally strong defense. Since a 2-1 victory over Seton Hall in 2002, Villanova had posted four straight 1-0 victories in the series between the teams. That string included one game each year between 2003-06 and two contests that went into overtime. The Wildcats lead the all-time series with the Pirates 9-4-1 and have not lost to Seton Hall since 2000.

So Many Minutes: So far this season, senior goalkeeper Jillian Loyden (Vineland, N.J.) has already broken the school career records for victories and shutouts. Next up in her quest to rewrite the Villanova record book is the career record for minutes played. Currently, Loyden has played 6,597:25 in goal for the Wildcats, having started for the team since her freshman season. She needs to play another 86:56, just a few minutes short of one more whole game, to tie the school record of 6684:21 set by Janel Schillig (1998-01).

Lining Up: Through the first 11 games this season, Villanova has used 11 different starting lineups. However, the lineup from game to game has had always had at least seven of the same starters from the previous game. Of the 22 players the team has used this season, 19 have made at least one start.

Pointing Ahead: Senior forward Nikki Mabery (Phoenix, Ariz.) was credited with an assist on the game-tying goal in Sunday's 1-1 draw against Seton Hall. In doing so, she increased her career totals to 29 goals, 13 assists and 71 points. Mabery also had four shots in the game and now has 180 in her career. She continues to move up the school career lists in those categories. Currently, Mabery ranks sixth in Villanova history in career points, fifth in goals and third in shots. In addition, she is tied for fifth with 10 career game-winning goals.

Making Something Out of Nothing: Villanova has been scored on just three times through the first 11 games and leads the BIG EAST Conference in goals-against average and fewest goals allowed. The Wildcats have outscored their opposition by a 28-3 margin and are undefeated with an overall record of 7-0-4. So far this season, senior goalkeeper Jillian Loyden (Vineland, N.J.) has broken the school's career shutout record and the team notched its 100th shutout since the arrival of 11th-year head coach Ann Clifton. In addition, prior to allowing a goal to Seton Hall in Sunday's game, the Wildcats had registered 10 shutouts in their previous 13 regular season BIG EAST games.

Extra Credit: Villanova has already played four games this season that went to overtime, all of which ended in a tie. Last season the team only played five overtime games the entire season and three of them ended with a game-winning goal. The Wildcats scored in double overtime against both LSU and Seton Hall, while they were beaten in extra time by West Virginia. The closeness of their games is nothing new for the Wildcats, who played a school-record eight overtime games during their record-breaking 2003 campaign. In both 2002 and 2003, Villanova tied a school record with five ties. In those two seasons, the team had a combined winning percentage of .739 (29-7-10). The 2003 team (15-5-5) won a BIG EAST Championship and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. This year, the team is ahead of that pace, owning a winning percentage of .818 (7-0-4) through 11 games.

Travel Time: This week's schedule will take Villanova to two spots for the first time ever in the regular season. The Wildcats will visit Marquette and the University of South Florida for a pair of games against BIG EAST teams from the American Division (Villanova is in the National Division). Villanova did play at Marquette last season but the game came during the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament. Sunday's game against USF will mark the first ever meeting between the programs. In all, the Wildcats will have to travel 2,738 miles for their two games this weekend. That includes 709 miles from campus to Milwaukee, another 1,086 miles from Milwaukee to Tampa, and the final 943 miles from Tampa back to the Main Line. In its first four road games this season (Princeton, Lehigh, Georgetown and Seton Hall), the Wildcats total round-trip miles traveled is just 554 miles.