Oct. 20, 2001

Villanova, Pa. - A pair of timely goals and strong defensive work in its own ended lifted Villanova (5-7-0 overall, 3-5-0 Big East) to a 2-1 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers (4-9-0 overall, 1-7-0 Big East) at the Soccer Complex here on Saturday afternoon.

"It wasn't pretty," said Villanova head coach Larry Sullivan, "but we were able to gut it out. We had a lot of adversity but our defense played well."

West Virginia outshot Villanova 17-8 on the afternoon yet many of those attempts were long blasts from the midfield that sailed wide of the net.

Villanova grabbed the lead at 22:25 when sophomore Scott Rodemer (Doylestown, Pa.) took a pass from Colin Raws (Malvern, Pa.) and curled a beautiful shot into the top corner of the net, above the outstretched arm of Mountaineer goalkeeper Chris McKinney.

The Wildcats got their next goal off a corner kick in the 60th minute. Rodemer looped the ball into the box where sophomore Dan Massimini (Downington, Pa.) tipped it back to senior Tony Rod (Philadelphia, Pa.). Rod sent a low blast into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

West Virginia finally got on the scoreboard at 86:30 when Jason Hillenbrand took a feed from Chin Orih and beat Wildcats goalie Sean Teesdale (Blue Bell, Pa.). That cut the lead in half but the Moutaineers were unable to generate any more scoring chances and Villanova emerged with its third straight victory. Teesdale survived a collision with WVU's Chris Berena in the first half to make six saves in the Villanova net.

Villanova returns to action on Oct. 23 at La Salle. This game was originally scheduled for Sept. 12 but was postponed. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.