Sept. 11, 2009

Final Stats

EASTON, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats overcame the elements on a windy, rainy night to take the opening game of the Lafayette Puma Classic with a 2-1victory over Binghamton.

"The weather played a big part in the game, especially in the first half," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "It was extremely windy and that really limited what you could do when you were going into that wind. We had to deal with that in the first half and thought we battled through it to create some chances."

When VU capitalized on one of those in the 36th minute it gained the edge. Sophomore Matt Margiotta sent a cross through the box that classmate Stephen Paresi tapped into the corner of the net to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead that they held going into the halftime break. Binghamton owned a 5-4 advantage in first half shots.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, the Wildcats generated several good chances. Sophomore Kevin Garcia cashed his in with a nifty move past the defense and goalie Jason Stenta at 79:35.

"When we got the second goal, we felt pretty good," Carlin said. "But they took it to us a little bit in the last 10 minutes."

Binghamton got on the board less than a minute after Garcia scored as Jake Keegan knocked in a ball off a scramble in front at 80:16. That cut the gap to 2-1 and the pressure remained on the Villanova defense over the final nine plus minutes. But the `Cats held strong and grabbed their second win of the season (2-1-1).

Sophomore Chris Bresnahan made four saves for the Wildcats in posting the victory in goal.

"Our back line, led by Nick Rouzier, played very well," stated Carlin. "On the other end I thought our attack looked as good as it has this season. Adam Amann is just a hardworking kid and he had a good night for us as did Kyle Soroka."

Now the focus turns to Sunday's match against Fordham here (noon).

"We'll need to match the energy we had tonight on Sunday," said Carlin. "We should be fresh and we'll keep plugging away."