Sept. 30, 2009
Final Stats
EASTON, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats made their third visit of the season here and were hoping to duplicate the success they found in September, when they took a pair of games at the Lafayette Puma Classic. But the host Leopards (6-2-1 overall, 1-0 Patriot League) got two goals early in the second half that were the only scores on a chilly night to post a 2-0 victory over the `Cats (5-4-1 overall, 2-2-0 BIG EAST).
"We came off a tough, Friday/Sunday set of BIG EAST games last weekend and we have another big conference game (St. John's) ahead this weekend," noted Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "We kind of got caught in between. I thought we played OK but we made too many mistakes. We had unforced turnovers and we made a mistake on the first goal which forced us to chase the game."
The first half was scoreless and lacked quality scoring opportunities. There were only four shots taken by the two squads in the first 45 minutes, including three by the Wildcats.
However, Lafayette got a chance early in the second period and made it count. The Leopards' Josh Brown fed a ball to B.J. Glenn, who sent a cross through the box which found Sean Peckham. Peckham knocked it into the goal at 46:29 to stake the Leopards to the lead.
Glenn struck again in the 55th minute. This time he took a pass from Peckham and drilled a shot from 30 yards out over the outstretched arm of Villanova sophomore goalkeeper Chris Bresnahan into the upper right corner of the net to give the Leopards a two goal cushion at 55:12.
Villanova pressed over the remaining 34 plus minutes of the half but could not dent the Leopard defense. Goalie Andrew Pianko made four saves to post the shutout.
"Lafayette is good at what it does," stated Carlin. "They defend and have a strong transition game. That is a well-coached and well organized team. They took advantage of our mistakes and deserve the credit."
Now the Wildcats return home to meet BIG EAST power St. John's on their home pitch at the Villanova Soccer Complex at noon on Saturday.
"This is a tough out-of-conference loss for us but the game is over," Carlin said. "Now we have to focus on the BIG EAST and get ready for St. John's."
