Final Stats | Photo Gallery

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Those who glance quickly at the score will note the outcome of Wednesday BIG EAST match between Seton Hall and Villanova. The final tally was 1-1 in double overtime, a count that might suggest an ordinary afternoon of soccer.

Those on hand at the rain soaked Higgins Soccer Complex witnessed a match with many more layers to it than your ordinary college soccer duel. It featured three penalty kicks called in an 18 minute stretch of the second half. That is noteworthy when you consider that in Villanova's first 11 games, a total of three penalty kicks were whistled.

All three penalty kicks came on handballs whistled against the Wildcats in the Villanova box. Sophomore goalkeeper Will Steiner made a pair of spectacular saves to protect a 1-0 VU lead on the first two of those attempts. But the Pirates Kai Greene pushed the last one past Steiner at 87:25 to forge the deadlock.

The score came just moments after Seton Hall had gone down a man with 8:08 remaining in the second half as Lukas Pangonis was sent off after picking up his second yellow card of the afternoon.

In the end, each team earned a BIG EAST point. Villanova is now 6-5-2 overall, 1-2-1 in conference action while the Pirates are 3-6-2 overall, 0-3-1 in the BIG EAST.

This match was moved forward four hours in an effort to get ahead of heavy rain storms forecast later in the day. There were periods of rain over the course of the match but none of the steady downpours projected for later.

Seton Hall looked as though it might have an early mark at 4:03 when a header from Mateusz Brela just missed the corner of the far post near Steiner. The Pirates would go on to post a 9-5 edge in shots over the first 45 minutes but the Wildcats' defense was firm and neither team scored in the first half.

"I thought Seton Hall had control of the tempo for chunks of the first half," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "We weren't able to find the game the way we would have liked to have in the first half."

The second half had a different texture and quality to it. Villanova's pressure resulted in a score at 67:16 courtesy of a pair of Wildcats who were honored Monday by the Philly Soccer Six. Senior Colton Bryant got his head on the ball and sent it in the direction of classmate Hayden Harr, who nudged the ball past Pirates goalkeeper Julian Spindler from in close to give VU the lead.

"We got the goal there and we had a couple of other quality chances," stated Carlin. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get that second one and, because we didn't, we were vulnerable to what came later."

The first PK chance for Seton Hall came at 70:54. Victor Mansalvas took the kick and sent a low blast toward the right side of the net. Steiner, though, anticipated the move, and knocked it out of harms ways.

At 86:25, Seton Hall got its second chance to tie the game via penalty kick. Samuel Geiller put his boot to the ball but Steiner came up big yet again. Then, exactly one minute later, Greene made the third time the charm for the Pirates, depositing a low shot into the back of the net.

"Steiner did a great job," Carlin stated. "He was able to rise up twice and stop the PK for us."

With the extra man, Villanova did all it could to reclaim the lead over the two 10-minute overtime periods. But, though they owned a 4-2 edge in shots over the extra time, none found the back of the net. The Wildcats were left to quickly collect their gear as heavy rain began to fall and begin contemplating their next match, Saturday night at Marquette.