Box Score Sept. 24, 2016 Final Stats
Villanova, Pa. -
Villanova women's soccer (2-8, 0-1 BIG EAST) lost their first conference game to the Butler Bulldogs (8-2-1, 1-0 BIG EAST) by a final of 2-0. Next the Wildcats will hit the road to #6 Georgetown for a Thursday afternoon matchup.
"Full credit to Butler, who took their chances well and made the most of their opportunities. They are the defending Big East Tournament Champions and are a quality side who I felt we matched up well against today," said head coach Fran Kulas.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the 20th minute of action on a free kick by Maria Collica. After the foul Collica set up outside the box and was able to bend the shot to fall into the upper right corner and out of the reach of Villanova goalkeeper Emily Harris. Villanova had five shots on goal in the first half with Kristin Barbour taking two of those shots.
Following a red card on Addie Wallace, Butler was awarded a penalty kick. Serina Kashimoto took the shot for the Bulldogs and was able to put it just out of the reach of Harris and give them an insurance goal. Despite being a man down for the final 20 minutes of the game the Wildcats were able to hold off the Butler offensive. Callie Duliba played impressive defense in the final minutes and lead the backfield.
"Our staff is proud of our team's effort today, especially how we hard and well we played when we went down a player with 19 minutes to play," stated Kulas. "Our team continues to stay committed to our values and each of our players has continued to demonstrate a team first mentality. We are confident that if we continue to stay the course, we will take the next step, which for us, is capitalizing on our opportunities to ensure that our style and quality of play, is reflected not just in the statistics, but in the final score line."
The Wildcats took 16 shots on the day placing eight of those on goal. Sam DePinho finished with four shots while Barbour added three. Harris recorded two saves and now has a 2.38 goal against average and .529 save percentage.
Villanova will travel to Washington D.C. to take on the #6 Georgetown Hoyas on Thursday, September 29th. Kickoff is set for 3:00 pm.
