VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats are hoping to re-establish some momentum as they take aim at their final regular season contest of 2018 on Tuesday night. VU meets UMBC (6-4-2) at 7 p.m. at Retriever Soccer Park in Baltimore.
The 'Cats (6-5-1 overall, 1-4 BIG EAST) are coming off a pair of hard fought BIG EAST one goal road losses. On Oct. 6, VU surrendered an early goal to Xavier in the fifth minute and could not squeeze out an equalizer in a 1-0 defeat in Cincinnati. Then, on Saturday, the Wildcats tied the game in the 77th minute on a beautiful goal off the foot of junior transfer Evan Vare. In the end, though, the Hoyas were the side that found the winner off a set piece in the 106th minute in a 2-1 final.
"It seems like some of the balls that were going in earlier this season haven't been going in lately," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin.
Such goal scoring droughts are not uncommon in the sport. Georgetown, in fact, snapped a multi-game drought with its penalty kick goal midway through the half by Derek Dodson on Saturday. Vare's first goal as a Wildcat might be just the tonic for a forward unit that has played all season without freshman striker Seidu Shamsudeen and seen both Vare and Anderson limited by injuries.
"It's taken Evan some time to work through the injuries and learn our system," noted Carlin of the Lafayette transfer. "It's been a process a bit like what Luca Mellor went through last year after coming in as a transfer. Evan is proven scorer and I think he's a lot more comfortable with our system in the second half of the season."
The Wildcats played quality soccer in the first two games of this stretch away from home without a result. Although a strong effort Tuesday won't earn all-important points in the race for a BIG EAST playoff berth, it can set the stage for a finishing kick that begins in earnest Saturday at the Higgins Soccer Complex against Butler (3-8-2 overall, 1-4 BIG EAST).
UMBC, like the Wildcats, has done its best work in 2018 on home turf, posting a 5-2-1 mark on at Retriever Soccer Park. One of the wins came against Rutgers (3-2) before a crowd of 2,826, the fourth highest attendance for a game played in the facility.
One constant for the Wildcats this season has been the outstanding work of goalkeeper Carson Williams, who was again stellar at Georgetown. Williams has stepped into the void created by the graduation of four year starter Will Steiner and provided big saves at critical moments. He sports a 1.24 goals against average and .766 save percentage.
"Carson's held up really well," Carlin said. "At both Xavier and Georgetown, he made huge saves. He's really grown over the course of the season as a communicator and leader out there."
