Villanova (12-7-1, 5-4-1 BIG EAST) at No. 4 seed Notre Dame (12-5-3, 4-2-2 ACC)
2021 NCAA Tournament Second Round
Sunday, Nov. 20, 5 p.m.
Alumni Stadium
Notre Dame, Ind.
Live Stream: ACCNX
Winner advances to NCAA Round of 16
After being picked to finish 11th in the preseason BIG EAST Coaches poll, the Wildcats combined their best start ever in league play (4-0) with a finishing 3-1-1 kick to secure the program's second ever NCAA Tournament bid (2016). Villanova knocked off Vermont 1-0 on Thursday night to record its first NCAA Tournament victory.
DOUBLE DIGITS
With Thursday night's win, Villanova tied the all-time program record for victories established by the 1980 'Cats (12-4) and tied by the 2012 edition (12-6-2). This season marks the sixth time in program history that the Wildcats have reached double digits in wins in the BIG EAST era (1991, 2003, 2007, 2012, 2016).
A DECADE LATER
Villanova and Notre Dame were BIG EAST rivals from 1995-2013. In that span the two sides met 13 times, with the Fighting Irish taking 10 of those meetings.
The last encounter between the two programs took place just more than a decade ago at Alumni Stadium (Nov. 3, 2011). In an opening round BIG EAST Tournament contest, the Wildcats knocked off the nationally ranked Fighting Irish 1-0. That win took place in head coach
Tom Carlin's fourth season. The Wildcats went on to upend another nationally ranked unit three days later, USF in Tampa, to reach the BIG EAST semifinals where they were eliminated by St. John's.
Carlin is 1-0 all-time vs. Notre Dame.
NO PLACE LIKE THE ROAD
One of the quirks of Villanova's 2021 fall campaign is that it has fared better away from home (7-3-1) than it did in the comfort of its own Higgins Soccer Complex (5-4-0). The seven road victories are the most in a single season by the Wildcats in the modern BIG EAST era (accurate records go back to 1982).
The Wildcats own road wins at Temple (2-1), Marquette (1-0), Xavier (1-0), Connecticut (1-0), Northwestern (2-0), Creighton (2-1) and Vermont (1-0). They also earned a 0-0 draw on Oct. 30 at Providence.
HIGH FIVE FOR BIG EAST
On Monday, five BIG EAST men's soccer teams heard their names called during the selection show. Three days later, all five remain in the 2021 NCAA Tournament after Creighton, Providence, St. John's and Villanova each earned shutout victories in their respective opening round matches, while Georgetown earned a first-round-bye as the No. 3 overall seed.
The four wins across the conference were the most in the nation, ahead of the Atlantic Coast Conference's trio of victories (3-1) in the opening round. Overall, the five remaining programs ranks second in the NCAA, just behind the ACC with seven remaining programs.
The PAC-12 Conference, Mid-American Conference and Conference USA are tied for third with three remaining teams in the competition, followed by the Big 10 Conference and West Coast Conference with two, respectively.
The five BIG EAST teams advancing to play in the second around are the most since conference realignment following the 2012 season. In addition, the perfect 4-0 opening round mark is tied for the highest win percentage in league history, trailing a perfect 5-0 record set in 2005.
On Sunday, Georgetown will host Georgia State at 11 a.m. at Shaw Field, while the remaining four teams will hit the road. Providence will travel to Huntington, W.V., at 1 p.m. to face the defending National Champion and No. 14 seed Marshall. At 5 p.m., Villanova will travel to play ACC Tournament champion Notre Dame, before Creighton kicks off at 7 p.m. ET against No. 6 seed Tulsa. In the final BIG EAST match of the day, St. John's will travel to the West Coast to take on the tournament's top-overall seed Oregon State at 9 p.m. ET.
A FAMILIAR FINAL
Thursday's 1-0 win over Vermont marked the sixth time this season that the Wildcats have recorded a victory by that score. The five other occasions all came in BIG EAST regular season action: Marquette, Butler, Xavier, Connecticut, and Seton Hall. Nova has also absorbed three losses by that final score: vs. Albany, St. John's, and at Georgetown in the BIG EAST semifinals (the goal was scored in the 90
th minute by the Hoyas).
STEPPED UP IN CONFERENCE PLAY
Villanova's 5-4-1 mark in BIG EAST action is its best since 2016, when the Wildcats ended the campaign at 5-3-1. That team hosted DePaul as the No. 4 seed in the opening round of the BIG EAST Tournament and played a scoreless draw. Villanova advanced to the semifinals on penalty kicks.
CARLIN COUNT
The Wildcats' win at Creighton on Nov. 6 was
Tom Carlin's 115
th as head coach, pushing him past his predecessor Larry Sullivan (114) as the program's all-time coaching wins leader. Carlin, who began his career as the head coach at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa., enters this matchup with a career mark of 235-13-33. His Villanova record is 116-116-24. This is the ninth time in 14 seasons that he has guided Nova to the BIG EAST postseason and the second time he has brought the Wildcats into the NCAA Tournament.
LYAM LED
Junior
Lyam MacKinnon – first name is pronounced "lie-um" - leads Villanova in scoring with eight goals and five assists (19 points) and was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team. With his first half goal in the win over Vermont, MacKinnon became the first Wildcat since Sean Sheridan in 2015 to score eight goals in a single season. In addition, MacKinnon has converted all five of his penalty kick attempts this fall.
CARSON'S LOOMED LARGE
Senior goalkeeper
Carson Williams (Plano, Tex.) was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament team after a stellar two game postseason performance. Williams recorded his seventh clean sheet of the campaign by making five saves in the win over the Catamounts. Earlier this season he became Villanova's all-time leader in shutouts (21). Williams became Nova's regular goalkeeper in 2018 and has started every game he has appeared in. His next appearance will be his 61st game in the net at Villanova. Entering Sunday's action, he sports a 1.08 goals against average.
CENTER BACK STABILITY
Junior
Viktor Benediktsson and sophomore
Jack Bonas have served as the heart of Villanova's stingy defense at center back during this fall campaign. Benediktsson was tabbed BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 4. The Wildcats conceded 21 goals across 20 games (1.01 goals against average) this season. Eight of those goals came in a pair of losses, at Penn State (four) and vs. Creighton (four). In Villanova's other 18 outings, it posted a 0.72 goals against average with nine shutouts. The nine shutouts are tied with the 2011 team for the most shutouts in a single season in program history.
FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT
One of the more notable aspects of the 2021 Wildcats is that the unit features only four seniors: Williams, reserve goalkeeper
Kent Dickey, reserve forward
Seidu Shamsudeen (two goals in 2021) and reserve midfielder
Dylan Middlebrook. Williams is the only senior starter among the most used starting lineups over the last month.
QOUTING CARLIN
"It's nice to get the first NCAA victory for the program. I feel like for us it's been a long time coming. We've been through some ups and downs. This group deserves it. They've been resilient all year. I'm so proud of them. We look forward to the chance to compete against Notre Dame."
VILLANOVA IN THE 2016 NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Wildcats' only prior NCAA Tournament experience came in 2016, when the team earned an at-large bid and traveled to Akron to meet the Zips. A recap of that 2-0 loss is below.
AKRON, Ohio - A successful season that will long be remembered for its breakthrough milestones came to an end as Villanova (10-8-3) fell by a 2-0 score to No. 24 Akron (13-5-3) at FirstEnergy Field in an NCAA Championship first round match.
Villanova made its first NCAA Championship appearance and notched the fifth season with at least 10 victories in program history. Prior to earning an NCAA at-large bid, the Wildcats reached the semifinal round of the BIG EAST Championship and defeated three nationally-ranked teams during the regular season. Included among those keynote victories were games against No. 10 Creighton, No. 11 Boston College and No. 22 Delaware. Six of the 18 regular season opponents Villanova faced were among the 48 teams that made up the NCAA Championship field.
"This was a great experience for our guys, and it was great for our program and the university to get to the NCAA Championship," Wildcats head coach
Tom Carlin said. "That isn't how we approached it. We approached it to win, but we drew a Final Four team at home in the first round. Akron is a great team and they are really starting to catch stride at the end of the year, so it's tough. We had a lot of freshmen out there and a lot of inexperienced NCAA guys because the program had never made it before. For us, this is the next step. We got to experience it and that was important."
Akron put steady pressure on the Wildcats defense in the first 15 minutes of the game to set an early tone. Villanova was more than up to the task of withstanding that charge however, and the game remained without a goal until the 39th minute. After consecutive shots from 10 yards out by Sam Gainford were denied on a team save and a block by the defense, the Wildcats were unable to clear the ball out of harm's way and Nick Hinds scored at the 38:34 mark to open the scoring. Hinds scored both of the Zips goals for the night, and he struck again in the 73rd minute to give Akron a 2-0 lead. A ball that Jonathan Lewis played down the sideline stayed just in bounds as it crossed midfield, and Goncalo Soares played the ball into the box for Hinds to finish the scoring.
