VILLANOVA, Pa. – As remarkable as it may seem, Saturday's home match with No. 12 Xavier will bring Villanova (5-3-2 overall, 2-1-1 BIG EAST) to the midpoint of its BIG EAST schedule. That adds another layer to what looms as a critical battle near the top of the league standings.
At the conclusion of Wednesday's matches, Villanova and Butler are atop the league table with identical 2-1-1 records (seven points). Georgetown sits at 2-1 (six points) with the Musketeers not far behind with five points.
"Xavier's having a great season," stated Villanova head coach
Tom Carlin, "and certainly presents its share of challenges. But we've played well, especially at home, and we're excited for this opportunity Saturday."
The Musketeers extended their unbeaten streak to 11 on Wednesday night, playing St. John's to a 0-0 draw in New York. Xavier's 11-match unbeaten streak to start the season is the longest unbeaten streak to start a season since 2012 (The Musketeers started the year 10-0-4 before losing a match).
Xavier is ranked No. 12 in the nation in this week's United Soccer Coaches poll.
Villanova, meanwhile, has been productive too. Its 1-0 victory over Marquette on a blustery afternoon Wednesday improved its record at the Higgins Soccer Complex to 4-0-1 in 2022. The Wildcats overcame a sluggish start to gain the result, picking up a corner kick goal in the second half as
Dominic Cyriacks and
Viktor Benediktsson teamed up. Redshirt senior
Kent Dickey made seven saves in posting his fifth clean sheet in 10 outings thus far this season.
"It was a good character win for us," noted Carlin.
No matter the result, the tough tests won't end Saturday. Co-league leader Butler is the next opponent, in Indianapolis, on Wednesday Oct.12. Defending BIG EAST champion Georgetown then comes to the Higgins Soccer Complex on Saturday, Oct. 15 for a rematch of last season's BIG EAST semifinal, won by the Hoyas on home turf with a goal in the final minutes of regulation, 1-0.
"That's life in the Big East," said Carlin.
Benediktsson's goal was his fourth of the season – all off set pieces. In fact, the center back is now tied for the team lead in goals with classmate
Lyam MacKinnon. Cyriacks has three assists in 10 games, one off the pace of club leader
Balthi Saunders (four).
Villanova's defense has been its characteristically stingy self too. In addition to the five shutouts, the Wildcats allow 0.70 goals per game.
Xavier has also been quiet adept at limiting scoring chances thus far. It sports an 0.54 goals against average in its 11 outings this season. Another similarity to Nova is that the Musketeers feature a balanced offensive attack; five players have scored between two and three goals to this point of the campaign.
Saturday's live stream can be found on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports with Austin Rooney handling the play-by-play.
