VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats have been back in the laboratory, training and watching film ahead of their next match, a non-league duel up the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Turnpikes Thursday night at NJIT. Both teams are in search of their first victory of the new campaign.
 
Villanova dropped a 2-0 decision Sunday night in its first regular season action at the University of Albany. The Wildcats were forced to defend a pair of penalty kicks – goalkeeper Kent Dickey made the diving save on the second, early in the second half – and were unable to dig out of an early hole.
 
"When you give up the first one on the PK," noted head coach Tom Carlin, "you then have to chase the game."
 
A sharper start Thursday night at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium would certainly offer a boost to a Wildcats' side incorporating seven freshmen into a mix of veteran returnees. Villanova played without two of its top threats at forward, Akinjide Awujo and Luke Pompliano, in the opener, due to an injury.
 
The Wildcats' do have their top returning scorer, Balthi Saunders, available and he'll be returning to a region he knows well. The Brooklyn. N.Y. native was a part of Red Bulls Academy in nearby Harrison, N.J. before coming to Villanova. Saunders produced two of Villanova's best chances to get on the scoreboard in the opener.
 
Freshmen Belmar Joseph – cited by Carlin for having given Nova a boost off the bench – will also make his first college appearance near his hometown of West Orange, N.J.
 
NJIT (0-2) opened its season in Chicago, losing at UIC 3-1 in the opener and then falling 1-0 in Evanston, Ill., at Northwestern on Sunday. The Highlanders, like Albany a member of America East Conference, posted a 5-8-3 record in 2022.
 
These two teams met last season, with Saunders scoring a pair of goals to help lift Villanova to a 3-0 win at the Higgins Soccer Complex.