VILLANOVA, Pa. – Over the course of their first seven regular season games, the Villanova Wildcats had leaned on their defense while searching for offense. On a soggy Tuesday afternoon at the Higgins Soccer Complex, they unlocked the riddle of the attack, notching four goals in a shade under 20 minutes of the second half to down Drexel 4-2.
That it came on the heels of a first half where the Dragons had crafted a 1-0 lead made it even more striking.
Javon Daniels sent a ball from the left side across the pitch to Jasper Zulman, who fired a shot that beat the Dragons' goalkeeper Raphael Bartell at 47:21 to completely alter the match's complexion.
"When we talked at halftime, we said we didn't like the body language in the first half," said Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow. "We didn't like the way we were communicating with one another on the field. It felt like we were trying to compete against ourselves. That was the first step. We tweaked our formations so we could be a bit more direct and forward thinking.
"I thought the guys executed well in the second half. There was a flurry of goals in that stretch that changed the trajectory of the game."
The goal by Zulman was the first of his college career.
"It was a huge goal," Fetrow said. "You could feel the energy shift. There was a belief that once we got the first, we were going to go hunt for the second. Javon did a great job of getting to the line space and serving it in. Jasper had a great finish.
"In this part of the season, we're looking to create multi-goal games. It was important to see the first one go in so we could find the second, third and fourth ones."
The go-ahead goal came at 51:09 from captain Luke Martelli, who was honored in a pregame ceremony as the winner of the 2025-26 Sister Mary Margaret Cribben Award. On a counterattack senior Sam Nyenka was able to get a piece of the ball to re-direct it to an open Martelli on the left side. Martelli buried the finish to put the 'Cats on top.
Martelli helped create the third ball from the left side, firing a feed that found freshman Maximos Chrisafinas. Chrisafinas registered his first collegiate goal a scant 29 seconds after the Martelli marker had given Nova the lead.
Daniels and Nyenka teamed up at 67:06 for the fourth goal, the most scored by the Wildcats in a game thus far in 2026. The assist by Daniels was his second of the afternoon.
Drexel brought the heat over the next 15 minutes and got a goal back at 74:58 when Daniel Celso scored his first goal of the season. But Villanova – which played without injured stalwarts Lorenzo Avalos, Luca Mazzola, Bar Netanel, Fynn Lahrsen and Matthew Klann – received fine performances from Will Spitznagle, Daniels, Balthazar Buccini and Joseph Margita in snapping a three-game winless streak.
"Spitznagle has worked hard for the past three years," noted Fetrow. "He's playing a position where we have a lot of depth. We've lost some of that depth due to injuries. Will has stayed ready and is getting his chance. He did a great job at St. John's and had another good performance today.
"We try to tell our guys that training is so important so that we focus on development and not just results."
That said, no one in Villanova's white uniforms was ready to dismiss what kind of momentum this win could generate.
"It started with the attitude and effort of the guys," said Fetrow. "Everything followed from there."
