Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/15/11
Jack Rice collected four goals and Brian Karalunas had an amazing eight groundballs and eight caused turnovers as visiting Villanova used a 7-0 run in the middle periods to seize a big lead and then held off 11th-ranked Princeton, 10-9, tonight in non-conference men’s lacrosse before a crowd of 1,025.
The victory was the fifth straight for the 15th-ranked Wildcats, who improved to 6-1 and have won three games over Top 20 teams. The Tigers fell to 1-3. It was the first Wildcat victory in the all-time series between the two schools; the teams last met 22 years ago in 1989.
“This game was an all-around team effort and marked a big win for us as we prepare to open our BIG EAST schedule in the coming weeks,” said Villanova coach Michael Corrado. “Jack Rice was a huge threat on offense and Karalunas had one of the best games of his career tonight. Billy Hurley (10 saves) had another huge effort in goal; he kept us in the game in the first quarter and shut down the Princeton attack.”
Villanova also got two goals from Kevin Cunningham, and one each from Will Casertano Andrew Henrich (La Salle), Max Hart and Nick Doherty. Kevin Bell added three assists and Nolan Vihlen won 12 of 18 face-offs as the ‘Cats took 15 of 23 overall.
Cliff Larkin had three goals for Princeton, including two in the final 25 seconds to make it close.
Villanova had fallen behind, 3-0, after one period before starting its 7-0 surge. Princeton did not score its fourth goal until early in the final period.
Karalunas, a senior long stick midfielder, also held Princeton’s leading scorer, freshman Tom Schreiber, without a goal or assist and with just two shots.
“You have to give Villanova credit,” said Princeton coach Chris Bates, the former Drexel coach. “They possessed the ball. They had excellent wing play on face-offs. They played
very well.”
“We needed to play with that kind of intensity for the whole game,” said Larkin, who had never scored coming into play.
Chris McBride and Tyler Moni each had two goals for Princeton, while Jeff Froccaro had a goal and two assists. Forest Sonnenfeldt had a goal, giving him seven for the
year and at least one in every game.
UMass 14, Providence 6
Colin Fleming (St. Joseph’s Prep) scored two goals to help Umass improve to 5-1
