Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/1/16
From Press Release
Third Time’s a Charm: Sophomore faceoff specialist Luke Palmadesso was the anchor of another outstanding Wildcat performance as Villanova downed Philadelphia-rival Drexel 14-9 at Villanova Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. Despite a sluggish first quarter, Palmadesso provided the hosts with plenty of possessions and the offense capitalized on those opportunities to earn their second win in a row.
Villanova improves to 21-15 all-time against the Dragons upon the conclusion of the 36th meeting between the two schools. The Wildcats moved to 2-1 overall on the season while the Dragons dropped to 0-3.
Head coach Mike Corrado states, “Luke had another big day today and it really made the difference. We got off to a disappointing start in the first quarter but in the second quarter we started to generate some opportunities. We challenged our defense to slide early and that caused a lot of turnovers. I thought our shot selection today could have been better and we have to improve in that area, but we have a lot of depth on offence this year and we can score a lot of goals.”
Another second quarter surge bolstered the Wildcats for the win after the score was tied 2-2 following the first 15 minutes of action. Villanova scored five of the first six goals in the stanza to take a 7-3 lead with 7:37 left in the half. Matthew Varian notched two in a row for Drexel before Villanova sniper Jake Froccaro ended the half with Villanova up 8-5.
“We knew this year we’d have a good offense and we just needed to put the pieces together,” said senior captain Jack Curran. “Luke has been the MVP so far this season, he gets us the ball – we do the easy part, we do the finishing. We credit him to a lot of our success. Right now we’re having a lot of fun.”
An evenly played second half saw Villanova increase their lead to 11-7 following scores from Curran, Timmy Hardy and Christian Cuccinello. The Wildcats would go on to close the contest with three unanswered scores from Danny Seibel, Matt McIver and Froccaro to increase their lead to 14-7 with 2:48 left to play.
Drexel notched the final two goals of the contest but it wouldn’t be enough to stifle the Wildcat lead as Villanova claimed the 14-9 victory. Will Manganiello (Penncrest) scored once for the Dragons.
Palmadesso registered a 71% win percentage at X for the contest, going 17-of-24 on the day while Froccaro registered a game-high four goals to lead Villanova. Curran also added a hat trick while 11 players provided points in the win.
Defensively, junior goalkeeper Dan Willis (Moorestown) tallied seven saves while Drexel’s Jimmy Joe Granito made 14 stops in the defeat. The Dragons were led on offense by Matthew Varian’s two goals and two assists for four points.
Villanova returns to action this Saturday, March 5th when they travel to Newark, Del. to face the University of Delaware. Game time verses the Blue Hens is slated for 3 p.m.
