Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/10/18
From Press Release
A strong first half helped lift the Wildcats over Penn on Saturday afternoon by a final of 8-6 inside Franklin Field.
Villanova’s defense came out strong limiting Penn to no goals and only nine total shots. The Wildcats were able to capitalize and net two early. First Christian Cuccinello found Connor Kirst followed by TJ Comizio setting up Danny Seibel to make the Wildcats lead 2-0.
The Wildcats (6-1) dominated on both ends of the field in the second with four different players finding the back of the net. Devin McNamara netted the first, next freshman Colin Crowley set up Kirst during and EMO. Seconds later Owen Pryblyski took the ball the whole length of the field to net his first career goal with just over six to play before halftime. Rookie found rookie with Keegan Khan set up Eric Overbay making the lead 6-0 at halftime.
Penn’s Tyler Dunn (five goals) answered back scoring the only three goals in the third and the first in the fourth to bring the Quakers within two. Villanova was able to stretch the lead back out to four thanks to a third goal by Kirst and one by Cuccinello. The Quakers Simon Mathias and Dunn would score the final goals of the game to make it 8-6 Villanova.
Villanova had a total of 28 ground balls with Chris Donovan, Matt Webster (La Salle), and Zachary Kryza having four apiece. Dan Fisher (St. Joseph’s Prep) went 10-for-18 from the faceoff dot with two ground balls. Nick Testa picked up his fifth win of the season and had 10 saves on the day.
Connor Keating (Haverford school) had six groundballs and a caused turnover for Penn (3-3).