Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/26/23
From Press Release
Fifth year midfielder Matt Campbell made his fifth goal of the game an extra special one as Villanova (2-1) had the final answer in a back-and-forth game against No. 10 Delaware (3-1) on Sunday afternoon.
Campbell scored the game-winning goal with 1:39 to play and tied the Wildcats all-time career record with the 128th score of his career. There were two ties and two lead changes in the fourth quarter alone before Villanova pulled out a 13-12 thriller at Delaware Stadium.
Campbell is tied with Chris Sullivan (1988-91) and Jack Rice (2010-13) in the Wildcats record book with 128 career goals. He came into the season 11 tallies short of matching the program record and he needed just three games to reach the mark.
Campbell is averaging 3.7 goals per game this season and he moved into fifth place in Villanova history with 181 career points on his game-winning goal. The all-time points record is well within his grasp this season, as Campbell currently sits 32 points shy of the Wildcats career record (213, held by Rick Bontatibus; 1991-94).
Sunday’s game-winning goal came with 1:39 left as Campbell beat his defender 1-on-1. He had the ball 30 yards out and darted in from the right side before bouncing in his 15th shot of the game. Campbell has developed into one of the top offensive performers in Villanova history by having a knack for finding the back of the net, but he has been particularly effective whenever the Wildcats oppose the Blue Hens. In four career games versus Delaware, Campbell has poured in 22 goals on 49 total shots, including 29 shots on goal.
The decisive sequence in the back-and-forth affair came after the Blue Hens scored three unanswered goals in a span of 4:04 to knot the score at 12-12 with 2:54 to play. Senior faceoff specialist Justin Coppola won his 15th faceoff of the day after the tying score and Villanova maintained possession until Campbell scored.
A shot on goal by sophomore attackman Luke Raymond was saved with 2:22 remaining and junior midfielder Tucker Goodelle picked up a ground ball four seconds later; Campbell eventually scored with under 30 seconds left on the shot clock.
The final 99 seconds of the game after the go-ahead goal were just as wild as the preceding events. Each team turned the ball over twice in a span of 67 seconds and Delaware leading scorer Tye Kurtz picked up a loose ball with just 20 seconds left in the game. The Blue Hens had a final chance with 11 seconds to go but a shot by Finn Morgan (Haddonfield-NJ) caromed off the pipe. A ground ball pickup by senior SSDM Stevie Jones was the final play of the game.
Villanova jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first 10-plus minutes of the game as Raymond made an early impact on the contest. He set up the first goal of the day by fifth year midfielder Austin Fraser just 1:29 into the game and added his second assist of the day with 5:37 remaining in the opening quarter on a Patrick Daly.
Raymond scored his first career goal with 12:51 to play in the fourth quarter, tying the game at 9-9 after Delaware had grabbed a one-goal advantage in the first minute of the period.
Daly had a hat trick on just four shot attempts and Fraser chipped in to the Wildcats offense with a pair of goals. Sophomore attackman Dan Martin had a second strong game in a row for Villanova, contributing a goal and an assist to the win. On the defensive side, fifth year SSDM Chet Comizio caused two turnovers and picked up a season-high seven ground balls.
Fifth year goalie Will Vitton was credited with seven saves, including three in the fourth quarter. Coppola won 15-of-29 faceoffs and picked up eight ground balls in his latest strong performance. He moved into the top five in school history with 246 career ground balls.
Delaware answered the fast Villanova start by scoring four straight goals to take a 5-3 lead at the 5:56 mark of the second quarter. It was Campbell who broke that trend. He notched his first goal of the game with 5:06 to play before halftime and Fraser evened the game at 5-5 on his second goal with exactly four minutes remaining in the second period.
Campbell sent the Wildcats into halftime with a 6-5 advantage on a goal with 41 seconds to play before the intermission; his third goal in a short span of time came at the 12:42 mark of the third quarter and pushed the margin to 7-5.
After the Blue Hens tied the game – again – with 3:20 to go in the period, Delaware freshman Brendan Powers put the Blue Hens in front, 9-8, just 48 seconds into the fourth quarter. Beginning with Raymond’s goal at the 12:51 mark of the period, Villanova scored four goals in a span of 4:47 to take their largest lead of the contest (12-9) with 8:04 to play.
Daly put the Wildcats in front with 11:46 remaining and added another goal just over a minute later. Campbell scored his fourth goal to push Villanova to an elusive three-goal margin (earlier in the game the Wildcats led by two scores on three different occasions).
The game featured two of the top four leading active goal scorers in Division I lacrosse in Campbell of the Wildcats and Kurtz from the Blue Hens. Kurtz started the day as the active career leader with 135 goals, while Campbell was fourth on the list with 123 career scores. Active leaders in NCAA lacrosse are updated each Monday through the previous weekend’s games.
Villanova and Delaware have played each other in 21 of the past 22 seasons after having never met in lacrosse prior to the 2002 campaign. T