The ‘Cats returned to the field with two games during their second week of regular season play. Coming off of a win at home against Sacred Heart on Sept. 1, Villanova lost to Drexel, 3-2, on Sept. 6 and routed Mercyhurst, 9-0, three days later.
After an early goal from Drexel in the first minute, the ‘Cats responded with a successful shot on goal by sophomore back Gemma Lysaght just shy of five minutes into the game. After an otherwise quiet remainder of the first half, filled primarily with substitutions from both teams hoping to regain offensive control, sophomore forward Colleen Finnan put Villanova ahead in the game’s 34th minute. This followed an unsuccessful shot attempt by Finnan only one minute prior and was her first goal of the season.
The Dragons had an opportunity to bring the game to a tie with a penalty corner following a foul on Villanova, but a save by sophomore Maddi Sears kept the ‘Cats ahead to end the period. Coming off of a yellow card on freshman back Molly Zimmerman at the end of the third period, the ‘Cats came out for the fourth down a player for four minutes.
“Our third quarter was fantastic and we completely controlled the play,” head coach Joanie Milhous said. “At the end of the third quarter we got a yellow card to put us down for four minutes. Before that we were out shooting them and out cornering them. And then that fourth quarter was totally different and it was a little frustrating.’
With an early penalty corner, followed by four more immediate shots on goal, Drexel tied the game, 2-2, in minute 48.
“They had 11 shots to our one and they had six corners to our one,” Milhous said. “That was a big momentum change and we didn’t play it very well being down numbers. We didn’t value our possessions which we needed to do, so that was the difference unfortunately.”
Villanova finished the game with an attempted penalty corner and an unsuccessful shot on goal, and eventually fell to the Dragons, 3-2
Following its loss at home to Drexel, Villanova hosted Mercyhurst on Monday evening and walked away with a 9-0 win.
“Our takeaway from Friday’s game is you had Meghan and Sabine and neither one of them had a shot on goal,” Milhous said. “They’re our two best players, so when neither one of them has a shot, that’s a bad sign. Our main goal was getting shots and taking shots, which we did. It was a great response…The players are just totally bought in, and they’re accountable. I give them a lot of credit to be able to respond in that way.”
The ‘Cats took 22 shots on goal during the game, and Mercyhurst had no scoring attempts.
Graduate student forward Ava Borkowski had a stand-out performance with three of Villanova’s nine goals, the first of which was her first of the season and the third being unassisted. Fifth-year back Sabine de Ruijter also had a stellar game, scoring once on a penalty corner and once nearing the end of the first half, immediately preceding an assist to one of Borkowski’s successful scoring attempts.
Coming off of this win over Mercyhurst, the ‘Cats now sit at a 2-2 record, with two City 6 matchups ahead of them. They will travel to face Saint Joseph’s on Friday, Sept. 13 and will return home for another local matchup on Monday, Sept. 16 against La Salle.
“We stopped playing [St. Joe’s] for a period of time but now we are back playing them consistently because it is a rivalry we should always be playing,” Milhous said. “They just got ranked 13th in the country so we’re really excited to play them. We really respect them. They’re a very talented team and have a really great coach. La Salle is obviously another City 6 school that we completely respect, as well, and they’ve got a lot of talent also but we’re excited to show what our team has.”
