Following a convincing 9-0 home win over Mercyhurst on Monday, Sept. 9, Villanova field hockey (3-3) faced two City 6 opponents this week. The Wildcats lost, 6-2, at St. Joseph’s (5-1) on Friday, Sept. 13, and beat La Salle (5-1) at home, 2-0, on Monday, Sept. 16.
In the first game of the extended weekend, the ‘Cats fell behind the Hawks early.
Within the first four minutes of the game, Villanova was down by one. The Hawks led, 3-0, by the close of the second quarter. The ‘Cats did not have any scoring at- tempts until the 29th minute. Two penalty corners by Senior Midfield- er Emma Schwarz and stand alone shots by graduate back Sabine de Ruijter and sophomore back Gem- ma Lysaght did not get the ‘Cats on the scoreboard.
“I think our team had more to show,” Villanova head coach Joanie Milhous said. “I wish we would have given [St. Joseph’s] a tighter game. We definitely did not get a lot of shots on goal. The ones we did get though, I was very proud of. We had five shots, we got all five on target, and we scored on two of them… We scored on two corners. I was really proud of our corner conversion rate. We had four corners and scored on two of them.”
Coming out of the halftime break, another penalty corner on Schwarz with an assist from Lysaght put the ‘Cats on the board. The Hawks responded with a successful penalty corner of their own, followed by another shot off of a corner. The shot was initially saved by sophomore goalkeeper Maddi Sears, but was eventually put in the net off of the rebound.
“I think our second half was much stronger than our first half, so I was proud of our girls for how they played in the second half,” Milhous said. “I give a lot of credit to Saint Joe’s because they scored on opportunities. They capitalized on a lot of opportunities. Our goal was to work harder the second half and to show the intangibles that our team has. We also played a different defensive style which was effective.”
Sears remained in the goal for the final 15 minutes of the game, but was unable to hold off the Hawks’ offense. Early in the fourth quarter, de Ruijter scored to cut the Hawk lead to three, but the ‘Cats were unable to find the back of the net again. The Hawks scored in the game’s final minute, and the game ended, 6-2.
Villanova then gave La Salle its first loss of the season Monday evening at the Proving Grounds. The ‘Cats had four unsuccessful shots on goal in the first quarter, and another off of a penalty quarter in the second, but senior midfield/forward Anne Drabbe eventually put Villanova on the board five minutes before the end of the half. The goal was Drabbe’s first goal of the season and was assisted by Lysaght and Smolij.
“[I] give La Salle a lot of credit,” Milhous said. “They were coming into the game 5-0, so they had a lot of confidence under their belt. They hadn’t been beating teams by much, but defensively they weren’t giving up much either. We obviously scouted them, and [in the] first half I think we played very strong.”
The second half began with a slew of fouls called on both sides and three shots from La Salle blocked by Sears and the Villanova defense. With three and a half minutes left on the clock, de Ruijter sank a second goal for the ‘Cats, assisted by Schwarz. The game went final, 2-0.
“We had a lot of opportunities we didn’t capitalize on, but I think we played a very consistent 60 minutes,” Milhous said. “Our third quarter we dominated with possession and the fourth quarter we controlled possession as well. The thing is La Salle never gave up, but our girls never did either. I liked the fight we had because La Salle is so talented.”
After a weekend of hometown competition, Villanova will open Big East conference play next week, hosting Georgetown at noon on Friday, Sept. 20. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 22, the ‘Cats will hit the road to face William & Mary.
“This is the perfect way to go into Georgetown,” Milhous said. “We got battle tested on Friday, had good conversations within our team, and I give our team a lot of credit for how they responded. Now we’re ready to continue being the hardest working team on the field.”
