Villanova field hockey (5-3, 1-0 Big East) claimed two wins over the weekend. Villanova recorded a 6-1 win over Georgetown at home in the team’s Big East opener on Friday, and a 2-1 double overtime win over William & Mary on Sunday.
In the Georgetown game, sophomore goalie Maddi Sears and the ‘Cats’ defense held off the Hoya offense for the entire first half. Meanwhile, the first 30 minutes of the game saw five successful scoring attempts from the Villanova offense.
After several unsuccessful scoring attempts off of penalty corners early on, sophomore forward Colleen Finnan put the first point on the board for the ‘Cats just after the 10-minute mark. Coming off of a penalty corner from senior midfield/forward Emma Schwarz, graduate forward Meghan Mitchell, assisted by graduate forward Sabine de Ruijter and sophomore back Gemma Lysaght, put a second goal in the net for the ‘Cats only 37 seconds into the second period. Two minutes later, de Ruijter sank goal number three with an assist from Finnan. Graduate forward Ava Berkowski secured Villanova’s lead at the half with two more successful shots on goal, both within the final 10 minutes before the end of the second period.
“The things that we were doing naturally in the first half we kind of took for granted in the second half,” Villanova head coach Joanie Milhous said. “Georgetown came out stronger than they did in the first half, but we still remained composed. I would say the biggest difference is that we were in full attack mode the first half and it showed with all the goals we put up on the board.”
Villanova retained its momentum after the halftime break. With several early blocked shots and a green card called on Georgetown’s Elena Leahy, the ‘Cats maintained their 5-0 lead at the end of the third period. The final 15 minutes began with the Hoyas’ first goal. Another green card, followed by a yellow card, on Georgetown’s side created one last scoring opportunity that Finnan capitalized on. After an unsuccessful first attempt, she followed up on another penalty corner from Schwarz and sank the game’s sixth and final goal for Villanova.
The ‘Cats then traveled down to William & Mary on Sunday where they walked away with their second win of the weekend, and their third win in a row. Sears started again in Villanova’s goal, and there was strong play on both sides. de Ruijter put the ‘Cats on the board in the 26th minute off of a rebound in front, and the Tribe attempted a response off of a penalty corner, but a save from Sears kept a 1-1 tie at the end of the half. A quiet third period with only one unsuccessful shot from each side led to a missed shot from Mitchell and a green card on William & Mary’s Josette DeGour in the fourth period, which then left both teams at one goal each, and forced the game into overtime.
After the first overtime period, the game remained tied despite several scoring opportunities for both teams, in the form of both penalty corners and straight shots on goal.
“I think we do a really great job of rotating and subbing our girls to keep them fresh,” Milhous said. “To keep them fresh by that second overtime is obviously difficult but I know Sabine said she and Meghan turned to each other and basically were like ‘Alright our legs are done we gotta get this done’ and they did. We knew that they were done. We also knew that they had the skill, the talent, all the intangibles to finish that game off for us. When things matter we know that they’re gonna get it done no matter if they’re exhausted.”
The second overtime ended almost as quickly as it began with a missed shot by Mitchell rebounding into an assist for de Ruijter to help the ‘Cats walk away with a 2-1 win after 71:41 of game time.
“Sabine had a very strong game,” Milhous said. “Sabine and Meghan combined for that last winning goal was… the epitome of the two of them. Meghan created the opportunity and Sabine finished it so I loved how it was a combination effort from our two 5th year captains. It couldn’t have been better. She had a great game and it was nice to see them finish it off together.”
Villanova will host Big East opponent Quinnipiac (2-6, 0-1) next on Friday, Sept. 27.
“We know that every Big East game is going to be a very strong competition regardless of the opponent and regardless of anybody’s record,” Milhous said. “It was a great win against Georgetown and now Quinnipiac is another very strong team and we need to definitely bring our A-game. We just need to clean some things up because I know Quinnipiac is going to bring a great game against us. We are going to be completely prepared and can’t wait for it.”
Following their matchup against Quinnipiac, the ‘Cats will stay at home to face Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 29. The Hawkeyes are 4-2 this season. Iowa is coming off a 5-0 loss against No. 1 Northwestern.
