Six minutes into its match with Marquette at Higgins Soccer Complex on Sept. 20, Villanova men’s soccer took a 1-0 lead on the Golden Eagles after graduate forward Colby Raymond’s third goal of the season. Two minutes later, the Wildcats lost that lead.
The ‘Cats would ultimately fall to the Golden Eagles in this season’s Big East opener, 3-2, after giving up two Marquette goals in the first 22 minutes of the match. A little over 72 hours later, the Wildcats drew Penn 2-2, bringing their overall record to 0-5-3.
The loss to Marquette marked seven consecutive games without a win, which surpassed the streak of results set by last year’s team to open the season. The 2023 Wildcats found their first and only win of the season in the schedule’s seventh game. Through a coaching change and roster transition, the ‘Cats are winless over their last 16 matches. Villanova has not produced a home victory since a 1-0 win over Navy on Oct. 25, 2022.
Despite the loss, Villanova head coach Mark Fetrow remained positive about the game with Marquette.
“This was a great opportunity for us to restart our season,” Fetrow said. “The way we talk about it is, the first eight games of the season are all non-conference games, but once you start Big East play it’s your second season… We really felt confident going into the game and being at home and having some home field advantage.”
Two minutes after Raymond’s goal, assisted by graduate midfielder Branden Johns, claimed an early lead for the ‘Cats, a penalty was given to Marquette on a handball. Golden Eagles junior midfielder Mitar Mitrovic converted from the spot.
Fifteen minutes later, Marquette was awarded its second penalty of the game and Mitrovic converted yet again to give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Following the second goal, Fetrow brought on senior forward Vincent Petrera, senior midfielder Jordan Canica and freshman midfielder/forward Karson Vazquez. These changes paid off as Canica evened the scoring in the 32nd minute. The score remained balanced through to the halftime break. When asked about conceding successive penalties, Fetrow praised the response of his team while also recognizing a troubling pattern.
“Both times we bounced back from it and kept competing,” Fetrow said. “It’s a bad habit. We’re scoring goals and giving up goals quickly after that. It’s something we’ve addressed and will focus on changing. But I thought the way they handled it, their body language and their ability to stay on the front foot and move on to the next play was pretty good.”
The second half was tightly contested, but Marquette took back the lead with a goal in the 67th minute. Sophomore defender Ryan Amond’s first goal of the season proved to be the decider.
The Wildcats mustered three shots over the final 20 minutes, one of which forced a save.
Late in the game, there were appeals for a handball against Marquette. The play went under review but was deemed as fair play by the referee.
After the match, Fetrow emphasized the aggression of the Wildcat offensive attack.
“Our ability to attack and our ability to continue to have the ball for stretches creates opportunities, ” Fetrow said. “Anytime you score two goals.. you kind of expect to win the game when you score two goals. On the flip side of that… I thought there [were] really three or four [goals] that we could have got there, one including the handball that wasn’t called, but there was enough opportunity that we could have still won the game, even with the errors.”
Villanova went the remainder of the game without finding a goal to draw itself level. The ‘Cats lost, 3-2.
Through the early parts of the season, Villanova typically had six or seven days between matches. The three day gap between the Marquette match and the Penn match is indicative of the remainder of the ‘Cats schedule. Tight turnarounds will become common through October.
“This is really what it’s going to be like in October,” Fetrow said. “In October we’re gonna play a lot of games in this similar fashion, and it’s gonna be a good training session tomorrow… then we got one day to prepare for Penn which is playing against a ranked team so another good opportunity to get ready for the Big East.”
Following the draw with Penn, the Wildcats will travel to Queens to play against St. John’s in their second Big East matchup of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.
