Villanova field hockey started the weekend with its second conference game of the season, hosting Quinnipiac on Friday evening. The ‘Cats remained at home for Sunday’s matchup against No. 7 Iowa. The ‘Cats split the weekend with a 4-2 victory over Quinnipiac and a 2-0 loss to Iowa.
Friday’s game began with sophomore Maddi Sears in goal for the ‘Cats, and began with several fast offensive breaks on both sides.
Quinnipiac sank its first goal just under three minutes after play started. Graduate forward Meghan Mitchell responded for the ‘Cats, with an assist from sophomore midfielder Jane Bresnahan. After five more attempted shots on goal from the Villanova offense, three of which were blocked and two saved, the first period ended at a 1-1 tie.
“They scored but we responded very quickly with a goal right back which I am happy and proud of our team for responding that way,” Villanova head coach Joanie Milhous said.
The ‘Cats finally pulled ahead early in the second period with a goal from sophomore back Gemma Lysaght off of a penalty corner from senior midfielder/forward Emma Schwarz and assisted by senior midfielder Raina Smolij. This was followed by a blocked shot from both graduate forward Sabine de Ruijter off of a penalty corner from graduate back Alexandria Lavelle and a direct shot by senior midfield/forward Anne Drabbe saved by the Quinnipiac defense. One more blocked shot from Lavelle kept the scoreboard unchanged and brought the half to a close, 2-1.
The second half started off strong offensively on both sides with three almost immediate scoring attempts off of a penalty corner from Quinnipiac and an immediate attempt at a response from de Ruijter that was quickly saved in the Quinnipiac goal. However, Mitchell was able to increase the lead for the ‘Cats by one more off of a penalty corner from Schwarz and assists by Lysaght and sophomore midfield/forward Maeve Boston. Quinnipiac fired off one more powerful shot on goal that nearly evened the score, and Villanova went into the final 15 minutes of the game only ahead by one.
Nearly halfway through the final period, Lavelle was able to secure a Villanova win over Quinnipiac, scoring the team’s fourth and final goal following two back-to-back stopped scoring attempts off of her penalty corner. This puts the ‘Cats at 2-0 in the Big East and will have another opportunity to showcase their skill in conference play on Friday, Oct. 4 at UConn.
“I think [Iowa] is the perfect game to have before we play UConn in the Big East because we got to test ourselves against a very strong opponent and kind of figure out what we need to tweak to be successful against a very strong opponent on Friday,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to go out of this game with a lot of confidence, fix what we need to fix and get ready to compete on Friday.”
Coming off a conference win at home on Friday, the ‘Cats stayed at home to host Iowa on Sunday afternoon. Sears again guarded the Wildcat goal and was met with several quick scoring attempts early in both the first and second periods. Not for lack of attempt, the first half of the game ended with a blank scorecard for both teams. This quickly changed in the second half as Iowa sank their first goal off of an airball from Sears who was rebounding a preceding shot on goal. A green card on de Ruijter and one final attempt at leveling out the score by sophomore forward Colleen Finnan brought the third period to a close with the ‘Cats trailing, 1-0.
An action packed final 15 minutes of play saw three more unsuccessful shots on goal from Villanova’s offense followed by a yellow card on de Ruijter in the 57th minute. With the ‘Cats playing in front of an empty net, the Hawkeyes took the opportunity to put one more goal on the board to finish out the game. This final goal led to a green card for Iowa, but ‘Nova was still unable to put the ball in the net. This non-conference matchup ended in a 2-0 loss for the ‘Cats.
“We were fortunate to play Iowa,” de Ruijter said. “They’re a very, very strong team. I do think that our team was never scared to play them. I think we were actually very excited, very confident, and I think we’ve shown very good hockey against a very good team. I’m very proud of everyone.”
“It was a very even game and I think we surprised Iowa,” Milhous said. “We didn’t surprise ourselves because we know the talent that we have on this team.”
Following their Big East game at UConn on Friday, the ‘Cats will hit the road again on Sunday, Oct. 6 to face their third Big 5 opponent, Penn.
