On Sunday night, the Villanova women’s soccer team halted the University of Pennsylvania’s four-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory at Rhodes Field in Philadelphia, PA.
The Wildcats (5-3) win over Penn (4-1-2) followed up off a hard-fought 1-0 loss against Princeton this past Thursday that ended their four-game win-streak.
“We’re always hunting for three points, which is what in soccer, you get for winning a game,” Villanova head coach Samar Azem said. “And so when we walk away from a Princeton game, or even a Penn game, or whatever game we walk away from, we’re able to go back into the lab and say, ‘Okay, here’s where we’re good, here’s where we can be better.”
The Wildcats’ opportunity to “do better” emerged out of a scoring frenzy late in the first half. The offense was led by one of the Wildcats’ freshest faces, Averie Nelson, a freshman from Dix Hills, New York. Nelson scored two goals, roughly four minutes apart.
Nelson opened the game’s scoresheet in the 32nd minute and scored her second goal in the 36th. She is the first Wildcat to score two goals in a single women’s soccer game this season.
“At any given moment anywhere, between six to seven of our players are in their first year competing for us,” Azem said. “So, our freshmen, our grad transfers and one of our players that was injured last year really have been contributing significantly.”
At the beginning of the first half, neither team controlled possession of the game. Penn saw a few scoring chances as it was unable to convert on any corner kick opportunities. The Wildcats had more prominent chances after earning a penalty kick in the 22nd minute. Sophomore midfielder Amalia Cardo missed the attempt.
The bulk of the scoring took place shortly after Nelson’s goal in the 32nd minute. Penn retaliated with a goal from Mallory Fuss only a minute after, which was met by a second Nelson goal in the 36th minute. Villanova sophomore Morgan Kotch closed the scoresheet in the 38th minute with her second goal of the season.
Villanova maintained a two-goal lead over Penn at halftime, 3-1.
“Nobody was complacent, nobody felt like the game was over,” Azem said. “Everyone was locked in because they knew the second half was going to be a battle. And it was. It was a big battle.”
The second half of the game remained scoreless as Villanova’s defense shut out Penn.
This matchup concludes Villanova’s non-conference season. Last year, the Wildcats were one goal away from making the conference tournament. Now the qualification level has changed from the top six teams making it to the tournament to the top four teams qualifying.
“We want to be sharper, better and learn from last year,” Azem said. “Our goal is to finish in the top four in conference play and take that to winning the Big East tournament and going to the NCAA.”
Villanova will match up against Seton Hall University (3-1-4) on Saturday, Sept. 20, in its Big East conference opener at 4 p.m.
