On Saturday, Sept. 20, Villanova women’s soccer defeated visiting Seton Hall on Senior Day, 1-0, at Higgins Soccer Complex.
The Wildcats (6-3, 1-0-0 Big East) collected their fifth shutout of the season. Villanova held Seton Hall (3-2-4, 0-0-1 Big East) to a season-low two shot attempts. None of the shots were on goal. It is the first time since 2008 that the Wildcats have not allowed a shot on goal.
Villanova finished with 17 shot attempts and four on goal.
“The emotion around our seniors today is that we love them,” head coach Samar Azem said. “To be able to celebrate them around the game was phenomenal. Then, to play the game, get business done, and then give them three points, and say that these points are for you. I think we’re playing the rest of the game for them and with them.”
Villanova opened up the first half with a high press in the attacking third of the pitch against the Pirates. After a Villanova fall in Seton Hall’s 18-yard box, referees went to review. No penalty was awarded to the Wildcat side.
In the 27th minute, Villanova drew a foul roughly 15 yards from the penalty arc on the 18-yard box. Graduate midfielder Kate Dobsch and junior midfielder Gabby Koluch stepped up to the free kick. Koluch took the kick, drilling the ball into the top-right corner of the goal to give Villanova an eventual game-winning goal and a 1-0 lead.
“When we take free kicks, we usually have two people go up, and it’s just kind of a gut-feeling of who do you think can take it and who do you think has the confidence on that day,” Koluch said. “Right as I stepped up, I was, like, to Kate, ‘I got it.’ I just kind of knew that I wanted to take that shot. And you know when you just hit it right. I felt it, and watched it go top bins. It was just a great feeling.”
Perfecting set pieces on the practice field was a key focus for the Wildcats in practice, and it paid off on the goal by Koluch.
“Almost every day,” Azem said when asked about when the team practices set pieces. “Set pieces can account for about fifty percent of goals in the college game, and so the team is super committed to that.”
The goal was Villanova’s second time that it has scored on a free kick this season. It was Klouch’s first goal of the season. She currently has four shots on goal.
“I mean, that’s a really hard shot,” Azem said. “ That’s a ‘SportsCenter Top-10’ shot. It was beautifully placed, and she’s had one coming. She’s worked so hard for us, so I was really excited to see her celebrate because you can tell she was, like, ‘Ah, monkey’s off my back.’”
In the second half, Villanova outshot Seton Hall, 9-0, with three on goal.
The Wildcats came close to scoring a second goal in the 58th minute, but was not successful.
Graduate defender Olivia Neal got a shot on goal during the 86th minute for the Wildcats. Neal let a shot attempt fly from the top of the 18-yard box, but it was saved by a diving Pirate goalkeeper. The score attempt by Neal was one of three consecutive shot attempts for the Wildcats in the game’s final five minutes.
In the final minutes of the game, Seton Hall scrambled for an equalizer, but was unable to penetrate the Wildcat defense to get off any shot attempts.
The Wildcats now continue conference play against Creighton University (3-5-1, 0-1-0 Big East) at the Higgins Soccer Complex on Wednesday, Sept. 24 (4 p.m.). Villanova defeated Creighton, 2-0, in the previous meetings last season.
