Villanova men’s soccer hit the road this past Friday, Oct. 3, and traveled up to Providence, Rhode Island. The team fell, 5-0, to the Friars, earning the Wildcats their first Big East loss of the season.
Providence (4-5-1, 2-1-0 Big East) put on a show for its homecoming weekend in Anderson Stadium, capitalizing twice within seven minutes during the first half.
Both teams were coming off of conference wins. On Sept. 27, Villanova (3-4-3, 1-1-1 Big East ) took down No. 22 ranked UConn 2-1 and the Friars, Xavier, 3-1.
“The gameplan was very similar to our approach going into UConn,” head coach Mark Fetrow said. “We wanted to be sound defensively, we wanted to limit the space between our lines, keep our shape compact, and we knew Providence was a good attacking team. But we felt like if we defended with the same collective effort that we did against UConn, that we could handle their numbers and exchanges in the final third.”
Providence’s offense controlled possession for most of the game, taking 17 total shots with 10 shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Yagudayev was in front of the net for Villanova for the full 90 minutes, saving five shots.
Meanwhile, Villanova managed eight shots across the game with just one shot on goal by sophomore defender Lorenzo Avalos.
The first goal came from Providence’s Fernando Garcia Gil at 11:02, and Fetrow felt that the goal was not a reflection of the game at that point.
“When we gave up the first goal, it was really against the run of play,” Fetrow said. “We had had a couple of 18-box entries at that point. It felt like we were more of the aggressor. It was kind of a nothing play where one of our center backs jammed into a central pocket with their forward and we didn’t condense the shape with our other players in the back line which led to them having a free look on goal.”
The second goal that Villanova allowed in reflected a number of sequential mistakes, which Fetrow called a “comedy of errors.” Providence’s Ian Abbey scored just seven minutes later, at 18:13.
“We weren’t proactive enough with our shifting to limit their transition ability and ended up being another goal for them,” Fetrow said. “Being down, 0-2, we talked at halftime, it’s a big hill to climb, but it’s not a mountain, we’re able to overcome this.”
After the halftime talk, the team came back on the field with new confidence but continued to face an onslaught from the Friars offense. Bruno Rosa scored two of Providence’s three second-half goals, the first coming at 48:11 and the second two minutes later, at 50:11.
Providence’s lead became insurmountable for Villanova once the Friars were up by four goals.
“When it became 0-4, there wasn’t any quit, there wasn’t any lack of effort from our group, but 0-4, that’s not a hill, that’s a mountain,” Fetrow said. “It’s a really big mountain and it’s too steep for us to climb at that point.”
The Wildcats look to fall back into a rhythm with a four-game home stretch, starting with a Tuesday nonconference matchup against the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
“We want to get back to our winning ways,” Fetrow said. “No matter what it looks like, at the end of the day, Tuesday is a great opportunity to get a result. It’s the start of a little home stretch for us and we want to feel good going into Seton Hall with how we’re playing.”
The loss drops Villanova to a tie with St. John’s for fifth place in conference East Division standings. For its next Big East matchup, Villanova will host Seton Hall (4-2-4, 2-0-1 Big East) on Saturday, Oct. 11 (1 p.m. ESPN+).
