This past Friday, Nov. 7, in Milwaukee, Villanova men’s soccer closed its season with a 1-0 win over conference foe Marquette University and finished with a winning record for the first time since 2021.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, the Wildcats (7-5-6, 2-3-3 Big East) took down Holy Family, 6-0, at home. The team earned two shutouts in the past week and finished sixth in the Big East.
Junior goalkeeper Sebastian Cutler DeJesus’s performance was central to Villanova’s narrow win over Marquette (7-2-7, 1-0-7). The Golden Eagles outshot Villanova, 22-4. Cutler had six saves to post his second shutout within a week.
“Sebastian Cutler was really good in goal,” Fetrow said. “He had six saves, and three or four of them were really important, key moments.”
The Wildcats drew 14 fouls to the Golden Eagles’ nine.
Villanova freshman Matthew Klann scored the only goal of the game. At 7:59, Klann finished a cross from freshman Joseph Margita.
According to Fetrow, against Maquette, the game plan remained the same as throughout the season. On Friday, the team hoped to create early chances and then maintain its lead throughout the game with a strong defense.
“At the end of the day, the few chances we created, we did a really great job executing on,” Fetrow said. “Getting an early goal was something we talked about as a team, and the guys did a great job going out and implementing that.”
At the end of the half, the Wildcats still held the lead. However, Marquette had outshot Villanova, 11-3.
The Golden Eagles made the first three shot attempts of the second half. The third shot came from Marquette’s Justin Milovanov. Cutler collected his third save of the night by blocking Milovanov’s bottom right shot.
Villanova did not make the cut of the four teams competing in the Big East Tournament. However, the season marked an improvement for Villanova’s men’s soccer program after three consecutive losing seasons.
“We’re in the right direction to help this program be nationally known, and having a winning season was the first step,” Fetrow said. “We didn’t accomplish [some of] our goals, so I think there was some disappointment throughout the team, as they wanted to make the playoffs.”
Fetrow took over the program at the start of the 2024 season after former long-time head coach Tom Carlin retired after 16 seasons. In Fetrow’s second season, the future outlook of the team is on an upward trend after the ‘Cats won just one game last year.
Fetrow commended Cutler DeJesus, graduate midfielder Michael teDuits and senior defender Foday Bangura for their leadership and lasting legacy within the program as upperclassman.
“Sebastian Cutler and Michael teDuits have been great leaders for us and great stewards of the program,” Fetrow said. “Very proud of the legacy they’ve left and the impact they’ve had on our younger players. Same thing for Foday Bangura. He’s been an integral part of changing our program. He’s been a big part of our leadership core…He’s just the ultimate team guy.”
