WASHINGTON, D.C. - Led by the standout performances of freshman John Kluh (Lothian, Md.) and junior John LoCascio (Farifield, N.J.), the Villanova Wildcats (3-6, 2-0) posted an 8-6 victory over Georgetown (4-6, 1-1) at Multi-Sport Field in Washington, D.C. With the win, Villanova remains undefeated in BIG EAST action while Georgetown falls to 1-1 in the conference.
In a game where the Wildcats were held scoreless for 26:01 to bridge the first and third quarters and were trailing the Hoyas going into the final stanza, Villanova tied the game with 13:34 remaining at 6-6 and netted the game-winning goal with 8:50 remaining to solidify the contest.
Kluh led Villanova with three goals and one assist while LoCascio matched a career-high with nine ground balls and four caused turnovers.
Doherty notched the game-winning goal off a defensive transition with an assist by junior Remington Pope (Boston, Mass.) to give the Wildcats a one-goal lead at 7-6 with 8:50 remaining. Senior Will Casertano (Millbrook, N.Y.) added a final insurance score with 2:31 left on the clock for a two-goal cushion off an Eric Gartner (Malvern, Pa.) and solidify the contest 8-6 in favor of Villanova.
In a back-and-forth third quarter where the Hoyas and Wildcats traded goals, Villanova broke their scorless streak at the 9:40 mark when Kluh found an open Jack Rice (Baltimore, Md.) for the score and closed the Georgetown lead to 5-3 to begin the VU comeback. Kluh notched his second goal of the game at the 8:41 mark when he dodged the GU defense to find a seam in the Hoya defense, and junior Kevin O'Neil (Cockeysville, Md.) tied the game at 5-5 just over five minutes later to continue the Wildcat scoring streak.
Georgetown's Reilly O'Connor closed the third quarter with 2:10 remaining on the clock to give the Hoyas a 6-5 lead with 15 minutes left to play, but it wouldn't be enough to overcome the Villanova rally in the final minutes.
Despite Kluh tallying the opening goal to begin the game by making a dodge to the near post to beat Hoya keeper Jake Haley, Georgetown responded with three straight scores from Travis Comeau, Zac Guy and Bo Stafford to close out the first 15 minutes 3-1 in favor of the Hoyas.
After 18:15 of scoreless action to bridge the first and second quarters, Georgetown's Comeau closed out the first 30 minutes of play off a McCormick assist to give the Hoyas a 4-2 lead at halftime.
Villanova dominated the stat sheet, outshooting Georgetown 42-26, winning the ground ball battle 30-29 and taking 10-of-17 faceoff's on the afternoon.
Defensively, junior LSM Christian Kolderup (Darien, Conn.) collected four ground balls and caused two turnovers while sophomore Reed Carlson (Arnold, Md.) collected 10 saves in the victory. Georgetown's Haley tallied 13 in the defeat.
Villanova will be back in action this coming Saturday, April 6th when they host Rutgers at 7 p.m. at Villanova Stadium. It will also serve as the Wildcats celebration of Alumni Day as they welcome back former players.
Explore All Brands
