Wildcats Set for Rivalry Matchup at Penn Saturday; Villanova Takes on Penn Quakers in Heated Series
March 6, 2015
VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats (3-1) return to the turf this weekend when they take on the Penn Quakers (3-2) on Saturday, March 7th. Game time is slated for 1 p.m. at Franklin Field and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
Series History: Saturday marks the 26th meeting between the two schools with the all-time series favoring Penn by a 17-8 margin. The two sides have met for 17 straight seasons prior to this weekend’s matchup and nine of the previous 14 games, including four of the last five, have been decided by one goal. Penn won the most recent outing 12-11 on March 8th, 2014 by a 12-11 margin.
Five goals in a span of six minutes decided the game as the Villanova Wildcats fell in a heartbreaker, 12-11, on Saturday night at Villanova Stadium against 14th-ranked Penn.
Villanova This Season: The Wildcats enter Saturday’s contest with a 3-1 record after recording three straight wins over Penn State (W, 11-7), Drexel (W, 14-11) and Delaware (W, 10-4). The Wildcats opened the year with a 13-10 loss to Johns Hopkins to start the season. As of the latest USILA Coaches and Cascade/Maverik Media Polls released on Monday, March 2nd, Villanova has scheduled four ranked opponents on their calendar this season: No. 4 Denver, No. 10 Maryland, No. 15 Marquette and No. 17 Johns Hopkins.
`Nova Offense: Jack Curran (Fair Haven, N.J.)leads the team with 13 points via eight goals and five assists whileDanny Seibel (Wakefield, Mass.) follows closely behind with 12 goals on the year. Freshman face-off specialistLuke Palmadesso (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) has posted a 41% win percentage from the faceoff X this season taking 23-of-56 attempts. The Wildcats average 11.25 goals per game on offence and surrender 8.75 goals per game defensively.
‘Nova Defense: Junior Greg Stamatov (Foxboro, Mass.) and sophomore Dan Willis (Moorestown, N.J.) have each played 120 minutes in net for the Wildcats and have combined for a .533 save percentage and 40 saves on the season. The starting trio on close defense, sophomores Danny Sweeney (Glenelg, Md.), Nate Gorman(Swewll, N.J.) and junior John Moderski (Philadelphia, Pa.) have combined for 16 ground balls and five caused turnovers while junior LSM Jordan Cunningham (Atlanta, Ga.) has registered seven ground balls and seven caused turnovers.
A Look at Penn: Penn brings a 3-2 record into Saturday’s showdown with the Wildcats and the Quakers are coming off a 9-6 win at Lafayette on Tuesday. Penn opened the season with wins against UMBC (W, 10-8), St. Joseph’s (W, 11-10 OT) and have lost to Maryland (L, 11-7) and Penn State (L, 14-11).
Quaker Offense: Penn averages 9.60 goals per game on offense and surrenders 9.54 goals per game defensively. Nick Doktor (7g, 14a) leads the team with 21 points while Joe McCallion follows closely behind with 12 goals and four assists. 16 different players have posted points for Penn through five games.
Quaker Defense: Jimmy Sestilio has played the majority of minutes in net this season and has a 10.33 GAA and a .570 save percentage, while John Lopes has seen significant time in net and averages 7.73 goals against and a .400 save percentage. Combined, the duo has made 57 saves on the year.
The Last Meeting (3/8/14): Five goals in a span of six minutes decided the game as Villanova fell in a heartbreaker, 12-11, at Villanova Stadium against 14th-ranked Penn. The Wildcats held an 11-7 advantage with 12:49 remaining in the contest but couldn’t hold off the Quaker attack as Penn rallied from behind for the victory. Villanova never gave up the lead until 2:00 remaining in the fourth stanza.
