 "Photo: Matthew Sprague/The Towerlight")
The Tigers mounted an astounding comeback in the fourth quarter Saturday night, but it just wasn’t enough as Villanova held on to win a 10-9 thriller for the CAA Championship. Junior Brock Armour took a pass from Justin Schneider to tie it up with six seconds to go, but he was hit as he shot and the ball sailed high; the Wildcats took over possession.
“We got a big face-off when it was 10-9,” head coach Tony Seaman said. “We had our chances. We missed the cage a lot tonight, and that was one of our big problems all year. We hung in there though. A lot of teams down 8-3 at halftime could easily fold, and we hung in there.”
Indeed, the Tigers were unable to make their shots count; only 19 out of 41 were on goal, just three of 11 in the first quarter.
“For me personally, I felt like I was just a couple inches off the whole time,” junior Will Harrington said. “I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to take so many shots and not hit the net. It was just a matter of us not finishing our shots.”
Harrington had four goals in Wednesday’s win over Drexel, but the midfielder failed to record a single point Saturday.
Schneider scored three goals and had an assist to lead the Tigers, while Tim Stratton had his own hat trick and Brock Armour had a goal and a helper. However, Villanova’s second quarter surge was too much, as the Wildcats outscored the Tigers 6-2 in that period, including 2-1 on Towson’s own three-minute man advantage.
“We buried ourselves in the second quarter,” junior goaltender Rob Wheeler said. “Off-ball defensively, I think that was the worst we’ve played all year. We shot ourselves in the foot. I give the offense credit, they did a hell of a job coming back in the second half, but in the second quarter right there, it just killed us. They ran all over us.”
C.J. Small scored three goals for Villanova, while Kevin Cunningham had a goal and three assists. Mark Scioscia and T.J. O’Donnell each had a pair of goals as well.
“Fourteen seniors,” Seaman said. “It helps on that team. This is Delaware two years ago. They’re very well-coached, they went up and beat a very good Hofstra team on the road.”
Entering the fourth quarter, the Tigers trailed 9-5, but a surge in the middle of the period made the score 10-8. Stratton’s score with 43 seconds remaining brought the fans to their feet, but the Villanova defense held.
“We told our kids that they were going to start going to the goal more, and we were a little slow on our slides, and they started beating our short sticks more,” Villanova head coach Michael Corrado said.
Andrew DiLoreto had 10 saves for the Wildcats, while Wheeler, who made the All-Tournament team along with Harrington and Schneider, made 15 saves in another strong performance in net. However, the Tiger defense couldn’t handle Villanova’s speed on offense, and the Wildcats burned Towson on a number of one-on-one matchups.
“We weren’t keeping up with their cutters, and they were just burying their shots in close,” Wheeler said. “I think we were just a little anxious… It was a great learning experience. One positive note, we’ve got a lot of players coming back. We’re losing some guys, and that will hurt, but I remain optimistic.”
With the victory, the Wildcats advance to the NCAA Tournament with the CAA’s automatic bid.
“After last year, we were 5-10, so to come back and get 11 wins and get a chance to play in the tournament is just huge for the program,” Corrado said. “Everybody’s excited.”
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