Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/5/16
From Press Release
Offense was the buzz word for the afternoon as Villanova registered a 23-13 victory over Delaware on Saturday in an old fashioned shootout at Delaware Stadium. With the win, the Wildcats improved to 3-1 on the season while the Blue Hens fell to 1-5 overall.
The contest was one for the record books as the Wildcats tallied the most goals in a game in 21 years: the effort was last topped in a 24-7 win over Holy Cross in 1995. Additionally, it was the second-highest combined goal total in Villanova history (36) and has only been topped by a combined 43 goals in a 23-20 win over Lafayette in 1991.
Villanova was led by junior sniper Jake Froccaro who paced the Wildcats with eight points via five goals and three assists. 14 players contributed points for VU on the afternoon as the team combined for 43 total points with 20 assists on 23 goals. Junior Devin McNamara also had a terrific day on offense with a career-high seven points with four goals and three assists.
Villanova couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the contest and jumped out to an 11-0 lead on the Blue Hens in just under 25 minutes of action. They increased that lead to 14-1 with 5:40 remaining in the half before closing the second quarter with a 16-4 advantage over the hosts heading into intermission.
Despite the 12-goal lead over Delaware, the Blue Hens rallied in the third quarter and outscored Villanova 5-3 in the stanza to close the Wildcat lead to 10 at 19-9.
The final 15 minutes of action was a back-and-forth affair with each side scoring four goals. Froccaro began a three-goal run for Villanova with 10:04 on the clock as Harry DellaFera and Johnny Gallaway contributed scores during the run. Delaware would go on to close the contest with three unanswered goals to close the contest at 23-13 in favor of Villanova.
Luke Palmadesso and DellaFera notched their first goals of the season in the contest while freshman goalkeeper Nick Testa earned the first minutes of his career and finished the match with two saves.
Villanova outshot their opponent by a 61-26 margin and won the ground ball battle, 44-32. The Wildcats were also an impressive 5-for-6 (.833) on extra-man opportunities. For the first time this season Villanova lost the battle at X and won just 16-of-38 attempts (.421) at faceoff’s for the day while Palmadesso was 14-of-25 (.560).
Delaware was led offensively by Paul Major’s (Spring-Ford) three goals and two assists for five points. Joe Eisele (St. Augustine Prep) had a goal and two assists and Dean DiSimone (St. Augustine Prep) had two goals.
Villanova will return to action a week from today when they host Penn on Saturday, March 12th. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. in Villanova Stadium as the storied rivalry preps for another chapter.
GAME NOTES: Today’s Villanova goal total has been matched twice in school history: a 23-2 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson in 1983 and 23-20 victory over Lafayette in 1991… Villanova’s 23 goals were the most scored for VU in 21 years dating back to a 24-7 win over Holy Cross in 1995… Additionally, it was the second-highest combined goal total in Villanova history (36). The highest remains the 23-20 win over Lafayette in 1991 (43)… Villanova last scored 20 goals in a game just a year ago in a 21-11 win over St. John’s… Junior Jake Froccaro has totaled 17 goals in the last three games (5.66/game) and in just the last seven days. He is averaging 4.75/goals a game for the Wildcats for the season.