I Bleed Blue and White

In a great New York weekend where the Jets punished the Patriots and the Giants spoiled Jerrah-World’s grand opening, the Villanova athletics scene was too bad either. Villanova athletes took home 3 awards this past week, in another successful week all across the ‘Nova Sports landscape.

• WR Matt Szczur was named the CAA Special Teams Player of the Week after returning the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown. That’s 1.
• Krista Andersen was named the BIG EAST Freshman of the Week after she helped the volleyball team to a championship over the weekend. That’s 2.
• Megan Goelz and Meredith Sabatini were named to the Big East Honor Roll after solid weeks for the field hockey team. That’s 3 and 4.

See, I wasn’t kidding. Now let’s get to the teams and recap their weeks.

Football (3-0)

• If you hadn’t heard yet, they beat Penn 14-3 at Franklin Field on Saturday night. Not the prettiest win, but we’ll take it. They are currently ranked #2 in the country. They’ll open their CAA slate next week at home vs. Northeastern.

Women’s Basketball

• Not playing until November, but they announced their schedule today. Check it out.

Field Hockey (4-2, 1-0)

• In their first home game, and BIG EAST contest of the season, the ladies dismantled Rutgers 7-1.
• They continued their winning ways on Sunday by beating Bucknell 4-2 on goals from Sabatini, Meg Ryan, Lauren Wuzzardo and Dana Ramsden.

Women’s Soccer (7-1-1)

• In their first setback of the season, the ladies got smoked in their BIG EAST opener at Georgetown when they lost 4-0.
• Katie Ryan was the savior on Sunday when she scored in the 90th minute to hand her team a 1-0 win over Fordham.

Men’s Soccer (4-2-1)

• Jordy Griffith staked the team to a 1-0 lead over UConn, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats fell 2-1 in their BIG EAST opener.
• Kyle Soroka scored just over 4 minutes into the match, and the team held on to beat Providence 1-0 on Sunday.

Men’s Golf

• The team finished 12th out of 18 teams at the McLaughlin Invitational hosted by St. John’s.

Women’s Volleyball (11-2)

• The women traveled to Virginia for the Marriott Cavalier Invitational and they came away the big winner. First, they defeated Albany 3-2 behind 18 kills from Krista Andersen.
• The next day, senior Amy Gulyas and Andersen both posted double-doubles as the ladies won again, defeating hosts Virginia 3-1.
• Later in the day Villanova won yet again as they defeated Virginia Tech 3-2 as Gulyas and Andersen shined again.

If you’re keeping score (I am), then you’ll know that Villanova sports cruised to a 8-2 overall record, and a 12th place finish for the golf team. Good times, keep on comin’.

Time to look around campus and check in on the other sports programs again. This past week was a particularly good one for the Wildcats, as they compiled an overall record of 7-2 and a 4th place finish. And the Giants won too. So all is good.

Let’s take a closer look.

Football (2-0)

• After their victory over Lehigh, the football team moved up one spot to #2 in the country in the Sports Network Top 25.

Men’s Soccer (3-1-1)

• They started off the weekend by beating Binghamton 2-1 behind goals from Stephen Paresi on 36 minutes and Kevin Garica on 80. It was a crappy, rainy night and the ‘Cats were able to pull out the win. Kudos.
• They finished things off in similar fashion on Sunday when they beat winless Fordham 3-1. Adam Amann scored just under 6 minutes into the contest and goals from Kyle McCarthy (29′) and Will Ogden (78′).

Women’s Soccer (6-0-1)

• Katie Ryan scored a goal with just over 4 minutes remaining in regulation to give the ‘Cats a 1-0, but Vermont equalised 2 minutes later. It wasn’t until the 103rd minute that Ryan hit home the winner to give the Wilcats a 2-1 victory.
• Sunday was much less frantic as goals from Ryan and Heidi Sabatura gave Villanova a 2-0 victory over Deleware.
• Ryan’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed as she was named to the Big East Honor Roll for the 2nd time this year.

Field Hockey (3-2)

• Nobody said facing the country’s #2 ranked team would be easy, and the ladies fell 7-0 to North Carolina in their first game of the weekend.
• They rebounded nicely however, with a 7-1 victory over Appalachian State behind a career-high 4 goals from Meredith Sabatini.

Men’s Golf

• The men’s golf team opened their season at The Navy Fall Classic in Annapolis, MD. Junior Brendan Kelly secured a 3rd place finish for himself and led the team to 4th place overall.

Women’s Volleyball (7-2)

• In their first home match of the season the team took care of business, sweeping UMBC 3-0 behind strong performances from Maggie Mergen and Kim Maroon.
• The final game of the Villanova Classic was a little tougher, but the team prevailed again by beating Princeton 3-2 behind Maggie Mergen and freshman Krista Andersen.
• Another accolade for a ‘Nova athlete as Kim Maroon makes the Big East Honor Roll.

And because this really hurts my head to read (I’m not a big tennis guy), I’ll just say that both the men’s and the women’s tennis teams opened up their seasons. Sounds like the men won. The women did not fair as well.

A glorious Labor Day weekend. I was lucky enough to be up at Lake Sabego in Maine (many thanks to our hosts Tom and Jackie) where a great weekend with absolutely picturesque weather ensued. Alas, we’re no longer labor free. So for me, back to obsessing over ‘Nova sports. I hope everyone’s weekend was great!

Yako won it for 'Nova as time expired.

Here’s a look at how the ‘Nova programs fared over the weekend.

Football (1-0)

• WR Brandyn Harvey and K Nick Yako earned CAA honors following the team’s 27-24 victory over Temple. Harvey was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Yako got the nod as Special Teams Player of the Week. The team returns to action this Saturday when they host Lehigh at 7:00 p.m.
• Following their win to start the season the football team moved up 2 spots to #3 in the country in the latest FCS poll.
• Darrel Young was cut by the Washington Redskins, but then later reassigned to their practice squad.

Field Hockey (2-1)

• Junior Meg Ryan scored two goals as the Wildcats defeated Ball State 4-1 on Friday in a tournament at Fairfield University. Senior Captain Emily Donaldson and junior Dana Ramsden also scored for ‘Nova.
• In their 2nd game of the weekend, the team picked up its second win by beating Fairfield 3-1 on the strength of goals from Lauren Wuzzardo, Sam Haas and Dana Ramsden.

Women’s Volleyball (5-2)

• The girls started out the weekend by winning their 5th straight to start the season over LaSalle in The Big 5 Tournament. Maggie Mergen and Morgan Petkovich led the way with 19 and 15 kills, respectively.
• In their 2nd match of the weekend they fell to Temple 3-2, and they also dropped the weekend finale 3-2 to Penn. Kim Maroon picked up a consolation by being named to the All-Tournament Team.

Women’s Soccer (4-0-1)

• The girls started the weekend off right by crushing Davidson 4-1 as Erin Byrnes, Megan Verdeur, Heidi Sabatura and Katie Ryan all found the net.
• On Sunday the team found itself in a dogfight as Charlotte came back to tie the game twice before Amy Greco sent ‘Nova into the lead on 70 minutes for a 3-2 victory. Goals from Grace Hawkins and Rachel Breton helped ensure the women’s soccer team (4-0-1) remained undefeated in the young season.

Men’s Soccer (1-1-1)

• Against Temple on Friday, the team went down 2 goals early before Matt Margiotta took one back on 76 minutes, but it wasn’t enough as the team fell 2-1.
• Sunday gave a better result as the team drew Penn 0-0. Adam Amann almost won it for ‘Nova with 4 minutes left in regulation, but his shot rattled the bar.

The past few days have provided some of the Villanova programs to spring an upset, and their is some new hardware coming to The Main Line. Updates on football, men’s soccer and women’s volleyball to follow.

• Villanova stunned Temple in the waning moments last night, and if you weren’t able to see the game Villanova’s game recap provides a bit more information about the contest. Sounds like Chris Whitney had a great game in leading ‘Nova back.
• Kyle Soroka scored on 82 minutes for Villanova as the men’s soccer team upset hosts#18 Loyola (MD) 1-0 on Tuesday to win their season opener. Soroka put his strike in the top left corner from about 25 yards out for the game winner.
• The women’s volleyball team swept Long Island on Tuesday night to run their record to 4-0 on the season. The women committed just 6 errors on the night. Morgan Petkovich led the team with 16 kills.
• Women’s soccer player Katie Ryan was named to the Big East Honor Roll after she scored in each of hte first three games. The team will travel to North Carolina this weekend to face Charlotte and Davidson.

It was a busy weekend for both the women’s soccer and volleyball teams, and both performed admirably. Plus, the field hockey team got their season underway while a former Villanovan brought home some impressive hardware from Europe.

• Senior Kelly Eagan scored with just over a minute left in double-overtime to help the women’s soccer team defeat Virginia Tech 2-1 on Friday. It was the 5th game-winning goal of Eagan’s career.
• The late game heroics didn’t end there for the women’s soccer team, however, as sophomore Katie Ryan scored with less than 9 seconds remaining tie the game 2-2 vs. Nebraska on Sunday before the teams played to a stalemate in overtime. The women’s soccer team is now 2-0-1 on the season.
• Former Villanova rower Megan Walsh won a silver medal this past weekend at the World Championships when her team finished 2nd in the women’s quad race. Walsh rowed bow, and her team finished just 3 seconds off the pace.
• The field hockey team began their season with a 7-1 loss to #16 Old Dominion. Dana Ramsden had the lone goal for the Wildcats in the opening stages of the game.
• The women’s volleyball team won the Maryland Invitational this past weekend by winning all 3 of its matches. First, they defeated Youngstown State 3-1 on Friday before holding off Stony Brook 3-2 on Saturday. And finally they swept Maryland 3-0 on Sunday. Sophomore Megan Petkovich was named Tournament MVP while classmate Maggie Mergen and Kim Maroon earned a spot on the All-Tournament squad.

Finally, here’s a very heart warming story about senior LB Osayi Osunde, and what he and his family have gone through that has helped make him the man he is today.