March 18, 2008

Box Score

VILLANOVA, Pa. - Villanova (1-6) did its best to keep pressure on Ohio State (4-2) by outshooting the visiting Buckeyes 21-7 in the second half, but the Wildcats were defeated 15-8 at Villanova Stadium on Tuesday night. Ohio State scored five goals in each of the first two periods and led 15-8 at halftime.

Junior Tommy Nolan (Manhasset, N.Y.) and sophomore Mark Scioscia (East Hampton, N.Y.) scored two goals apiece for Villanova, which outshot the Buckeyes 31-30 for the game thanks to its second half barrage of shots.

Ohio State goalie Stefan Schroder had 11 saves in the game to limit the Wildcats to just two goals in each of the four quarters. Villanova did get goals from six different players in the contest and seven players had at least one point.

The Buckeyes scored a pair of goals in the first five-plus minutes of the game but the Wildcats got on the scoreboard with 5:27 left in the opening period on the second goal of the season by sophomore R.J. Lyons (Doylestown, Pa.). However, Ohio State answered with its next goal just eight seconds later and added another with 3:54 left in the period for a 4-1 advantage. Nolan scored his first goal with 1:26 remaining in the opening stanza but the Buckeyes scored with 14 seconds left in the period to lead 5-2 at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, Scioscia scored his first goal with 13:31 left in the period but from that point on Ohio State scored eight of the game's next 10 goals and led 13-5 with 3:13 to play in the third quarter. Seven different players scored goals for the Buckeyes during that stretch.

Kevin Buchanan and Jeff Ryan each scored three goals for Ohio State and a trio of other Buckeyes all had two goals in the contest. Ohio State also won 14 of the game's 25 face-offs and was successful on 20-of-23 clearing attempts.

Adding goals for Villanova were junior Tim Driscoll (Montville, N.J.), freshman Chris Aitken (Haverford, Pa.) and freshman Andrew Henrich (Wyndmoor, Pa.). In the net, junior goalie Andrew DiLoreto (Wilton, Conn.) tallied all seven of his saves in the first half.

The Wildcats open conference play this Saturday when they travel to Delaware at 7 p.m. for a Colonial Athletic Association battle. The Blue Hens are currently ranked No. 16 in the latest USILA national poll and are one of three ranked CAA teams.