Villanova did it again.
Two weeks after shocking then-No. 9 Penn State in overtime, the Wildcats took down No. 5 Yale in the same fashion Saturday.
Danny Seibel slipped a low-to-low shot past Bulldogs goalie Jack Starr with 20 seconds remaining in overtime to lift Villanova to a 10-9 victory in the Patriot Cup at The Star in Frisco, Texas. It was Seibel’s fourth goal of the game, after which he spiked his stick on the famed Dallas Cowboys star logo at midfield as teammates swarmed him to celebrate.
VILLANOVA WINS AT THE STAR! @NovaLacrosse picks up its second upset of the year, downing @YaleLacrosse in overtime 10-9. Check out that @terrellowens-like celebration. pic.twitter.com/fSEGO2Kc9n
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 17, 2018
“TJ Comizio had the ball. I cut through to vacate. I kind of just faded toward the middle of the field,” Seibel said in a post-game interview on Lax Sports Network. “We connected eyes. He threw it in. I just found myself open. I shot it low. We were beating the goalie low.”
The Wildcats, ranked No. 15 in this week’s Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Top 20, most likely will move into the top 10 with the win.
“We don’t come into games thinking we’re the underdog,” said Seibel, who also scored the game-winning goal when Villanova upended eventual NCAA champion Maryland last season. “We think we have just as good a chance as they do.”
The Wildcats (2-0), who trailed by five goals in the fourth quarter against Penn State, were down 9-7 with just over five minutes remaining against Yale. Dan Fisher, a 6-foot, 240-pound freshman, provided a lift on faceoffs, winning all four in the fourth quarter in relief of Luke Palmadesso against Bulldogs standout Conor Mackie.
Seibel finished a feed from John Kluh, the OT hero in the opener, to pull Villanova within one with 5:26 left. Colin Crowley, another freshman, tied it at 9 with his third goal at the 2:02 mark.
Yale had a chance to win the game on the last possession of regulation, but Matt Gaudet’s last-second shot on the doorstep landed outside the net.
Both teams had opportunities early in overtime. The Bulldogs thwarted a one-minute extra-man opportunity for the Wildcats that came as a result of an unnecessary roughness penalty on Chris Fake. Starr came up with a big save on Christian Cuccinello after shortly after the man-up expired.
Reeves got a good look with 45 seconds left, but shot wide.
Villanova cleared, Comizio received that ball on the right side and swung it to Seibel, who caught it with his left hand, cradled back and skipped it off the turf into the goal for the game-winner.
“I don’t have to dodge. I just have to get open,” Seibel said of his role as off-ball finisher. “My teammates do the work, and I just have to finish it off for them.”
Reeves, the two-time Tewaaraton finalist, was outstanding in his 2018 debut, finishing with four goals and three assists in the loss.
Nike/US Lacrosse Top 20 Scoreboard
No. 2 Maryland 16, High Point 14
No. 4 Albany 15, No. 9 Syracuse 3
No. 12 Villanova 10, No. 5 Yale 9 (OT)
No. 7 Ohio State 9, No. 15 Hofstra 7
No. 16 Army 9, No. 8 Rutgers 7
No. 14 Loyola 12, No. 10 Johns Hopkins 5
No. 11 North Carolina 12, Lehigh 11 (OT)
No. 13 Virginia 13, Drexel 8
No. 17 Penn State 15, Stony Brook 8
No. 18 Penn 12, Michigan 9
No. 19 Princeton 9, Monmouth 8 (2OT)
Quinnipiac 12, No. 20 Brown 11 (OT)
Other Scores
Air Force 8, Marist 7
Bellarmine 13, Cleveland State 9
Colgate 14, Cornell 11
Dartmouth 13, Canisius 12
Delaware 11, NJIT 6
Fairfield 11, St. Joseph’s 6
Georgetown 12, Robert Morris 11
Manhattan 12, VMI 7
Marquette 11, Jacksonville 10
Navy 7, UMBC 5
Providence 13, Bryant 8
Richmond 9, Bucknell 8
Sacred Heart 17, Furman 13
Siena 12, Hobart 11
St. John’s 14, Hartford 12
Towson 15, Mount St. Mary’s 13
Vermont 15, Holy Cross 3
UMass Lowell at Harvard – 3 p.m.