It wasn’t how Villanova drew it up because, well, Wildcats offensive coordinator Simon Connor doesn’t draw up plays. That’s in part what drew John Kluh to commit to Villanova nearly seven years ago.
When Luke Palmadesso wrangled the opening faceoff of overtime, there was no Philly Special. The Wildcats balanced the field, zipped the ball around and found Kluh with a short-stick matchup about 25 yards away from the goal. Kluh split left, causing the defender to bite hard on the fake. Kluh saw his opening and seized it. He changed directions, swept right, got to about 10 yards out, shot back across his body and buried the game-winning goal to lift Villanova to a 17-16 victory over then-No. 9 Penn State on Feb. 3.
No one slid to Kluh, because Christian Cuccinello was on fire with five goals and Danny Seibel is a deadly off-ball finisher who shot 57 percent from the field last season. Kluh read the defense and reacted. He’s used to being overlooked.
“Coach Connor doesn’t like to have too many plays, because it makes guys robotic,” Kluh said. “He doesn’t want guys to lose that instinct for lacrosse.”
Kluh nearly lost lacrosse altogether. He surprised many observers — especially coaches who stopped recruiting the 5-foot-4, 140-pound midfielder because of his size — with a breakthrough freshman season in which he notched 26 points and was named first-team All-Big East in 2013. But it would be nearly three years before he could play competitive lacrosse again.
It started with sports hernia surgery that summer. Then came the “bang-bang play” the following fall. “I’m leaning into someone, I go to turn and rotate — you know what happens here. I won’t give you the gruesome details.”
Kluh sustained massive ligament damage in his left knee. He tore his ACL and meniscus and sprained his MCL. He needed another surgery.
Hell bent on returning if Villanova made the NCAA tournament the ensuing spring, Kluh doubled the recommended hours for physical therapy. The Wildcats finished 6-10 and lost to Denver in the Big East championship game.
Still, Kluh was raring to go.
Then the next fall, almost a year to the day after first injuring his knee, it buckled again. “Just a freak cut,” Kluh said. He heard something crack, but jogged off the field unassisted. His left leg felt stiff the following day. An MRI revealed he again tore his ACL.
The doubters returned. Even if Kluh could come back, they told him, he would never be the same player he was when he turned heads as a freshman out of St. Mary’s (Md.)
“It took a lot for me to push those doubts aside and even use them as fuel to prove them wrong,” he said.
Kluh rehabbed just as hard and altered his diet to aid the healing process. Fifteen months later — and two years, nine months and 16 days from the time he last stepped onto the field for a game — Kluh was cleared to play Feb. 20, 2016 at Harvard.
“I’m the kind of person that loves lacrosse, whether it’s practice, a game, going out and shooting on my own,” he said. “It was really hard for me to be away from the game that long.”
Kluh scored a goal in the game, a 13-12 overtime loss. More importantly, his classmates noticed, he dodged and defended the same brazen way he did as a freshman. They were seniors then.
“He’s strong. He’s fast. He’s fearless,” Villanova head coach Mike Corrado said. “He’s his own worst enemy sometimes.”
Kluh has not looked back. The NCAA granted him a medical redshirt for both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He graduated from Villanova’s business school in 2016 with a degree in finance and economics, entered the MBA program and will receive his master’s this spring. He has offers on the table to work in commercial real estate.
But Kluh has learned not to look too far forward. For now, he’s enjoying his last ride as a college lacrosse player, embracing yet another set of teammates.
“I will be sad when he leaves,” Corrado said. “I have an 8-year-old son. I’ll kid, ‘John, I think I’ve known you almost as long as my son.’”
Kluh, 23, is a sixth-year senior and fourth-year captain for the Wildcats. He’s as feisty as ever. He memorably delivered a crushing, crease-clearing hit on Dylan Maltz in Villanova’s shocking upset of eventual NCAA champion Maryland last April.
John Kluh, a 5-foot-4, 140-pound midfielder, protecting the @NovaLacrosse crease as Willis makes the point-blank save. Now 12-8 inside 8 pic.twitter.com/IJyEEflqYp
— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) March 18, 2017
And if you ask Kluh about the Wildcats’ season-opening upset in Happy Valley — the wild 33-goal affair that Kluh clinched 50 seconds into overtime, his left knee looking healthy as ever on that nasty split dodge — he’ll assure you there’s more where that came from. No. 12 Villanova plays No. 5 Yale at The Star in Frisco, Texas, on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, Lax Sports Network).
The Wildcats also face Hofstra, Brown, Penn and Maryland before beginning the Big East portion of their schedule. They’re hoping to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011.
“We’re every bit as good as those teams,” Kluh said. “We’re not done just because we had a big win on the first game of the season.”