If the old adage that a team makes it biggest strides from the first game of the season to its second is true, consider Villanova this year’s poster child in support of it.
The Wildcats opened with a 17-7 loss at Penn State, which might not look awful in retrospect if the Nittany Lions remain a buzzsaw but was disappointing in the moment. Then Villanova had two weeks to get ready for its next game against defending national champion Yale.
In some ways, it was like the preseason resumed. Mike Corrado’s team worked on riding and clearing and facing man-down situations, the sort of things that get extra attention before weekly game prep consumes more time. But the Wildcats also had a week of game film to work with, and had a better sense of what to truly emphasize, like wing play on faceoffs.
The result the next time out? An 11-10 overtime victory to secure Corrado’s 100th victory at Villanova that saw progress on both sides of the ball.
“I think we were probably more disappointed in how the defense played against Penn State,” Corrado said. “We were hoping that from an experience standpoint, that group will give us some stability. I thought they were significantly better against Yale. That unit has to continue to get better and be more consistent while we’re getting the other end of the field figured out.”
The Wildcats do have some knowns. There’s Connor Kirst, who scored in overtime Saturday, and Keegan Khan, last season’s Big East freshman of the year. The Wildcats also got Joey Froccaro back after he missed all of last season with injury.
And after that?
“We’re trying to figure out who the next 3-4 guys are,” Corrado said. “We have Colin Crowley, who’s a sophomore who had a really good year but tore his ACL with two games to go and then rehabbed and missed all fall. He’s kind of coming in and had a good game against Yale. Eric Overbay’s role has expanded, and we played him a bunch on attack on Saturday. Then Matt Campbell is a freshman from New Jersey. Those six guys are the ones we’re kind of counting on.”
The Wildcats (1-1) get their next three games at home and won’t leave the Philadelphia area again until a March 16 trip to Maryland.
In the interim, they’ll probably root for Yale to bounce back. A year ago, an early overtime defeat of the Bulldogs was critical in earning Villanova one of the final spots in the NCAA tournament field, though it’s too soon to know if this season will provide a repeat.
“Any win you can get could end up having positive ramifications,” Corrado said. “Beating Penn State and Yale was helpful in getting an at-large bid last year, but at this point, there isn’t anyone thinking like that. But we’re happy we won the game, that’s for sure.”