‘Cats Drop Home Opener in W. Soccer, 4-1

Friday, September 4

Davidson, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

Davidson College

Villanova

Senior Kyri Bye-Nagel seen here drilling one of her two shots on goal, with the second one finding the back of the net.

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

9/4/2009 10:10:29 PM | Women's Soccer

Gavin McFarlin- Assistant SID

Box Score

DAVIDSON, N.C. — Playing at home for the first time in the 2009 campaign, the Davidson women's soccer team came up short in their bid to win their fourth straight home opener, falling by the count of 4-1 to visiting Villanova on Friday evening at Alumni Stadium.

Davidson dropped to 1-3-0 on the season, and fell for the first time in a home opener since taking a 5-1 loss to Wake Forest back in 2005. Villanova kept its unbeaten streak alive at 3-0-1 and earned the inaugural win in the first meeting in the all-time series between the two schools.

In a battle of Wildcats on the field, Villanova came away unscathed by scoring three early goals over a five-minute stretch in the first half after Davidson had earned the early momentum to start the game.

“I'm proud of the way the ladies played in the first half, especially the first 15 minutes of the game,” said head coach Greg Ashton. “We just need to work more on our consistency and I fully expect us to come back out on Sunday against Francis Marion ready to go.”

The Wildcats' lone goal came off the foot of senior Kyri Bye-Nagel (Hanau, Germany) in the 87th minute to break up the shutout. She had gathered in a loose ball on the right side of the 18-yard box, turned and drilled a shot to the far post that found the back of the net for her first score of the season.

Prior to that, it was all Villanova with scores coming in the 21st, 24th and 26th minutes of the first half and then one more insurance goal at the 60:53 mark of the second half. Megan Verdeur knocked in the first goal off a scramble for the ball in the six-yard box off a corner kick.

Erin Byrnes, who had kicked that corner kick, hooked up with Megan Verdeur at the 24:05 mark by getting a cross from Verdeur on the far side of the box and then hitting a direct shot past Jessie Baxa (Bloomfield, Mich.).

The third score for Villanova was set up when Heidi Sabatura set a long through ball to Katie Ryan on the near side of the field. Ryan then dribbled the ball to the corner of the 18-yard box where she kicked a high shot that nicked the cross bar and glanced in on the near post.

Sabatura then finished off the scoring for Villanova by being in the right place at the right time. A direct shot by a Villanova player was blocked nicely by Baxa with her foot, but the ball went straight up and the Wildcat defense missed the clearing the ball out. Sabatura raced into the box and chipped home the wide open goal to the near post.

Baxa was credited with four saves out of the 11 Villanova shots. The Wildcats got off eight shots, but only two of them in the second half and only two of the eight were on goal as Molly Williams recorded the lone save for Villanova.

Davidson looks to regroup and halt a three-game skid when it hosts Francis Marion on Sunday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m.

Game Notes: The Wildcats fell to 13-8 overall in the program's 21-year history in home openers ... they are 4-2 under head coach Greg Ashton in those games.

Scoring Summary
21:29   VU     Megan Verdeur (unassisted)
24:05   VU     Erin Byrnes (Megan Verdeur)
26:36   VU     Katie Ryan (Heidi Sabatura)
60:53   VU     Heidi Sabatura (unassisted)
87:46   DAV Kyri Bye-Nagel (unassisted)