NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE – (Continuing in his look at college teams from the Be Positive College Showcase, Joe Mauceri turns his attention to the Villanova(m) Wildcats.)

The B+ (Be Positive) foundation was created after the untimely demise of a courageous 14 year old soccer player, Andrew McDonough from leukemia.  He was renowned for his positive attitude which coincidentally matched his blood type – B+.  The foundation has 3 primary objectives: provide financial support to families with critically ill children; fund medical research for pediatric cancers; and proliferate the B+ message.  If you’d like to find out more information on this organization, here’s a link.

The 2nd half of the  Villanova(m) - Lafayette(m) game was not played due to the torrential downpour.

Villanova Lineup against Lafayette: 4-4-2 diamond midfield.
F: Matt Margiotta, Kyle Soroka
M: Daniel Gonzalez, Emerson Lawrence, Kyle McCarthy, Alec Weiss
D: Kevin Garcia, William Cason, Scott Keogh, Ryan Whalen
GK: David Sauerhoff

Villanova Observations:

As a reminder, the second half of the Villanova/Lafayette match was canceled because of the ever-increasing poor weather.

At the beginning of the game, Villanova attacked very slowly, minutely increasing the pace as the half progressed.

The goal was scored by Emerson Lawrence with a crushing first-time shot that was unstoppable, picking the ball out of the air from the top of the box.  The play began Kevin Garcia’s cross was deflected bouncing over to Lawrence.

Before the play, Lawrence was uninvolved in any manner to build the attack.

Matt Margiotta had one valid attack, beating Lafayette’s Josh Brown on the dribble before taking too long to release his shot.  It was blocked. For most of the half, Margiotta was on an island without support from Kyle Soroka who seemed to lack an understanding of what he needed to do.

Goalkeeper David Sauerhoff saved a goal when Ryan Quane slipped and Lafayette’s Blake Fink was 1v1 with the goalkeeper.  Sauerhoff took the ball off Fink’s foot.  I like the way that Sauerhoff distributes the ball well with his arm.

While Kevin Garcia has a bagful of tricks, he doesn’t do the basic fundamental things - such as playing defense, moving off the ball.  He doesn’t close quickly on the ball.

Daniel Gonzalez gets back well.