VILLANOVA, Pa. — A dominating start helped propel Villanova men's lacrosse 13-12 over No. 4 Maryland on Tuesday afternoon.
Villanova came out strong netted the first three goals. Keegan Khan set up both Corey McManus and Patrick Daly for the first two and then McManus set up Connor Kirst at the 7:08 mark. Maryland answered back with back-to-back goals by Logan Wisnauskas and then a pair by Jared Bernhardt. During the middle of the four goals, Khan netted goal to tie the game 4-4 at the end of one.
It was Khan again who netted an unassisted man-up goal to open the second quarter. Maryland's Bernhardt would tie it again, but defenseman Patrick Kennedy ran down the field and netted an unassisted goal to push the Wildcats back up with just over five minutes before halftime. The Terrapin's got one goal but Daly set up McManus for the final goal before the break to go up 7-6.
11:19 1Q | Khan to McManus
— Villanova Men's Lax (@NovaLacrosse) February 18, 2020
Villanova 1, Maryland 0 #GoNova pic.twitter.com/BY4V8L1qo3
Kirst, the senior captain, came through in the third quarter netted the Wildcats first two goals to push the Wildcats up two. Attackman Daly scored another on a dish from Khan to make it a three-goal game. Maryland's Wisnauskas would score one before the end of the quarter to trim the Villanova lead to 10-8.
To open the final quarter, Villanova netted three straight goals once again. Colin Crowley scored the first just seconds in and the next two were set up by Kirst. First the midfielder dished the ball to Eric Overbay and then to Daly to push the Villanova lead to five. The Terrapins answered back scoring four goals to make it a one-point game with 38 seconds remaining.
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Conor Calderone and Coppola took the final faceoff of the game and it was won by Kennedy. But just seconds later, Jake Higgins caused Kennedy to turn it over. Maryland called timeout to set up a plan for the final 14 seconds. With just three seconds left, a bad pass by Budda Fariman gave the Wildcat's the ball to close out the win.
In goal, sophomore Will Vitton had 14 saves on the day and Kennedy had four caused turnovers along with four ground balls. Both Coppola and Dan Fisher took faceoffs for Villanova and combined to win 12-of-29 with four ground balls.
This is the second win for the Wildcats over the Terrapins in program history and the first inside Villanova Stadium. In 2017, Villanova picked up a road win in overtime.
With his first assist Tuesday, Khan became the 26th player in program history to reach the 100-point milestone. After Tuesday's game the junior has 104 over his 34 games.
Villanova next hits the road to take on Hofstra on Saturday. Game time in New York is scheduled for 2 p.m. and can be seen on LSN.
