Villanova Men's Lacrosse Overpowered By No. 15 Towson, Lose 20-11 :: Eric Heidenberger and Brendan O'Donnell led Wildcat offense

April 3, 2004

TOWSON, MD. - The Villanova offense could not keep pace as the Wildcats fell to No. 15 Towson, 20-11, in CAA action on Saturday at Minnegan Stadium. Brendan O'Donnell paced the 'Cats with one goal and three assists for a career-best four points.

Towson dominated play at the start thanks to face-off success and built a 5-2 lead by the 6:54 mark. Richie Kratz and Dan Fanelli scored two unassisted goals for the Wildcats. Villanova trimmed the gap to 5-3 on a man-up goal by O'Donnell off a feed from Matt Starker at 3:06.

The Tigers drew first blood in the second period, with Jonathan Engelke scoring twice to make the score 7-3 at 8:48. O'Donnell then found Eric Heidenberger on the left side of the net, as the Wildcats closed to 7-4. Towson answered with two more goals by Engelke to push the score to 9-4 at 2:42. Villanova tacked on one more before the half as O'Donnell behind the net found Marc Creegan to bring the score to 9-5 at halftime.

Villanova (7-2, 1-1) got off to a shaky start in the second half, with Towson scoring on its first two possessions to build its cushion to 11-5. O'Donnell then picked up his third assist of the game, dishing to Creegan to bring Villanova to within 11-6 at 11:57.

Villanova's Matt Lucas and Towson's Engelke traded scores to make it 12-7 at 7:20 of the third. After a goal by the Tigers' Matt Florio, Heidenberger took a pass from Creegan for his second goal to cut the lead to 13-8 at the end of the third.

Towson (3-3, 1-0) pulled away in the fourth quarter, amassing a 16-9 advantage with 9:11 remaining.

Heidenberger recorded the first multi-point game of his career with three goals, while Creegan totaled two goals and an assist and Fanelli added two goals. Freshman Chris Mercer scored his first career goal, while fellow rookie Eric Webber picked up his first collegiate assist.

Engelke paced the Tigers with eight goals, while Ben Defelice set a new single-game school record for ground balls with 19.

Villanova continues CAA play on Saturday at 7 p.m. at No. 18 Delaware.