Oct. 26, 2003

Final Stats

VILLANOVA, PA. - On Sunday, Oct. 26th, at the Villanova Soccer Complex, the Villanova women's soccer team earned a berth in the 2003 BIG EAST Conference Championships with a 2-0 win over the University of Pittsburgh. Wildcat seniors came up big on "Senior Day" for the `Cats, as senior forward Janessa Jeltema dished out two assists, senior midfielder Candice MacDonald recorded her second goal in as many games, and senior goalkeeper Chrissy Dolan saved four shots to notch her 11th shutout of the season. With the win, Villanova improved to 12-5-1 overall on the season, and 3-2-1 in the Big East Mid-Atlantic Division. The Panthers fell to 5-10-2 overall on the year and 1-4-1 in conference action with Sunday's loss.

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard to take the game's first lead just 19:19 into the contest. Jeltema lofted a cross into the front right of the box which junior forward Laura Johnson headed past Pittsburgh goalkeeper Jamie Pelusi to give Villanova the 1-0 lead. The goal was Johnson's third of the season to go along with a team-high eight assists.

With less than eight minutes to go before intermission, the Wildcats added to their lead. Jeltema sent a short feed from the top to the right of the box to MacDonald. MacDonald dribbled in and sent a low dribbler past Pelusi into the left of the net from 10 yards out to increase the Villanova advantage to 2-0.

The Panther offense came out firing in the second half, but the Wildcats' back line would not budge. The Pittsburgh shots that did get through went high and wide to keep the score at 2-0 as the second half wound down.

With less than a minute remaining in the contest, the Panthers took one last run at the net. A shot by Pittsburgh forward Jennifer DeLaNoz hit the post with 21 ticks left on the clock and trickled back towards the left of the box. The Panther's Carli Brill got the rebound and fired one last shot at the net which Dolan saved to preserve the 2-0 shutout victory.

The shutout for Dolan and the Wildcats was their 11th in 18 games this season. Dolan saved four shots in net for Villanova on the afternoon.

Junior All-American Michelle Biehl, Laura Koch and the rest of the Wildcat defense held Pittsburgh to 13 shots in the game but only four on net. The Villanova midfield led by senior Elizabeth Dauble and company controlled the possession for the majority of the afternoon to help seal the win.

Taking the loss in goal for the Panthers was Pelusi who saved a game-high five shots.

With her two assists in the game, Jeltema has one goal and four assists in her last two contests.

Villanova will wind down the regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 28th, hosting Loyola (Md.) at 2:00 p.m., at the Villanova Soccer Complex.

The Wildcats Big East Championship foe will be determined by the remainder of Sunday afternoon's contests.