(Courtesy photo of Villanova Athletics)
The Villanova Wildcats have sat right on the cusp of the big dogs within the Big East conference and on the national stage for the past few years, finishing second in the Big East in 2018 and 2019 while upset Yale and Penn State for some trouble those years. During the shortened 2020 season, the Wildcats went 4-3. One of her wins came against a number 4 in Maryland and two of her losses came against Penn State (19-10) and Yale (18-12).
Villanova continued this game last spring and scored a total of 7: 5 (6: 4 Big East) against a Conference-heavy schedule in which they faced every Conference opponent twice. In the Wildcats’ second fights against Georgetown and Denver, they fell back by only one goal. They also fell two in the Big East semi-finals, 14-12 against the Hoyas, and in their regular season final they scored one of the best surprises of the late season by beating an undefeated Lehigh team 16-8.
In 2022, Villanova will try to at least stay on course and possibly take a step forward after being the surefire third best team in the Big East for years.
Villanova didn’t have much of a problem against players like Marquette, Providence and St. John’s as they have had a combined 11-1 against these three programs since 2018 and only lost 9-8 in overtime to Providence in 2019, but they weren’t in the Able to beat the two giants of the Big East in Denver and Georgetown and score a combined 1-10 against the two over the same period.
Lots of new faces will grace the Villanova field this spring, with the Wildcats losing a shipload of talent from last season. But there is also a solid selection of graduate transfers that will wear the blues and whites this spring and could provide a significant spark. The question is, will this new look Wildcats team be able to continue the success of this program or not for the past few years, and could they possibly take this program a step forward?
The Wildcats will have to replace leading scorer Keegan Khan, who brought his talents to Maryland as a graduate, and third-top scorer Eric Overbay on offense. They also lose all of their initial close defenses from Patrick Kennedy, Owen Prybylski, who also moved to Maryland, and Zachary Krya. In addition to the losses that will result in a new generation of playmakers entering the starting XI this spring, Villanova has made four graduate transfers from attackers JP Basile (Duke) and Luke Keating (F&M), midfielder Brett Baskin (Johns Hopkins) fetched. , and defense attorney Chris Hervada (Monmouth).
Keating, Basile and Baskin join Villanova after successful careers in their previous positions and are expected to influence this offensive, filling some of the gaps left by departures. That Wildcat offensive will see a trio of impact returnees again this spring, with senior midfielder Matt Campbell (32G / 8A), senior attacker Patrick Daly (21G / 7A) and college student Tucker Goddelle (9G / 4A), who saw five started attacking last spring, but were active in midfield in autumn and they all return.
The Wildcats went through a similar situation last spring, replacing Connor Kirst and still ending with a top 20 offensive (13.17 goals per game). They also had one of the best man-up sessions in the country, finishing the season in fourth place in DI as they seized 0.478% of those opportunities. With the trio of re-entrants and the three newcomers via the transfer portal, this offensive has the potential to become a top 20 unit again this spring and could fly even higher if they find the necessary cohesion.
At the defensive end of the field it looks even newer for this Wildcats squad with senior goalie Will Vitton and SSDM Chet Comizio as the only two big returnees. Vitton has been a full-time starter since its freshman season and has amassed 329 parades in 31 games with 30 starts with a savings rate of 0.506%. He comes from a youth campaign in which he made 106 saves with a savings percentage of 50%. Comizio (19GB / 8CT) emerged as the leader of the Wildcats rope unit, which has consistently been one of the best in the country for the past few seasons – particularly with a strong stable of SSDMs last season and a similar role set to play in 2022.
Brody LaPorte (18GB / 7CT) is the only other returnee in the backend with starting experience and made a start last season. Senior defender Chris Hervada is expected to be a leader in close defense alongside Monmouth graduate transfer. The two will lead a very young defense, with five of the 10 Poles on this roster being either freshman or sophomore and not having much gaming experience at all – if any. This defense has proven itself at the top, but could still be in the works this spring, especially in February and early March.
At the face-off point, Junior Justin Coppola returns after being the Wildcats’ top option for the past two seasons. And although he put together a solid campaign in 2021 that went 130 for 248 (0.524%), he had a tough end to the season when he went 2v19 against Lehigh and then 1v8 against Georgetown before graduating for the now Dan Fischer was drawn. He will try to improve further as a junior this spring. Second year Lucas Kopecky is the only other faceoff man on the list. He went 5 for 19 as the Wildcats third string in that position last season.
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