Villanova defeats Saint Joseph’s with 90th minute goal

Seconds away from settling for a frustrating scoreless draw, Sam Nyenka delivered a late game-winner to lift Villanova to a thrilling 1-0 win over Saint Joseph’s in a Labor Day Philly Soccer 6 battle in front of a full house at Higgins Soccer Complex.

The goal came after a period of pressure applied by the Wildcats attack trying to break down an organized Saint Joseph’s back line that was bending but not breaking up until the climatic decisive moment 30 seconds from full time. It was set up by freshman Matthew Klann, who played Nyenka in with a deft one-touch pass off a ball sent in from near midfield by Fynn Lahrsen.

The dramatic winner created up by three newcomers to the squad on a play originated sophomore captain Luke Martelli (who missed all of last season with an injury) was an illustration of a newly tooled squad that is now unbeaten through their first three games for the first time since 2019.

“There’s just belief, game in and game out, minute by minute,” head coach Mark Fetrow said. “You need that for sustainable success, and that’s really the platform, the baseline of everything that we talk about. The guys had a great attitude, great effort, never took their foot off the gas, and just felt like it was coming at some point. Luckily for us, we didn’t run out of time today, we got it in for it as the final whistle.”

Nyenka, who is from Lower Merion, transferred in from West Virginia in January and had the spring to acclimate with the team. His goal was his third of the season after bagging a brace against Rider in the season opener.

“It feels great to be back home playing in front of my family and friends,” said Nyenka, who had two words to say when asked about the goal itself. “Matt Klann. That was all him.”

Klann, an Illinois native, logged 50 minutes over the first two games and Fetrow said he was planning to give him similar minutes on Monday but he played so well in the match he kept him in the whole second half.

“We had a conversation last week that if he wants to expand that role, he’s got to improve the defensive side of things, and I think he did that extremely well today,” Fetrow said. “And then we got to see his real quality on the ball, which are his best attributes. He’s very comfortable in tight spaces, he’s got a high pass completion percentage, and when he gets in the final third, that’s really where he can produce for us.”

The Hawks dropped their first game of the season after a win and a draw to start the year under new head coach Tim Mulqueen. Matteo Mazzotta nearly put the visitors up at the end of the first half when his rocketed shot clanged off the crossbar. Tommaso Rossetto, Glen Lala and Sebastian Perez-Gasiba (Media, Pa.) all registered a pair of shots in the game. Alex Yagudayev made three saves for Villanova and Cooper Jennings made one save on the day for the visitors.

St. Joe’s returns home to host Rider next Tuesday while Villanova visits Columbia on Friday.