gymman1031 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 1:52 pm
Would love to see Nova surprise against Denver. All the power to them and G-Town. But it is getting a tad boring seeing those two continue to dominate the conference.
So true gymman1031:
The Denver victory was one of the biggest for the program, not because it was against the Pios, but because it was a late season victory against a top ten team that got the Wildcats to the doorstep of an AQ bid for the first time since joining the BE.
There have been bigger wins based on where the program was at the time of the victory. The earliest top ten ranking for Villanova came back in 1971 when they were ranked 9th by the Baltimore Sun after upsetting UMBC.
The Cats upset Hofstra back in 1988 (or ’89) when Hofstra was ranked about 9th.
In 1990, they beat Duke.
After an incredible home game loss in front of 8,000 fans to Syracuse by a score of 4-5 in 2011, the Brian Karalunas led Wildcats travelled to the Dome in 2012 to be the Orange 11-10.
In 2013, they beat Syracuse 11-10 at Villanova Stadium.
In 2017, Nova defeated Maryland 13-12 at Maryland Stadium. They beat the Terps again 13-12 in 2020.
In 2018, Nova defeated Yale in overtime 10-9 and again in New Haven in OT by the score of 11-10 in 2019.
The Cats have played some amazing games against Denver after the Pios joined the Big East, but their first victory was in 2019 out in Denver, then again in 2022 at the BE tournament at Georgetown.
The challenging part of this history is that Nova has been in the underdog status for 50 years. Big, “upset” victories against some traditional powerhouses by an underfunded Villanova squad led by a total of two committed head coaches in the past 45 years.
The Casts have never won the Big East Tournament. They earned on AQ to the NCAA tournament when a member in the CAA.
Now, once again, they face the Georgetown. No one on the present Villanova squad has ever beat the Hoyas. As of the loss last week, Nova has failed to beat Georgetown in the last ten meetings.
And the game last week was one of the worst losses in the series dating back to 1971, the year of Nova’s first top ten national ranking. The Inside Lacrosse article about the Denver victory quoted the veterans about wanting the win and digging in to secure it. So, this team has the ability, talent and mind-set to win. Yet, the Hoyas keep beating them. Why? Is Georgetown that much better a program? Based on the history of “upsets”, the answer would appear to be no.
The same Inside Lacrosse article refers to Villanova as a “good” team. They have been a good team for a very long time. Maybe this is the year Nova no longer becomes a great “underdog story” but gets to perform competitively at the national level late in the season.