TOWSON, Md. – Freshman attackman C.J. Small (La Costa Canyon H.S./San Diego, Calif.) scored three goals as fourth-seeded Villanova University (11-5) won its first Colonial Athletic Association men's lacrosse championship by edging second-seeded Towson University (7-10) by a 10-9 margin in the CAA Championship Game at Johnny Unitas Stadium on Saturday evening.

The Wildcats, who have won three of their last four games, will make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Championship. The selections will be announced on Sunday evening at 9:00 p.m. on ESPNU.

"It was their first half and our second half," Towson Coach Tony Seaman said. "We fought our way back in the second half, but it was not enough. We had our chances, but it just fell apart for us in the first half.

"We missed the cage a lot of times tonight and it was one of our problems earlier in the year," Seaman added. "On Wednesday night, everything we shot seemed to find the goal, but tonight, we struggled with getting the ball on cage. Your shots have to be on the goal in order to win."

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead with 2:40 remaining in the first quarter after Small and junior attackman Mark Scioscia (East Hampton H.S./East Hampton, N.Y.) scored back-to-back goals. Senior midfielder Justin Schneider (St. Mary's H.S./Stevensville, Md.) narrowed the deficit to 2-1 with 1:39 left when he scored an unassisted goal.

After the Wildcats upped their advantage to 3-1 in the first three minutes of the second quarter, the junior midfielder Brock Armour (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) cut the margin to 3-2 with 9:41 remaining with his eighth goal of the year, an unassisted marker past senior goalkeeper Andrew DiLoreto (The Lawrenceville School/Wilton, Conn.).

Following the Armour goal, the Wildcats were called for a three-minute unreleasable penalty for an illegal stick. The Tigers took advantage less than a minute later when senior midfielder Randall Cooper (Friends School/Phoenix, Md.) converted an Armour pass to tie the game at 3-3.

But, the Wildcats answered by scoring a pair of short-handed goals in a 16-second span to regain a two-goal advantage and ignite a five-goal run which upped the Villanova to 8-3 at the intermission. Sophomore midfielder T.J. O'Donnell (Delbarton H.S./Randolph, N.J.) scored two goals during the run while freshman midfielder Kevin Cunningham (Kellenberg H.S./Garden City, N.Y.) contributed a goal with two assists.

Early in the third quarter, the Tigers ended the Wildcats' run when sophomore attackman Tim Stratton (Manheim Township H.S./Lititz, Pa.) scored an unassisted goal to cut the margin to 8-4. After Small scored to give Villanova a five-goal lead, Schneider and Stratton answered with back-to-back goals for a 9-6 Villanova lead with 13:48 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore attackman Mike Brennan (Chaminade H.S./Manhasset, N.Y.) gave Villanova a 10-6 cushion with 6:27 remaining before the Tigers began to make their comeback. With 5:58 left, senior attackman Bill McCutcheon (Chatham H.S./Chatham, N.J.) scored off a Schneider feed before Schneider tallied his third goal of the game with 3:45 remaining.

With 43 seconds left, Stratton scored his third goal of the game to close the gap to 10-9 on an unassisted marker. The Tigers won the ensuing face-off and with 22 seconds remaining, called timeout. However, they were unable to score the tying goal as Villanova held on for the victory.

"I think one of the keys for us tonight was when we scored a couple of goals on the three-minute penalty in the second quarter," Villanova Coach Michael Corrado said. "We also got a couple of transition goals and that was a big point for us. We just took advantage of some unsettled situations in the first half.

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2009-05-03