By Amanda Trusky

Villanova played and won their first league games this weekend against Temple University.

Temple hosted the first game Friday night at Flyers Skate Zone Northeast.

Troy Donahue on Villanova scored the first goal of the weekend about 15 minutes into in the first period. Villanova established a 2-0 lead halfway through the second period with a goal scored by Aidan Rush.

The third period opened with a goal by Temple about 5 minutes in, still down 2-1.

Villanova reacted with a goal by Matthew Mullen.

Temple scored the last goal of the game, resulting in a 3-2 win by Villanova.

Villanova outshot Temple by more than double, having 49 shots on goal compared to Temple’s 21.

The second game of the weekend was held at Villanova’s home rink, Hatfield Ice, Saturday night. Temple opened strong, scoring within the first minute of game play.

“We need to have better starts to each period,” said Kenny Orlando, head coach of Villanova. “We dug ourselves a hole quickly and made the rest of the game an unnecessary uphill climb."

Villanova racked in 3 goals before the end of the first, ending the period with a 3-1 lead. The first goal was scored by Edward Klein followed by 2 goals by George Clark.

The second period was won by Temple, scoring two goals and tying the game 3-3.

Villanova dominated the third period, scoring two goals by Christopher Wallack and Matthew Mullen.

Temple scored the last goal with about 2 minutes left in the game, unable to catch up to Villanova’s lead.

The final score of the game was 5-4 with another win for Villanova. Villanova had 49 shots on goal and Temple had 27.

“The guys had a strong weekend and the two wins are a positive to build off of moving forward,” Orlando said.