Villanova’s last weekend of regular season games just passed, with a senior night home game against Lehigh University on Friday and a Sunday afternoon Winter Classic against Penn State Berks.

After warm-ups on Friday night, the Villanova seniors on the team were recognized alongside their parents and family members in a traditional senior night ceremony. The turnout for the game was quite impressive, with about 300 people in the stands.

The game scoring was kicked off quickly with a goal by Lehigh in the first couple of minutes. There was no more scoring for quite some time after, until Timothy Arena buried a goal with 5 minutes left in the period. About 20 seconds later, George Clark scored a goal assisted by Andre Berglund and Tim Matthews, putting the IceCats in the lead after the period.

The second was a high-scoring period, with all the goals happening within the first 7 minutes. About 4 minutes into the period, Villanova’s Patrick Keough scored on a breakaway, burying the puck in the top right corner. Just a minute later, Richie Halevy scored another goal for the IceCats off of a rebound. Lehigh came back with a goal less than a minute after. Just 7 seconds after Lehigh’s goal, Villanova finished up the period’s scoring with a goal by Junmo Kim assisted by Joe Reissfelder and Jack Merecki.

The scoring slowed down in the third period. Just one goal was scored about halfway through by IceCat Tim Matthews.

The final score of the game was 6-2 victory for Villanova! Villanova outshot Lehigh 45-38. John Persichilli was in net for Villanova.

Sunday’s Winter Classic game was at Navesink Country Club. A lot of family and fans came out to support both teams at the special event.

Berks established an immediate lead with a goal less than a minute into the period. There was no more scoring in the first.

Villanova got on the scoreboard about 2 minutes into the second with a goal by George Clark. Berks scored two more goals about the next 10 minutes of play, taking the lead 3-1. Villanova’s Timothy Arena scored a breakaway goal with a few minutes left in the period. A minute later, Berks scored the last goal of the period, establishing a 4-2 lead over Villanova.

The third period was off to a slow start. There was no scoring until the last 5 minutes of play, when Junmo Kim scored for the IceCats. With just 2 minutes left in the game, George Clark gave the IceCats the lead. Berks came right back with a goal of their own to force overtime.   

A 5-minute period of 3 on 3 overtime began without an icecut. Almost the entire period of overtime was played. With just 20 seconds left and a shootout on the horizon, Berks took advantage of a bad bounce in the slot and scored the final goal of the game, winning the Winter Classic 5-4.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the IceCats, but it was an exciting game and fun experience for all. Shot on goal were 47 for Villanova and 50 for Berks. John Persichilli was in net for the first period, and Ajay Fernandez took over for the second, third, and overtime.

Next weekend, Villanova will be participating in the ECHA playoffs at IceLine. They will face the United State Naval Academy at 5:00 p.m. If they beat Navy, they will be back on Saturday and potentially Sunday for another game. Times and opponents will not be determined until the end of Friday night’s games. Stay tuned for updates!

By Amanda Trusky