An absolute thriller occurred at Franklin Field Saturday afternoon as the Villanova men's lacrosse team fell behind Penn in the middle of the game, but rallied in the second half to win 8-7 on perhaps the most incredible goal you will see all season as Max Hart scored from 40 yards out with just 1 second left on the clock.
Penn jumped out to a 2-0 lead before goals from Jack Rice and Michael Vigilante knotted the score at 2-2 early in the second period. From there though, it was all Penn as 4 straight goals gave Penn a 6-2 lead midway through the third period.
Villanova rallied a couple before the end of the period though as Jack Rice first pulled one back with 22 seconds left in the period. Thomas Croonquist then won the ensuing faceoff and Max Hart was able to put another one in with 12 seconds left in the third to bring Villanova within two goals heading to the final period.
More after The Jump.
Penn once again though was able to stretch the lead to 7-4 with 8 minutes left in the game before the heroics ensued. Villanova, having outshot Penn for most of the afternoon, began to pile on the pressure.
Michael Vigilante put in his second of the game just 30 seconds after Penn stretched the lead, and 'Nova began to lay siege to the Penn defense. Will Casertano brought the Wildcats to within 1 with 3 minutes left, and that's when things began to get crazy.
Max Hart registered his second of the game with just 1:09 left to tie the game at 7, setting up a vital faceoff. Danny Feeney was able to best Croonquist, giving Penn what looked like the final possession. Penn called timeout with 30 seconds left and was able to get off one last shot - or so it seemed.
Dan Gutierrez made the save on Rob Fitzpatrick and fired the ball out to Max Hart, who incredibly scored from the 40-yard line with just 1 second left on the clock to give Villanova the 8-7 win and move the team to 4-1 on the season.
They return to action Tuesday night at Villanova Stadium when they host #14 Princeton at 7 pm ET.