Photo courtesy of Tommy Herstitch, Lehigh Athletics
Early wins set the tone for the season, but thumping wins against a regional opponent go a lot further.
The Villanova Women’s Soccer Team traveled north to Ulrich Sports Complex Sunday afternoon and went up three goals in the first nine minutes. Morgan Kotch scored two striker’s goals in the first five minutes then Gabby Koluch buried a penalty after Dez Zapata drew a foul in the box. Maintaining a three-goal lead on the road in a steady rain would have been fine, comfortable. Some teams may have stopped there.
But Villanova has a larger goal. The Wildcats scored six more times in the second half to close out a 9-0 win over Lehigh.
After a 0-0 draw on the road against Syracuse to open the season, Villanova (1-0-1) needed an early-season game to get their offensive dynamic clicking, something they’ve been trying to improve.
“A lot of what we did over the spring season was how are we going to create goals?” Villanova head coach Samar Azem said after the game. “We want to be diverse in the way we create goals because we’re going to see different types of defending.” Last season, Villanova (9-8-1, 5-4-1 BIG EAST) had five one-goal losses and two two-goal losses, just missing the conference tournament with a fifth place finish. Azem, now in her fifth season, said some of the team’s objectives were the types of shots they create and the types of numbers they have in certain areas with the intent of eventually scoring an average of two and half goals per game. Villanova accomplished all three of those Sunday afternoon.
“This was a great display of creating a number of diverse types of goals and very much in line with what we want and what these players have been working extremely hard on.”
Kotch set the tone from the start. Just over a minute into the game, she challenged Lehigh keeper Chloe Zipprich in the box, but after winning the duel and finishing the ball into the back of the net, the goal was disallowed as Zipprich had her hands on the ball an instant before the challenge. Three minutes later, she wouldn’t be denied. Avrie Nelson broke free down the right side of the Lehigh defense, slipping a ball across the front of the six. Kotch stepped in front of center back Cathryn Cunningham to steer the cross into the net for the game’s opening goal. Kotch doubled the lead just over a minute later when she pounced on a loose ball at the back post following a scramble off a Villanova corner.
“We call her a fox in the box,” Azem said. “The ball is in a high expectancy area, you’re the first to it, and you do whatever it takes. We talk about being dominant and grittiness, and she highlights that.”
Kotch, a junior from Yardville, NJ, nearly eclipsed her goal tally from last season in the game’s opening minutes.
The visitors took advantage of Lehigh’s slow start, and Zapata created the third with a brilliant turn and change of pace around the outside. After driving at an angle into the box, defender Paige Plaice initiated some contact, and the referee had to point to the spot. Gabby Koluch stepped up and converted the penalty to push the lead to 3-0. From then on, Villanova continued to exert pressure in the Lehigh end while smothering any attempt by the hosts to generate something forward. Though the game remained 3-0 at the break, the Wildcats carried much of the play and it felt like only a matter of time before Lehigh’s resilience would be tested again.
Villanova goalkeeper Hannah Dickinson recorded her second shutout to start the season, her fifteenth since joining the Wildcats in 2024. The graduate senior from Seattle, WA, made one save on a shot from distance that she calmly knocked down with her chest, but her presence as a vocal leader and organizer from the back continued throughout the game.
“I think last year we tied the shutout record, which was an incredible accomplishment,” she said, “but we’re pushing for more this year. Today was and last game was also an entirely defensive team effort. So it’s not just me. My team makes it so much easier for me to do my job when we’re so strong defensively.”
The United Soccer Coaches recently recognized the two-time All-BIG EAST keeper as a Player to Watch for the Hermann/Mac Trophy, the nation’s most prestigious award for the college soccer player of the year. The last Nova keeper to earn a spot on the watch list was Jillian Loyden (2007), who went on to become the conference Goalkeeper of the Year and play for several years in the WPS as well as with the USWNT.
“It was based on last year’s performance, which is incredibly cool,” Dickinson said, “but I’m just more excited about the prospect of our team doing so well this year. We’ve been working towards the goal of winning BIG EAST, making the NCAA tournament, and that’s right in our headline right now.”
Leading a team that has been so locked in defensively, Dickinson also acknowledged scoring goals has been a focus.
“When I first got to Villanova, we were starting the rebuild, and so that started with emphasizing that defensive foundation, so it just shows the growth of the team. My first season here, we had an insane amount of ties because our defense was so strong, but we couldn’t put goals in the back of the net.”
Prior to Villanova, Dickinson had five shutouts and a .84 goals against average for a USC team that reached the Second Round of the NCAAs and finished ranked 24th in the country with a 11-5-3 record. In 2024, Villanova finished 5-7-6 with five of their ties coming against conference opponents. Last season’s record continued the trend forward.
The program hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2009, hence the desire to build momentum and press the attacking actions this early in the season.
Second half highlights between Villanova and Lehigh. Nova adds 6 in the second half to win 9-0. pic.twitter.com/T3QBQiCiwg
— Backyard Pitches (@BackyardPitches) August 17, 2026
“It’s what’s the given moment?” Azem said about her team’s mindset heading into the second half. “What are we doing in that moment? How can we execute exactly what we need to execute? And so we went into halftime talking about what we want to execute. It doesn’t matter what the score line is. Execute it one time, two times, ten times, fifteen times, whatever it may be.”
For a team with its sights on a top finish in the BIG EAST and a return to the NCAAs, a 3-0 lead wasn’t going to be enough. Eight minutes after the break, Isabelle Chukwu found Kaydee Amorosa at the top of the box for Villanova’s fourth, and in the 70th minute, Amalia Cardo put away a fortunate rebound off the post from Ryley Dixon’s drifting cross. Yet Villanova wasn’t done. As new players entered the game, the objectives never changed, and in the final fifteen minutes, Abby Graul, Becca Miller, Zapata, and Tea Gambardella compounded the goal of execution in the moment, extending the lead to nine.
