AMHERST, NY - The Daemen Wildcats broke out of a two-game scoring drought in a big way this afternoon as they picked up their first home win of the season, in their home finale, snapping a nine-game skid with an 11-0 pasting of the visiting Fisher Falcons (0-15, 0-10). With the win, Daemen (4-11, 2-8) qualifies as the fourth seed for the upcoming American Mideast Conference Tournament and will travel to top-seeded Point Park (11-4-1, 6-3-1) next Friday, Nov. 4.
Sophomore Zakariah Hall (Wells, England/Blue School) got Daemen on the board in the 20th minute and the rout was on from there. Esguerra scored twice as did Villegas to lead the Daemen seniors while Hall added a second tally of his own in the second half. Villegas added two assists on the game and Morales notched the first goal of his career on a penalty kick in the 45th minute.
The Wildcats also got single tallies from Kyle Clifford (West Seneca, NY/St. Francis HS), Trevor Hill (Courtice, ON/Holy Trinity Catholic SS), Stephen Linderman (Tonawanda, NY/Tonawanda HS) and Negeeb Ali (Lackawanna, NY/Lackawanna HS). Linderman added two assists from his center midfield position and single assists were credited to Joe Karikas (Curtice, OH/Genoa HS) and Zach Blum (North Chili, NY/Churchville-Chili HS).
The score line could have been in heavier in Daemen's favor had it not been for the outstanding effort from junior Goalkeeper John Del Valle (Stoughton, MA). Del Valle stopped numerous close range shots and was unbeatable for the first 20 minutes of the game. Del Valle finished the contest with 25 saves. The 25 saves matched his season high that was set on September 10th versus Daemen College. Through the 15 games played this season, Del Valle stopped a total of 226 shots. This remarkable number leaves Del Valle as the single season and career leader in saves at Fisher College.
For the 2011 season, the 226 saves and 15.07 saves per games ranks Del Valle #1 in the nation in both categories. As it stands, the total saves will place him second all-time in NAIA history.