Bednarzcyk honored; ‘Cats move up in polls

Villanova was rewarded for its 19-17 come-from behind win over Temple when weekly conference honors and latest national rankings were released Monday.

Quarterback Zach Bednarczyk was named the CAA’s Offensive Player of the Week, while the Wildcats moved up seven spots in the STATS LLC top 25 to No. 12, and eight places in the AFCS coaches FCS poll to No. 11.

Bednarczyk completed 29 of 40 passes for 254 yards, three touchdowns and one interception to lead Villanova to its first win over an FBS team since a 27-24 triumph over the Owls in 2009. Bednarczyk capped a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jarrett McClenton on fourth-and-nine with 7:17 left in the game to give the Wildcats the lead for good.

In other weekly honors: A 2-0 week helped Villanova’s Zach Zandi and Carson Williams earn weekly from the Big East Conference. Zandi, a senior from West Chester Henderson, was named the offensive Player of the Week in men’s soccer after scoring two goals and dishing out two assists in wins over William & Mary and Lafayette. Zandi had one goal and two assists including a helper on the winner in overtime in a 3-2 triumph over the Tribe. He scored the winning goal in the 96th minute to extend Villanova’s winning streak to three games with a x-x victory over Loyola (Md.) in extra time.

Williams was named Freshman of the Week after posting a pair of wins in goal. The redshirt freshman made a total of eight stops, four in each game. He has a 0.64 goals against average and two shutouts.

Hensley Hancuff of Villanova was named Big East Freshman of the Week in women’s soccer after making nine saves in a 1-0 loss to Clemson and a 1-0 triumph over Brown. Hancuff made eight stops against the Tigers ad one versus Brown for the first shutout of her career.

The Widener men’s soccer team is off to a 2-0 start thanks to a pair of goals and one assist from Nick Lefevre. That performance also earned the sophomore midfielder from William Tennent MAC Commonwealth Offensive Player of the Week honors. Lefevre scored the winning goal in a 3-2 victory over Penn State-Abington and had one goal and one assist in a 2-0 triumph over Cabrini.