[media-credit name="Ken Chaney" align="alignleft" width="300"] Senior Syracuse University midfielder JoJo Marasco drives to the net against sophomore Duke University goalie Kyle Turri. Duke won the 2013 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship.

Now, picture a championship lacrosse team as a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500, considered to be one of the most highly regarded muscle cars of all time. The attack and the midfield are its back wheels, driving the high-powered team toward its goal. The defense and the coaching staff are the front wheels, holding the powerful machine steady while guiding the team in the right direction.

But the goalie is the engine. Without a superior engine, such as the V-8 of the Mustang, the automobile has no superiority; it is just a nice-looking shell of a car that is not built for the long run. After attending the NCAA Division I semifinals May 25 — hosted by Drexel University — it became blatantly obvious that a championship-caliber team needs a championship-caliber goalie to drive it to a title.

This was ever so apparent in the matchup between Syracuse University and the University of Denver. In the first half, the Orange absolutely dominated the Pioneers in all but two statistical categories: saves and goals. Although Syracuse held a 15-7 advantage in shots on goal, Denver led 5-2 at halftime thanks to 13 saves — yes, 13 saves — from sophomore goalie Ryan LaPlante.

In the second half, Denver head coach Bill Tierney stuck with his team’s seasonlong strategy and replaced “first-half” LaPlante with “second-half” junior Jamie Faus, and Syracuse came back to win by a score of 9-8. Faus saved only four of the Orange’s 11 shots on goal in the second half, although Tierney did not regret the decision.

“Honestly, we were thrilled with the way [LaPlante] was playing, but this is what we’ve done … [Faus] is our closer,” the head coach with a 28-year track record said. “[Faus] is the guy who comes in and has done a great job over the year. I think instead of blaming a 21-year-old kid, you look to Syracuse and say that was a heck of an effort.”

And Tierney is right, in a sense, as both of his goalies had above-average seasons in the cage. Including the semifinal game, LaPlante boasted a .576 save percentage and Faus a .554 mark of his own. But hindsight in coaching decisions aside, the fact remains that LaPlante was the sole reason why the Pioneers had more than a deer’s chance on the Pennsylvania Turnpike of winning the game at all; he truly carried his entire team for 30 minutes.

In the other semifinal game between Duke University and Cornell University, solid goalie play was at a minimum, hence the 16-14 final score in favor of the Blue Devils. However, Duke sophomore goalie Kyle Turri was just good enough to put his team over the top and help them advance to the championship game.

After the first half ended with the Blue Devils leading the Big Red by a score of 7-6, Duke scored seven goals to open the third quarter and stormed out to a 14-6 lead. Cornell added a tally near the end of the quarter, but by then the damage had been done. Turri was a big part of the hot streak, as he stopped four of five Big Red shots during the third quarter and finished with 16 saves out of 30 shots on goal for the game.

“This is as good as we’ve seen [Turri] play. … He saw the ball well; he made some clutch saves,” Cornell head coach Ben DeLuca said of the goalie who finished the season with a 13-1 record despite just a .496 save percentage. “That was probably the difference. … [Turri] really stood on his head and kept us off the board in some crucial situations.”

Although Turri is no perennial All-American, he played his best under the bright lights. As 28,444 were in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field and thousands more watched on ESPN, he stepped up to the occasion. And even though Turri allowed seven goals on 11 shots in a fourth quarter that almost saw the Big Red make a jaw-dropping comeback, his teammates did not help him out much; the Blue Devils had nine turnovers in the final frame alone.

Speaking of turnovers, another noticeable trait of the stellar goalies at the NCAA Division I semifinals was that they were forcing them. No goalie was more active outside of his crease than Syracuse junior Dominic Lamolinara, as he routinely challenged for out-of-bounds possession and attempted to intercept passes close to the net. In the championship game against Duke, Lamolinara fought for a loose ball near the sideline and was body checked out of bounds by a Blue Devil. After seeing that no penalty would be called, he bounced right up and safely scurried back to his crease in a matter of seconds.

Having a goalie beat out an offensive player for a ground ball can be very deflating for the opposition. On the contrary, watching your own goalie create a turnover can energize a team to a fast break the other way. In fact, that is just what Cornell senior goalie AJ Fiore did in his game Saturday afternoon. Although he had a poor performance overall — saving only 10 of 26 shots on goal — he kept his head in the game as time winded down.

In the middle of the Big Red’s fourth-quarter run, Duke had just scored to extend its lead to 15-12 with just over six minutes remaining. The Blue Devils won possession off the ensuing faceoff and controlled the ball within the Cornell zone. Then, out of nowhere, Fiore left his crease and lunged at a Duke pass intended to go behind the net. He intercepted the pass with one hand on his stick and fed his team the other way. The Big Red scored two consecutive goals to pull within one but ultimately could not notch the tying tally.

Blue Devils head coach John Danowski had the following praise for Turri after his team’s 16-10 championship victory over Syracuse: “He makes plays, intercepts passes, picks up ground balls, has got great touch in the clearing game, and he does more than just stop the ball.” This rings true for any lacrosse goalie aspiring to make a difference.

That is easier said than done, of course, especially when a heavy rubber ball is flying at your seemingly unprotected body at speeds nearing 100 miles per hour. But that is the game, and that is what these brave individuals have signed up for.

“One of the toughest things to do, I think, in college [lacrosse] now is to be a goalie,” Danowski said, seemingly to confer a warning to any young lunatics out there. “I’m not sure why anybody would want to be a goalie, and I’m sure most parents would agree with me.”

But lacrosse is a funny sport. It is a sport of speed, physicality and excessive amounts of face paint. In a sport where teams routinely score 10 goals per game — sometimes nearing 20 — a goalie who saves only half the shots he faces can be the hero. Because when a team is “firing on all cylinders,” there is usually only one player who can stop his team from being the roadkill of a Mustang: the goalie.

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A week after being named to the All-Colonial Athletic Association First Team, the Drexel men’s lacrosse team trio that head coach Brian Voelker called the “1-2-3 punch” moved on to the offseason lifestyle.

Senior attack Robert Church appeared in the Daskalakis Athletic Center with some scrapes across his face and a cut on his nose; “tackle football in the park” was the cause.

Junior midfielder Ben McIntosh accompanied Church with a backward cap restraining his hair that he had grown out all season long. As longtime teammates and friends from Coquitlam, British Columbia, the two have been inseparable on and off the field for years.

Meanwhile, sophomore Ryan Belka was also supposed to make an appearance, but the midfielder from Crofton, Md., got stuck in traffic on his way back to Philadelphia after a trip home for the weekend.

Conference accolades were given May 2, the day after the Dragons fell to Towson University 11-8 in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament in State College, Pa. Even though the three individual plaques will be on display, they would have looked a lot better next to a CAA Championship trophy.

“It feels good,” Church said about being named to the All-CAA First Team. “Obviously not as good as winning the CAA [would have been], but I guess it’s a good consolation prize.”

Church, along with Belka and McIntosh, represented half the offensive positions on the All-CAA First Team, which was fitting because the Dragons’ offense was so potent this season. Drexel led the CAA by scoring an average of 12.13 goals per game, including 11.67 goals per game in conference play.

“It definitely means we were able to put up some great numbers this year,” McIntosh said, although his answer quickly turned to a realization about his partner in crime. “[But] losing Church is [going to] hurt us on offense because he was probably our best guy. … Now we [have to] fill that hole.”

The realization of separation was mutual, as just hours after the Dragons’ season-ending loss to Towson, Church tweeted, “One of the toughest parts about that loss is that it’s probably the last competitive game ill [sic] ever play with [McIntosh] #bestbuddy.”

Both were among the top five scorers in the CAA this season. Church finished his senior campaign with 33 goals and 24 assists for 57 total points, and McIntosh fell just short of his teammate with 56 total points on 38 goals and 18 assists.

Even though the pair showed consistency and explosiveness throughout the season, they were not surprised when Austin Kaut, The Pennsylvania State University’s junior goalie, was named CAA Player of the Year.

“I [kind of] figured it would be Kaut from Penn State,” Church said. “He’s been like the best goalie in the nation all year, … so he was very deserving of it.”

After being named CAA Rookie of the Year last season and All-CAA First Team last week as a sophomore, it would make sense for Belka to be somewhere in the CAA Player of the Year discussion next season.

The midfielder finished seventh in the conference in scoring with 27 goals and 17 assists for a total of 44 points and was the only second-year player to be among the select few on the All-CAA First Team. Belka said he expects to build on his performance this season and build up his all-around game going into his third year in the Blue and Gold.

“As I move forward in my career, I hope to improve on the obvious and get bigger, stronger and faster,” Belka said. “From a team perspective, I want to become more of a leader vocally on and off the field to accomplish our goals of winning a CAA championship and [earning an] NCAA berth.”

Along with McIntosh, freshman attack Frank Fusco and junior attack Nick Trizano, Belka will return to head the potent Drexel offense next season. But with the departure of Church, along with senior midfielder Aaron Prosser, there are some voids in the starting lineup that could be filled by fresh faces.

“I think Hank Brown could definitely step up and put up some numbers,” McIntosh said. “Redshirt freshman Cole Shafer could [as well]; he’s probably [going to] be stepping in for Church’s spot.”

And guess what? Shafer is also from Coquitlam! He will continue the legacy of the Dragons’ British Columbian pipeline that Ben’s brother Garrett McIntosh, a senior midfielder, began in University City five years ago. Meanwhile, it is time for Church to move on with his career, which he will attempt to continue at the professional level.

“I’m trying to play pro in the [National Lacrosse League], which is the indoor [lacrosse] league,” he explained. In addition, Church will graduate with a degree in sport management in June that will help him “hopefully find a job in sports somewhere along the line.”

The future may turn into any number of outcomes for Church and for Voelker’s program, which is still looking for its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid. But one thing is for certain: this season was a special one.

“The coaches have said that this team has been the closest family they’ve ever coached, and I think that attributes directly to the seniors and captains,” Belka said. “[They] were the guys who brought it every day and set an example of what Drexel lacrosse is all about.”

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Freshman midfielder Hank Brown (pictured left) scored his fourth goal of the season in Drexel’s 11-8 loss to Towson in the CAA semifinals.

The Drexel men’s lacrosse team’s identity this season was no secret, as the Dragons boasted a run-and-gun style of play that resulted in lots of scoring opportunities.

Was it entertaining? Absolutely. Was it consistent? Eh, not so much.

At times, Drexel was unstoppable, filling the net at will while opponents looked like deer in the headlights of an 18-wheeler. But at other times, the Dragons were confused and timid, as if they were waiting to get down in order to kick into gear.

Comebacks were a huge story for Drexel, as eight of the team’s 11 wins came after they were trailing in the second half. Even though they counted as positives in the record column, head coach Brian Voelker knew the team could not rely on comeback victories to get deep into the postseason.

One might even say that the Dragons were playing with fire.

“The problem when you dig a hole like we have in a lot of games is almost everything has to go right,” Voelker said. “There’s too little room for error.”

For a Drexel team that was so streaky during the regular season, all it would take to get knocked off in the one-and-done format of postseason tournaments would be an extended cold streak. And that is exactly what happened May 1 in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, as Towson University defeated the Dragons by a score of 11-8.

After a Drexel goal by freshman midfielder Hank Brown with 7:50 to go in the first quarter made the score 3-2 in favor of Towson, the Dragons were held to one goal for the next 26:25 while the Tigers extended their lead to 9-3.

Drexel was not without its chances over that span, but Towson senior goalie Andrew Wascavage made four saves in the second quarter to help his team make a huge run. Wascavage made 14 saves on 22 shots on goal for the game for a .636 save percentage, which was just a small improvement over his mark of .611 in the regular season.

Senior attack Robert Church finally ended the scoring drought at the 11:25 mark of the third quarter and then added two more goals in the next 2:41 to complete the natural hat trick and bring the Drexel deficit to 9-6.

Church also added two assists in the game for a total of five points, which brought his season tally to 33 goals and 24 assists, as he finished with a team-leading 57 total points. Although his storied career as a Dragon came to an end, he made sure the “Church” name will be branded in the school’s record books forever. His 194 career points rank fourth all time in Drexel history, while his 121 career goals are tied for third all time.

“Robert has had an amazing career. … He had his best year this season,” Voelker said. “He’s a guy that we could always count on for 40-plus points a year; that’s not easy to do.”

After some back-and-forth play, junior midfielder Ben McIntosh scored his team-leading 38th goal of the season and second of the game with 3:05 remaining in the third quarter to bring the score to 10-8. But the high-octane Dragons stalled, as they were unable to muster another goal in the final 18:05, and Drexel fell by a final score of 11-8.

“We came back in a lot of games this year, so we knew what we needed to do,” Voelker said. “We got the game to 10-8 but then made some costly mistakes.”

Towson star attack Thomas DeNapoli was held to one goal and one assist after torching the Dragons for six goals and one assist in the teams’ matchup earlier this season, a 14-11 Drexel win April 20 at Vidas Field. DeNapoli entered the CAA semifinal game with 53 total points, just one behind McIntosh for the conference lead.

There was a different hero for the Tigers on this day, however, as freshman midfielder Ben McCarty scored six goals on seven shots to lead his team to victory. In fact, McCarty’s six scores matched his entire goal output of the regular season, doubling his overall total to 12.

“Towson played better than [we did],” Voelker said. “We had too many turnovers [and] too many mistakes on defense. We weren’t moving the ball on offense, and when we got good looks, Towson’s goalie made big saves.”

A bright spot for the Dragons was sophomore faceoff specialist Nick Saputo, who dominated his counterpart on the Tigers, winning 19 of 22 draws in the game and adding an assist on Church’s third goal. Also contributing for the Dragons were freshman attack Chris Frederick with a goal and an assist and senior midfielder Aaron Prosser with a goal.

As Prosser’s Drexel career comes to an end, his Major League Lacrosse career is set to begin with the Denver Outlaws, the team that picked him in the fifth round of the 2013 player entry draft.

“[Prosser] put two really good seasons together; he always competed,” Voelker said. “I hope the young guys see how hard he works and how much he put into this team.”

Other graduating seniors for the Dragons are midfielders Kris Franklin and Garrett McIntosh and defensemen Justin Hummel and Chris Walsh. They will be some tough cleats to fill, for sure, but Drexel does have a large portion of its core returning for the 2014 season.

“Losing the seniors will hurt. Not only their production on the field, but their leadership,” Voelker said. “We do have a lot to build on; there’s a lot returning at each position.”

As for Towson, the Tigers will advance to the championship game May 3 against the top-seeded Pennsylvania State University, the host team of the CAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions won the first semifinal game over the fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Amherst by a score of 10-7 to advance to the finals.

With Lincoln Financial Field as the host site for the Final Four of the 2013 NCAA Tournament, it would have been special for Drexel to make an appearance as the host team, but it was just not meant to be. Instead, Voelker and his guys will have to wait yet another season to try to make history as the first-ever Drexel men’s lacrosse team to appear on the bracket.

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Drexel’s faceoff specialists, sophomore Nick Saputo and junior Deven Thomas (pictured above), have combined to win 177 of 346 draws (51.2 percent) this year. Saputo had a goal and an assist in the Dragons’ win over Towson University.

Some call it crunch time, some call it winning time, and some might call it something else entirely. Whatever you want to call it, the Drexel men’s lacrosse team does not care, because the Dragons are too busy taking care of business.

After yet another comeback victory, a 14-11 win April 20 over Towson University, Drexel has clinched the No. 2 seed in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament and will play the third-seeded Tigers again in the first round May 1. The tournament, which also includes host The Pennsylvania State University and a fourth-seeded team that has yet to be determined, will culminate with the championship game May 3 in State College, Pa.

Despite the win over Towson, the Dragons stayed put at No. 17 in both of the national men’s lacrosse polls. Drexel is 6-1 in its last seven games and 10-3 overall, but the team has not recorded a signature win to be catapulted into the top 10.

Drexel now controls its own destiny. A win against Towson will put the team on the NCAA Tournament at-large bubble, and another win will clinch an automatic bid.

As they sat in second place in the CAA and looked up at Penn State, a team that has not lost since March 9, the Dragons needed a win in their final CAA game of the season to clinch the No. 2 seed in the conference. In came the Tigers, a team from the collegiate lacrosse hotbed of Maryland, to challenge Drexel at Vidas Field.

Towson struck early. With three quick scores by CAA goal-scoring leader Thomas DeNapoli, the Dragons found themselves in an early hole, down 3-0 just 11:42 into the game. Slowly but surely, things started to come together for the home team. Sophomore midfielder Ryan Belka recorded a first-half hat trick, including a goal nine seconds before the buzzer, and Drexel went into the half tied 5-5 with the Tigers.

The second half began slowly, with both teams unable to tally any scores through the first five minutes of the third quarter. But with one flick of the wrist by senior attack Robert Church at the 9:36 mark, the Dragons began their patented second-half onslaught. Over the next five minutes, Drexel went on an 8-0 run to take a commanding 13-5 lead on a stunned Tigers team.

“I keep saying, ‘If we knew how this works, we would turn it on earlier,’” head coach Brian Voelker said. “Early in the game, [Towson’s] goalie made some big saves, but I think our kids just started playing better, and we took care of the ball.”

Towson showed great resilience, however, as the visitors stormed back with six straight tallies of their own to creep within two goals with 6:57 remaining in the game. But then Church fed Belka for his fourth goal of the game, which rounded out the scoring and clinched a 14-11 win in favor of the Dragons.

Junior Ben McIntosh continued to hold his own on the scoresheet, as the midfielder from Coquitlam, British Columbia, recorded two goals and two assists. Church tied a season high with seven points on the day, four goals and three assists.

“[Ben and I] have both always been great offensive players … and we are just happy and proud of one another,” Church said. “We push each other to be better every day and just enjoy being on the field together.”

Meanwhile, the Tigers’ DeNapoli accounted for six of his team’s 11 goals as well as one assist. It was a rare sight, indeed, that all three of those players ended the game tied for first in the CAA points race. Each player has 48 points with one game to go, although DeNapoli has played in one more contest than Drexel’s duo.

“Robert’s been a leader down in the offensive end, picking up some ground balls and getting a lot of assists for us,” Voelker said. “To be honest, we’ve been waiting for Ben to explode; he’s had some big goals in big moments. Belka’s had a great year too, going from CAA Rookie of the Year to almost doubling his scoring. Those three guys have given us an incredible 1-2-3 punch.”

Sophomore faceoff specialist Nick Saputo won 17 of 28 draws in the game and also added a goal and an assist to the cause. Freshman attack Chris Frederick notched a goal as he stepped in once again for injured sophomore attack Andrew Vivian. However, the game marked the first time all season in which attack Frank Fusco did not score a goal.

The Dragons’ final regular-season game is at home against High Point University April 27 at 1 p.m. With a win, Drexel would cap an 8-0 home schedule and be the only NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse team this season to boast an undefeated home record.

“Don’t jinx us! Don’t jinx us!” Voelker joked after being reminded of his team’s success at Vidas Field. “We’re trying to finish out the regular season strong going into the CAA playoffs. … It would be great to [have] an undefeated home record.”

The Panthers come to Philadelphia with a 3-11 overall record, ranked 58th out of 63 teams in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index. It will be difficult for the Dragons to keep from overlooking High Point, especially with the CAA Tournament semifinals on the horizon, but when it comes down to it, winning is better than losing.

“Our team has been focused all year long, so it won’t be any different on Saturday,” Church said. “It’s a one-game season every game from here on out, and losing is not accepted.”

While a victory is the top concern for Drexel against High Point, Voelker wants the team to focus on defensive efficiency and limiting mental lapses in preparation for the CAA Tournament. Because the Dragons have been consistent on offense this season, the other factors will be the key intangibles that could make the team a national title contender.

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Junior Ben McIntosh amassed a season-high five goals in Drexel’s 15-14 win over UMass April 13 in Amherst, Mass. The midfielder from Coquitlam, B.C., leads the CAA with 44 points on the season, which includes 30 goals and 14 assists.

A regular-season win does not necessarily avenge a postseason loss from the previous year. But for the Drexel men’s lacrosse team, there is nothing wrong with a victory over a rival and a 4-1 Colonial Athletic Association record.

The Dragons defeated the University of Massachusetts Amherst April 13 by a score of 15-14 in a closely played game from start to finish. It was the first win by Drexel over UMass since 2010 and the team’s first-ever win at Garber Field. The Blue and Gold moved to an overall record of 9-3 on the season and moved up to No. 17 in both of the national men’s lacrosse polls, as well as No. 15 in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index.

“We harped all week on our kids that if we beat UMass then we lock up a spot in the CAA playoffs,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “It was definitely a back-and-forth game, and we were excited to come away with the victory.”

Junior midfielder Ben McIntosh scored a season high of five goals, as well as one assist, and earned co-CAA Player of the Week honors in the process. The six-point performance tied McIntosh’s best output of the season, which came via four goals and two assists in a 20-19 win Feb. 23 over the University at Albany, State University of New York.

Still, the ultimate heroics of the game came from an unfamiliar source. Freshman attack Chris Frederick, making his first career start in place of injured sophomore attack Andrew Vivian, scored the first four points of his career for the Dragons. Frederick notched two assists and two goals, including the eventual game winner when he put Drexel up 15-13 with 4:28 remaining.

“It was back and forth with the coaching staff on who was going to [replace Andrew], and we decided to go with Chris,” Voelker said. “First play of the game, he buries a goal on the fast break. … He made the most of his opportunity and helped us win the game.”

Also producing points for the Dragons were senior attack Robert Church with two goals and two assists, junior attack Nick Trizano with three scores and one assist, sophomore midfielder Ryan Belka with three helpers, and freshman attack Frank Fusco with a hat trick. When he scored at the 9:38 mark of the third quarter, Fusco continued his streak as the only Drexel player with at least one goal in every game this season.

But the Dragons were not the only ones on the field with high-scoring players, as UMass also had its fair share of box score stuffers. Senior attack Kyle Smith led all scorers with three goals and five assists, sophomore attack Grant Whiteway tallied five goals, and senior attack Will Manny added two goals and four assists.

The game was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team holding more than a two-goal lead at any point during the contest. Even though it was an offensive shootout, the difference was ultimately the goaltending of Drexel freshman Cal Winkelman. The goalie from Skaneateles, N.Y., made 11 saves on 25 shots, including three in the final three minutes, to allow the Dragons to hold their 15-14 lead.

Last season was especially bad for the Dragons against the Minutemen, as UMass defeated Drexel once in the regular season by a score of 8-6 and once again in the CAA championship game in an 18-12 blowout.

“There was some extra attention to the fact that [UMass] took from us what we wanted to get last year,” Voelker said, referring to a CAA title. “We had to play in a hostile environment, and it definitely gave us some motivation. [The win] felt good for the guys that played last year.”

But things are much different this year for the Minutemen. After being ranked in the top five nationally nearly all of last season and claiming the CAA championship in April, UMass currently sits at the bottom of the conference with an 0-4 record. Meanwhile, the Dragons improved to 4-1 and kept pace with The Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions, who are 4-0 in CAA play.

“The most important thing is that we’ve locked up a spot in the CAA playoffs,” Voelker said. “Towson is a huge game because we still have a chance to host [the tournament].”

Next up for Drexel is a 4 p.m. home matchup April 20 against Towson University at Vidas Field. The Tigers sit at 3-1 in the CAA, right behind the Dragons in the conference standings, and are led by attack Thomas DeNapoli. The junior from East Rockaway, N.Y., has 30 goals and 11 assists on the season, which is good enough for second in the CAA behind Drexel’s McIntosh, who has 30 goals and 14 assists for 44 total points.

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Senior midfielder Garrett McIntosh celebrates a goal with his Drexel teammates in a home game at Vidas Field.

Although it is a conference comprised of just seven schools, the Colonial Athletic Association has proven itself a premier source of men’s lacrosse since its inaugural season in 2001. Following a 5-2 out-of-conference record, Drexel was looking right down the barrel of a grueling six-game conference schedule that would ultimately decide the fate of the season.

“We had some success early in the season in the nonconference schedule,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “But at [this point] we need to focus on six CAA games in a row.”

Through the first four games of the CAA schedule, the Dragons hold a 3-1 record against their conference foes and an 8-3 overall record. As of the April 8 vote, Drexel sits at No. 17 in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll and at No. 18 in the Inside Lacrosse poll.

First up for the Dragons was No. 7 Hofstra University March 23 in Hempstead, N.Y. A week removed from a 14-11 win over Mount St. Mary’s University at Vidas Field, Drexel got out to a slow start against the Pride. After being down 4-1 at the end of the first quarter, the Dragons struck with back-to-back goals from junior midfielder Ben McIntosh and senior midfielder Aaron Prosser.

Drexel could not muster up much more offense through the third quarter, and the team faced a familiar three-goal deficit when Hofstra junior midfielder Drew Coholan scored with 5:29 remaining in the third quarter to put the Pride ahead 7-4. But the Dragons chipped away at the lead, and with 21 seconds left, sophomore midfielder Ryan Belka scored the game-tying goal to send the game into overtime at a score of 7-7.

The game was scoreless through two four-minute overtime periods, but Drexel began the third with a man-advantage opportunity after a slashing penalty by Hofstra senior defender Cody Solaja. Right at the 1:00 mark of the penalty, McIntosh fired home the game-winning goal, and the Dragons left Long Island with an 8-7 triple-overtime win to start off their CAA schedule.

“Defensively, Hofstra’s one of the best we will see all year,” Voelker said. “Things didn’t go our way [at first], but we kept at it and started the CAA schedule out right.”

Fresh off an emotional win and not having given up a goal in over 29 minutes, Drexel hosted Saint Joseph’s University March 27 at Vidas Field. The quick turnaround worked wonders for the Dragons, as they jumped on the Hawks and never looked back. Sophomore attack Mitch de Snoo scored his second goal of the game 1:47 into the fourth quarter to put Drexel up 14-0, a two-touchdown lead on their City 6 rivals.

By the time sophomore midfielder Michael Dougherty scored the Hawks’ first goal of the game with 12:15 remaining, the Dragons had extended their team scoreless streak to 77:14. With such a lopsided game, Voelker was able to get valuable playing time for some of his substitutes, and they took advantage in the 16-3 win.

“We are hoping we got some things figured out in the defensive end,” Voelker said. “At this level it’s difficult to defend, and we just had a stretch where we did a really good job.”

De Snoo added another goal in the fourth quarter to secure a hat trick, freshman attack Jules Raucci added a goal and two assists, freshman midfielder Hank Brown scored two goals, freshman midfielder Kris Franklin added a goal, and freshman midfielder Jordan Cunningham tallied two assists. It was quite a showing from Drexel’s young players, and it is vital to mention that all these points were the first of their careers.

But as the unusual suspects contributed, so did the usual cast of characters. McIntosh had two goals and two assists; sophomore attack Andrew Vivian added a goal and an assist; senior attack Robert Church notched two goals; and freshman attack Frank Fusco had a hat trick, his second of the season. Meanwhile, freshman goalie Cal Winkelman posted three scoreless quarters before being replaced by sophomore Dan Rodgers.

“Cal has done a really good job and played well for us,” Voelker said. “He’s a really hard worker and is the first guy to ask for extra shots and shooting drills [in practice].”

The Dragons’ next game was a matchup with the University of Delaware March 30 at Vidas Field, and it proved to be more of a typical performance from the team. McIntosh opened the scoring just 1:46 into the game, but the Blue Hens stormed right back and took a 6-2 lead into the locker room.

Following a goal 1:10 into the second half from Delaware senior midfielder Eric Smith to go ahead 7-2, the Dragons had had enough. Vivian got the comeback started with a goal on the man advantage, and the rest of the team followed suit. Drexel scored nine of the game’s final 12 goals and held on for an 11-10 win against the school’s biggest rival.

Prosser led the way with one goal and three assists for a total of four points after scoring seven points in the Dragons’ previous seven games combined. Church added a goal and an assist, while Belka and McIntosh each had two goals and one assist. Fusco continued his scoring pace, adding a goal and an assist of his own. For his performances against Delaware and St. Joe’s, Fusco earned CAA Rookie of the Week honors April 1.

“Frank has had a very good year so far productionwise and pointwise,” Voelker said. “He has had some big goals and a good feed on the game-winning goal [against Hofstra].”

With a full week to prepare for the team’s next opponent, The Pennsylvania State University, Drexel eyed a 4-0 start in CAA play for the first time since 2007. The Dragons traveled to State College, Pa., April 6 for a key matchup with the Nittany Lions. Belka opened the scoring only 44 seconds into the game, but senior attack Jack Forster responded with a natural hat trick to put Penn State ahead 3-1 with 16 seconds left in the first quarter.

Prosser and McIntosh each scored in the second quarter, with a Nittany Lions goal in between, and the two sides went into the locker room just one goal apart. The teams exchanged man-advantage goals at the beginning of the second half, but then the wheels fell off for Drexel. Penn State scored seven consecutive goals in a 10:59 span, and the Dragons fell behind 12-4 with 11:16 remaining in the game.

“We’ve been trying to get our guys to string together three or four quarters in a game,” Voelker said. “[Penn State is] really good, and we had a tough time because we didn’t put together a full game.”

Drexel added a hat-trick goal from Belka and a score from Fusco before the final horn sounded, and the team left the field with a disappointing 13-6 result. In a game that showed so much promise, the Dragons returned home with more questions than answers. They now get set to face the University of Massachusetts Amherst on the road April 13.

Will freshman goalie Will Gabrielsen return to the net now that he is healthy? How did a supposedly second-half team fall apart so quickly in the second half? Can the team return to the defensive ability it showed against Hofstra and St. Joe’s? These are questions that only Voelker and his players can answer with the team’s final road game of the season looming ahead.

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[media-credit name="Rachel Wisniewski" align="alignleft" width="300"] Junior Justin Klunder attempts to advance the play up the fi eld against the University at Albany. The Dragons are currently ranked No. 13 in the nation
and will face Mount St. Mary’s University March 16.

The Dragons knocked off the Bryant Bulldogs with a score of 11-5 March 9 at Vidas Field. The victory moved their then-winning streak to four games.

Robert Church had a hat trick for Drexel, and Frank Fusco and Ben McIntosh each added a pair more to lead the offense. By the end of the first quarter, the Dragons had jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

Late in the game with the score 6-3, Drexel would ice it with five unanswered goals. The Dragons would carry an 11-3 tally into the final five minutes of the game before Bryant added two late goals.

Making his first career start in net, Cal Winkelman held his own for Drexel. The redshirt freshman stopped 15 shots on the day to earn his first collegiate win. Winkelman, who was starting in place of the ill Will Gabrielsen, impressed head coach Brian Voelker with his debut.

“He stepped up, played well and made the saves he needed to,” Voelker said. “I thought he really stepped up and played well for us.”

Voelker was impressed overall with the play on both ends against Bryant. He thought Winkelman was joined by his teammates, who also stepped up and played a solid game.

“It was a good win,” he said. “We buckled down and played well. In general I thought everyone stepped up and played well on both ends.”

That would be the end of the Dragons’ four-game winning streak, which started immediately following their season-opening loss to Virginia. Drexel fell to Bucknell March 12 in an ugly 17-8 game, failing to recover from an early hole.

The Bison received hat tricks from Todd Heritage, Chase Bailey and Brock Ghelfi and scored 14 times on Winkelman before the freshman was pulled. Drexel went into the half in an 11-4 deficit and would not get back into the game.

Voelker observed an opposite type of performance from his team on Tuesday, in contrast to Saturday’s victory. The early slump became too much to overcome.

“We played in spurts,” he said. “When you do, it’s going to come back to bite you. We couldn’t get it back in our direction.”

A bright spot in the game were the two goals by Robert Church, the 100th and 101st of his Drexel career. The senior became just the seventh men’s lacrosse player in program history to eclipse the 100-point milestone.

“He’s been a great player the last four years,” Voelker said of Church. “We knew before the season he’d be a guy that we could count on, and he’s been a great player who does a lot of things for us on the offensive end.”

The Dragons will look to regroup following the loss and start up another winning streak. Their first crack at doing so will come Saturday, March 16, at home against Mount St. Mary’s University at Vidas Field.

The Mountaineers will come to University City with a record of 4-4 but with a hot offense. They are coming off two straight victories in which they scored a total of 30 goals.

“They’re very good on the offensive end,” Voelker said. “We’re going to have our hands full.”

With the heavy offensive unit coming in, Saturday would not be a good time to be missing Gabrielsen. Voelker said, however, that it is doubtful the freshman will play this weekend, as he is still recovering from an illness.

One thing that does point in Drexel’s favor is their undefeated record at Vidas Field, going 3-0 in the first three home dates. Mount St. Mary’s, meanwhile, will bring in a 0-3 road record to the matchup.

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Junior midfielder Ben McIntosh notched one goal and one assist in Drexel’s 13-12 win over RMU March 2 in Pittsburgh. McIntosh leads the Dragons in goals (11) and shots (37), and is tied with senior attack Robert Church for the team lead in shots on goal (19).

The Drexel men’s lacrosse team is a team of many teams, if that makes any sense. The Dragons could be classified as an exciting team, a high-octane team, a comeback team and a second-half team. But most importantly, they are a 3-1 team.

“The good news is we’re 3-1 and working on a high right now,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “We’re excited, and we’re glad we came out of there with a win.”

After a 13-12 victory over Robert Morris University March 2 in Pittsburgh, Drexel stands at two games above .500, a mark the team never reached last season. Senior Robert Church led the way with his first breakout game of the season. The attack had five goals and two assists. Church’s seven total points against the Colonials matched his output of three goals and four assists in the first three games.

Unlike in the first three games, the Dragons did not find themselves in a large deficit early against RMU. The Colonials did get on the board first with a goal 1:30 into the game by freshman midfielder Eric Rankel, which prompted the worry of another slow start. But Church responded with his first goal of the game. The two teams then alternated goals, as the first quarter ended with RMU ahead of the Dragons 4-3.

Scoring became scarce in the second quarter, as the only Drexel goal came from junior attack Nick Trizano, his ninth goal of the season. The Colonials scored two goals of their own to grab a 6-4 lead with 7:59 to go in the half, and they carried that same lead into the locker room.

Just as they have done all season, the Dragons came out with a vengeance in the second half. Church started things off with two quick goals that tied the game 6-6 with 12:22 remaining in the quarter. After an RMU response just 17 seconds later, Church scored his third goal in the opening 3:23 of the half.

Junior midfielder Ben McIntosh then added his only goal of the game, assisted by Church, on a man-up situation to put Drexel ahead 8-7. The Dragons were a perfect 3-3 on man-up situations in the game. Along with McIntosh’s goal, sophomore midfielder Ryan Belka and sophomore attack Andrew Vivian each scored in the first quarter on the power play.

Vivian tallied two goals, marking the first time he has scored since a pair of tallies in the season opener Feb. 16 against the University of Virginia, and one assist for the game. Belka finished with three goals and one assist, which, coupled with his five-point performance Feb. 26 against Villanova University, earned him co-CAA Player of the Week honors.

The Colonials then bombarded Drexel with five of the next seven goals to take a 12-10 lead with only 8:25 remaining in the game. Following a 10-10 tie, RMU junior midfielder Mitch Wilde scored two consecutive unassisted goals to put his team ahead. Things looked grim for the visiting Dragons.

Then, as has been the case in Drexel’s first two wins, the team got down to brass tacks. The Dragons responded with three consecutive scores to bring home the win, including Belka’s hat-trick goal, Church’s fifth goal and freshman attack Frank Fusco’s game-winning goal with 1:55 remaining on the clock.

“Coming into the year, we knew we were [going to] be more experienced on the offensive end,” Voelker said. “We’ve definitely leaned on the offense so far, and we’ve seen some good play from our defense at times.”

Although freshman goalie Will Gabrielsen saved only eight of the Colonials’ 20 shots on goal, he came up clutch again when he stoned an RMU shot on the doorstep with one minute remaining. The save secured the one-goal victory for Drexel and earned Gabrielsen his third consecutive win in net.

The Dragons very handily won the intangible stats in the game, earning a 42-28 edge in ground balls and a 51-28 advantage in shots attempted. In addition, sophomore faceoff specialist Nick Saputo won 21 of the 29 draws, which allowed Drexel to earn more opportunities in the offensive zone throughout the day.

Riding a three-game winning streak and boasting a No. 14 ranking in both the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Coaches and Nike/Inside Lacrosse polls, the Dragons take on Bryant University March 9. The Bulldogs are 0-4, but Voelker expects nothing less than a hard-fought effort for a 1 p.m. start at Vidas Field.

“Their record isn’t good, but they’re a good team,” Voelker said. “They play hard, so we’re expecting a roll-up-your-sleeves-and-battle type of game.”

Last season, Drexel jumped out to a 5-0 lead against the Bulldogs by halftime but lost by a final score of 7-6. It was a stunning loss for the Dragons, and the fallout from it was a three-game losing streak. This time around, the team will look to continue the season’s momentum against Bryant rather than stunting it.

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Attack Andrew Vivian has been a key part in Drexel’s potent offense so far this season. Although the sophomore from Slingerlands, N.Y., has only scored two goals and two assists, he has been able to command the offense from behind the net.

Pick your narrative for this week’s recap of the Drexel men’s lacrosse team.

It could be the high-scoring shootout between Drexel and the University at Albany Feb. 23 at Vidas Field. The 20-19 win for the Dragons featured six goals and nine assists for the Great Danes’ three stars, brothers Lyle and Miles and cousin Ty Thompson, and five Drexel players with hat tricks.

It could be the rainy, windy and cold conditions in which Drexel defeated Villanova University Feb. 26 at Vidas Field. Although the weather didn’t cooperate with the fans in attendance, including myself, the Dragons and Wildcats persevered through the muck to provide some quality entertainment and a 12-10 final score.

But the narrative I am going to go with is “comebacks.” Yes, they were prevalent in both wins for the Dragons, considering they were down 7-1 in the first quarter against Albany and 7-3 in the third quarter against Villanova.

After the first quarter against Albany, it was junior Nick Trizano who took matters into his own hands. The attack from Eastchester, N.Y., scored two goals in 43 seconds, both on assists from senior midfielder Aaron Prosser, to bring the score to 7-3 and plant the idea of a loss in the minds of the Great Danes.

“When we came in after the first quarter, we talked about what we needed to do,” junior midfielder Ben McIntosh said. “We got the ball in their end, and we were able to create chances and get shots.”

Trizano was named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week for his performance with four goals and two assists. Freshman attack Frank Fusco was the second-half hero for Drexel, as he scored three goals on three shots in an ultraefficient performance.

Prosser, with three goals and three assists, was an instrumental part of the offense against Albany, as he was regularly able to gain momentum toward the goal and create offense for his teammates.

Other top scorers for the Dragons were sophomore midfielder Ryan Belka with three goals and two assists and senior attack Robert Church with two goals and three assists.

“We know we are good players on offense, and we can make things happen,” Trizano said. “So we just had to stay focused and do the things that we needed to do.”

As for the defense, allowing 19 goals in a game is not ideal, but the back end came up big when it mattered most. After a seven-goal first quarter for Albany, goalie Will Gabrielsen allowed only six goals in the next two quarters to allow the offense to get Drexel on top 14-13 going into the final frame.

“I guess it’s all relative in a game like this, but our defense started to bear down and get a sense of what they wanted to do,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “But we can’t give teams those leads early.”

Gabrielsen, a freshman from Summit, N.J., stopped 18 shots for the game, but none were bigger than his final save as time expired. Albany junior attack Miles Thompson fired a desperation shot toward the net in the final seconds, but Gabrielsen whisked the ball toward the sideline as time expired to preserve the one-goal victory.

“You don’t want to dig yourself a 7-1 hole, but I give our guys a ton of credit,” Voelker said. “[They] just kept scratching and clawing against a really good team.”

A fulfilling comeback victory for Drexel meant a disappointing loss for Albany. The Great Danes were noticeably upset as they left Vidas Field at the conclusion of the game. One hotheaded player had to be physically restrained by his teammates, as he wanted to take on the vocal Dragons’ faithful singlehandedly.

Speaking of faithful, it is the perfect word to describe Drexel fans who braved the steady rain and gusting winds to support the home team in an intracity matchup against Villanova.

Once again, the Dragons got out to a very slow start. Whether it was because of the inclement weather or the sturdy Villanova defense, the high-powered Drexel offense only managed to score three times in the first half. At the midway point in the game, the Dragons found themselves down 6-3 with not many positives on their side.

Villanova faceoff specialist Thomas Croonquist won all 10 faceoffs in the first half against Drexel sophomore Nick Saputo and junior Deven Thomas. By halftime the Wildcats outshot the Dragons 22-12 and won 12 out of 17 ground balls. The three-goal deficit was not insurmountable in any sense, but Voelker’s team had to turn things around in the second half.

“The first half and the beginning of the third quarter we weren’t very good,” Voelker said. “We didn’t get many ground balls, and we weren’t taking care of the ball in the offensive end.”

After a Villanova goal opened the scoring in the third quarter, Drexel’s offense woke up. Church, Trizano and McIntosh each scored in a span of 2:08 to bring the Dragons within one, and it was suddenly anybody’s game.

“Something clicked, and the kids just kept at it,” Voelker said. “I wish I knew [what it was] because if I knew then we would try to click it earlier.”

Two consecutive Villanova goals stretched the lead to 9-6 with 3:07 remaining in the third quarter, and it seemed like Drexel had had enough at that point. Prosser scored with 13 seconds left in the third quarter, and from that point on, the Dragons outscored Villanova 6-1 over the final 15:13 to clinch the 12-10 win.

Gabrielsen had his best game thus far with 12 saves on 22 shots on goal. One of his saves was an impressive stop on a point-blank Villanova opportunity to keep Drexel in a 10-8 deficit midway through the fourth quarter.

“Will played great, and he really kept us in it,” Voelker said. “It’s a big win for us because we hadn’t beaten these guys; they kind of had our number.”

All three Dragon defenders were effective in stalling the Wildcats’ ball movement, as 10 of the visiting team’s 12 goals were unassisted. Junior Matt Dusek, senior Chris Walsh and junior Tyler Houchins were able to use their physicality very effectively against the Villanova attack.

“Defensively it was good to get some stops,” Voelker said. “In the last quarter I think we started doing the things that we’ve talked about, and the guys did a good job.”

Drexel will try to build on its two-game winning streak when the team heads to Pittsburgh to take on Robert Morris University. The Dragons are 4-1 all-time against the Colonials but lost by a score of 11-10 in their last meeting in 2009.

In order to win, Voelker said Drexel will have to do the right things because “it’s not rocket science.” Getting off to a stronger start would not hurt, either. Although comeback victories are great in hindsight and fun to write about, getting behind the eight ball early is not the best way to ensure victory from game to game.

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Senior attack Brendan Glynn was not available in the Dragons’ season opener against the University of Virginia due to injury. Glynn tallied 26 goals and 11 assists in 2012.

The Drexel University men’s lacrosse team travelled to Charlottesville, Va., for its season opener Feb. 16 and suffered a 13-12 overtime loss to the University of Virginia. Virginia senior attack Matt White scored his fourth goal of the game 11 seconds into overtime, clinching the Cavaliers’ victory over the Dragons for the sixth consecutive season.

Virginia junior attack Nick O’Reilly amassed a game-high eight points, two goals and six assists, including a helper on White’s game-deciding goal. Both of O’Reilly’s goals came in succession in the first quarter to put the Cavaliers up 3-0 just under 11 minutes into the game.

“We started out slow in a couple of our scrimmages, and in the UVA game we started out slow again,” midfielder Ben McIntosh said. “They came out and scored three quick ones on us before we got our first goal.”

After an initial waking-up period, the Dragons worked to regain the lead by the end of the first half, with McIntosh leading the way. The junior from Coquitlam, British Columbia, notched two goals before the midway point, including his second score to put Drexel ahead 5-4 with eight seconds remaining in the first half.

Virginia came out of the locker room with two straight goals; it would be a back-and-forth game all the way to the end. In the second half there were a total of seven ties and six lead changes. McIntosh clinched his first career hat trick when he gave the Dragons an 8-7 lead with two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“It was definitely cool to do. I got the opportunities and got lucky, I guess,” McIntosh said. “It depends who we’re playing and the matchups and everything, but [primarily] my role is to start the offense.”

The largest lead of the second half belonged to the Cavaliers, as they led 11-9 with 5:15 remaining in the fourth quarter on White’s third goal of the game. Drexel senior midfielder Aaron Prosser, who notched two goals and two assists on the day, scored his second goal of the game to bring the Dragons within one.

Then, freshman attack Frank Fusco added his second goal with just 1:23 remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the game 11-11. After a goal by Virginia senior attack Charlie Streep put the Cavaliers ahead with 49 seconds left, Drexel had to get to work quickly.

“I give our guys a lot of credit for fighting back when we were down two,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “Our offense after the first quarter played very well.”

Drexel sophomore midfielder Ryan Belka notched an unassisted goal with 10 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, but White quickly put an end to the potential upset early in the extra frame.

Along with the clutch goal, Belka contributed three assists to the cause for a total of four points in the game. Other top scorers for Drexel included junior attack Nick Trizano, who scored two goals with one assist, and sophomore attack Andrew Vivian, who notched two second-half goals for the Dragons.

“We’re still a bit of a work in progress, … trying to figure out what to do on the offensive end,” Voelker said. “It’s a good problem to have when a lot of guys are contributing.”

Drexel’s back end provided some highlights and some shaky play against Virginia. The talented yet inexperienced defense was good in the Dragons’ first game of the season, but Voelker sees room for improvement.

“With a new defense, we weren’t quite sure what we were gonna get,” Voelker said. “In general our guys played hard, but we had some breakdowns and gave away a few easy goals.”

Freshman goalie Will Gabrielsen made his debut and turned away 15 of the Cavaliers’ 28 shots on goal. He matched Virginia freshman goalie Dan Marino, who allowed 12 goals on 27 shots, save for save through regulation. Voelker confirmed that Gabrielsen’s play in goal earned him a start against the University of Albany in the Dragons’ second game of the season Feb. 20 at Vidas Field.

The Great Danes will come to Philadelphia on the heels of a 16-15 double-overtime upset win Feb. 17 against Syracuse University. Albany is led by brothers Lyle, Miles and Ty Thompson, three star attackmen. The high-scoring trio combined for 18 points, 10 goals and eight assists in the team’s victory against the Orange.

It will mark the first home game of the season for the Dragons, who are 26-12 in their last five seasons at the friendly confines of Vidas Field. The team expects a packed house and a rowdy crowd for its home opener at 1 p.m.

“I’m hoping there will be a big crowd because this is a tough place to play,” Voelker said. “I hope the students and alums come and give us some great support as usual.”

“It’s always great to play at home because we have good fans,” McIntosh added. “It’s fun to have the alumni out there and just being able to play on your home field.”

The Dragons have defeated the Great Danes three consecutive times in a series that goes back to 2002. Following the game against Albany, Drexel will look to end a three-game losing streak against Villanova University Feb. 26 when the team takes on the Wildcats at Vidas Field.

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The Drexel University men’s lacrosse team will take on the University of Virginia to open their season. The Dragons and Cavaliers have
opened the season against each other for 13 consecutive seasons.

Ancient Greek storyteller Aesop famously constructed the phrase “Familiarity breeds contempt.” It is unlikely that he had NCAA men’s lacrosse in mind when he first uttered those words of wisdom, but they certainly apply to the rivalry between Drexel University and the University of Virginia.

For the 13th consecutive season, the Dragons and Cavaliers will open the season against one another, but thus far the results have been one-sided. Virginia holds an 11-1 advantage in the all-time series, with the only Drexel victory coming in 2007 when the Dragons used two goals by Colin Ambler in the final 10 seconds to stun the No. 1 Cavaliers by a score of 11-10.

The 2013 version of the rivalry will take place Feb. 16 in Charlottesville, Va., which is a notoriously difficult place to play for the away team. However, head coach Brian Voelker believes his team is ready to take on the challenge.

“UVA is a tough team. We’ve had this first game as a bull’s-eye for a long time now,” Voelker said. “We’re expecting to roll up our sleeves and come out with a win.”

Drexel will have to do so without some key players from last season’s team, which advanced all the way to the Colonial Athletic Association Finals. Former defenders Dana Wilber and Brian Teuber, midfielder Kyle Bergman and goalie Mark Manos played in all 16 games for the Dragons last season, but senior midfielder Aaron Prosser is confident that his teammates will be up to the task.

“We should have some breakout players all over the field,” Prosser said. “Offensively, [junior midfielder] Ben McIntosh is somebody who could make a big jump from last year, but whoever is our goalie will hopefully step up the most.”

With Manos having graduated, the starting goalie spot is up for grabs between sophomore Dan Rodgers and freshmen Henry Buonagurio, Will Gabrielsen and Cal Winkelman. Rodgers suffered an injury in preseason and has not been practicing as of late, so the other three have been competing to earn the starting nod against the Cavaliers.

“All three have had a good preseason, and it’s really been a battle,” Voelker said. “We’re going to announce to the team on Friday who it will be as the starter.”

Still, Drexel expects to have a high-powered offense with the likes of Prosser, McIntosh, sophomore midfielder Ryan Belka, senior Robert Church, senior attack Brendan Glynn and sophomore attack Andrew Vivian, who were six of the top seven scorers last season.

Church, the team’s leading scorer in 2012 with 29 goals and 18 assists, was named to the preseason CAA All-Conference team. The attack from Coquitlam, British Columbia, has 88 goals and 49 assists as a Dragon for a total of 137 career points, which is good enough for 14th all-time at the school.

“We definitely are more experienced on the offensive end,” Voelker said. “We lost some depth and experience from last year, but we have some really talented kids on the offensive end of the field.”

But the worry for the Dragons this season will not be how many goals they score but how many they allow. In the 2012 season-ending loss in the CAA Finals to the No. 1 University of Massachusetts, Drexel notched 12 goals but conceded a season-high 18 as they fell to the Minutemen.

With the losses of Wilber and Teuber on the back end, sophomore defender Matt Dusek will be expected to lead the Dragons’ defense. Junior Tyler Houchins, who appeared in all 16 games last season, will most likely fill one of the vacancies, while the other is up for grabs.

“Defensively we’re still growing,” Voelker said. “We’re younger on the defensive end, but we have a lot of enthusiasm, and our guys have worked really hard.”

Even after finishing with a disappointing 8-8 record in 2012, Drexel was picked to finish tied for third with Hofstra University in the preseason CAA standings behind UMass and The Pennsylvania State University. While a bronze medal is respectable, the Dragons have much higher goals for the upcoming season, as they hope for the 2013 season to be their breakout campaign.

“This year’s goals are the same as they were last year; to win the CAA and make the NCAA Tournament,” Voelker said. “They are lofty goals, but the pieces are in place, and that’s what we want to accomplish.”

Drexel is not ranked in the top 20 of any of the four preseason polls, but the fact remains that the men’s lacrosse team will be one of the most exciting tickets on campus this spring. There is surely a buzz around this high-powered team felt by the student body and players.

“All we’ve thought about for the last five months was this game, and it’s finally here,” Prosser said. “We can’t be more excited to get the season started.”

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Senior midfielder Aaron Prosser burst on the scene with 24 goals and six assists in his junior season after tallying eight goals and four assists in his first two years at Drexel.

Drexel senior Aaron Prosser was selected with the 36th overall pick in last weekend’s Major League Lacrosse player entry draft. Prosser, a midfielder, was selected in the fifth round by the Denver Outlaws.

The selection comes one year after Prosser’s best career season to date, in which he scored 24 goals and tallied six assists. He was a starter for all 16 games, playing midfield.

For Prosser, the selection comes as a relative surprise. He was not following the draft, which took place Jan. 11, too closely. Fortunately, a friend was, who filled him in on the life-altering news rather quickly.

“I got a call from a friend,” Prosser said. “I actually wasn’t tuned into the draft. I didn’t think it actually was going to happen, so I got a call from a friend saying, ‘You’ve been drafted.’ I looked it up and it was pretty cool; I was pretty surprised.”

As per collegiate rules, the MLL teams were not permitted to communicate with him, so he was in the dark in a sense as to what to expect. The only indication he had that something may happen and that he had a chance at a professional career immediately after the collegiate level was that his coaches told him that teams had asked and talked to them about him. But even that does not mean too much; teams could have just been looking extra thoroughly at everyone.

With that in mind, Prosser did not get his hopes up too high leading up to the draft.

“I had a hunch, but I thought it was below 50 percent,” Prosser said. “I didn’t think it was actually going to happen.”

When asked if he would pursue a career with the Outlaws, who are owned by the Denver Broncos, Prosser said, “definitely.” The tentative plan for him is to look into moving out to Denver following his graduation from Drexel.

“That’s the plan [to move to Denver], maybe in May. As soon as the season’s done I’ll fly out,” Prosser said. “I only have a few credits left to graduate and then will hopefully end up out there. That’s the plan.”

For now, however, Prosser has some work to do with the team he currently plays for, the Drexel Dragons. The team is getting set once again to open the season against the University of Virginia and continue to build on what has been a very successful stretch in Drexel lacrosse history.

In Prosser’s opinion, that strong recent history is a big reason why he was drafted, as it put Drexel on the country’s collegiate lacrosse radar.

“It was just being part of a Division I school and Drexel’s success,” he explained. “When I first got here, that was the first time they made it to the [Colonial Athletic Association] championships, so that was the first time they got on the map.”

The program continued to make positive strides.

“Ever since then, it’s been a battle uphill,” Prosser said. “We’ve gotten to being ranked seventh in the nation, so being part of that fluctuation has put the spotlight on, us, on Drexel. Just doing well, Drexel’s success has helped me.”

A number of other Dragons have recently been able to play in the professional league following their collegiate careers at Drexel. Among the Dragons in MLL are Dana Wilbur and Mark Manos, former teammates of Prosser as recently as the 2012 season, playing with Hamilton and Charlotte, respectively. 2008 graduate Bruce Bickford is a goalkeeper for Boston, and Scott Perri and Frank Tufano were members of the Long Island Lizards, although they never played a game.

Prosser is committed to continue building on that success at Drexel, and he said the news of the draft will not change how he prepares for the season. Drexel is his top focus for the next few months.

“My first concentration is Drexel right now and getting back to the state championships. So right now I’m just focusing on UVA, but it was nice last weekend to think about the future,” he said.

Drexel is less than a month away from starting the season Feb. 16 in Virginia. When the season starts, the Dragons will be relying heavily on a young team to continue the success.

“We have a young defense, a whole new team, a lot of new faces,” Prosser said. “A lot of guys need to step up on offense, so it’s pretty much getting back to being a team again and getting back to the CAAs like we were last year. We’re trying to do it again.”

It is a challenge Prosser is looking forward to facing before taking on a much greater challenge across the country. But that is not until May. Right now he is looking squarely at February.

“I’m really excited for the season — really, really excited for Feb. 16,” Prosser said.

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Junior guard Chris Fouch shoots a jump shot against Hofstra University as avid DAC Pack members look on at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. The Dragons won the game 78-67, further establishing the DAC as one of the most hostile environments in basketball.

The most popular sport at Drexel is men’s basketball, hands down. Even before the season begins, the anticipation is palpable on campus. During the season, campus is always buzzing. And why not? Head coach James “Bruiser” Flint was quoted last year saying that the Dragons were the best college basketball team in the city.

The Drexel men’s basketball team started last season on ESPN’s Midnight Madness. The Dragons were picked as the early-season favorites to win the Colonial Athletic Association and to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament. Drexel got off to a slow start, losing four of the first six games. After that stretch, the Dragons lost only one more game the rest of the season to capture a conference title. In the CAA tournament, the Dragons won their first two games to advance to the finals. The Dragons faced Virginia Commonwealth University, which just a year earlier made it all the way to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. VCU beat Drexel 56-59, thus making the Dragons ineligible for an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. Even after the CAA Tournament loss, many experts were picking Drexel to make it into the NCAA Tournament by means of the selection committee. But alas, the selection committee snubbed Drexel for the second year in a row. Drexel instead participated in the National Invitation Tournament and lost in the quarterfinals.

This year the Dragons will surely continue on the same track as last year’s campaign. They only graduated one senior, and their younger players, most notably sophomore Damion Lee, emerged in the second half of the season. Junior Frantz Massenat and seniors Derrick Thomas, Chris Fouch and Daryl McCoy are all one year older and are primed to lead this team to an NCAA Tournament bid. However, their window to win may be closing. The team will graduate key players after this coming season, leaving a significant leadership void.

Another team to watch is the Drexel men’s lacrosse team. Last season the Dragons finished 8-8 and lost in the finals of the CAA Tournament. They narrowly missed the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. Last season they graduated six seniors, including star goalie Mark Manos. This year the team selected seniors Garrett McIntosh, Aaron Prosser and Chris Walsh to be their new captains, ushering in a new era for the team.

In the fall and spring, Drexel offers men’s and women’s crew. The crew team is one of the best in the country, competing in invitationals across the United States. Last season the men’s team completed one of its most successful seasons of all time, capped off by an invitation to the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta in Thames, England. Both men’s and women’s crew begin their fall season Sept. 29.

In the spring, softball will be an interesting team to watch. The Drexel softball team narrowly missed the CAA Tournament last season after losing its final game. Now the softball team has a new coach, Miranda Ervin, who stresses defense and team play, something the softball team has been missing for a few years.

Right now, both the men’s and women’s soccer teams are in season, and they are doing very well. The men’s team is 3-2-1, and the women’s team is 6-1-1. The women will begin a stretch of conference games starting Sept. 21, while the men will start their stretch of conference games Sept. 22 at home.

Drexel has many other teams such as women’s basketball, field hockey, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s squash, to name a few. Our advice to you is to get involved and go to a game. You won’t regret it.

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Aaron Prosser (24), featured above, was selected to be one of the men’s lacrosse captains for the 2012-13 season. He is joined by Garrett McIntosh and Chris Walsh.

After a largely successful season that almost put the Drexel University men’s lacrosse team into the NCAA Tournament, the players have named their new captains. Midfielders Garrett McIntosh and Aaron Prosser and defenseman Chris Walsh, all seniors, will be captains for the 2012-13 season.

McIntosh didn’t make any starts in the 2011-12 season but appeared in 15 of 16 games. McIntosh had one goal on one shot during the regular season along with seven ground balls. Although his stats aren’t the prettiest, he has been a reliable defensive midfielder for the Dragons since his freshman year.

Prosser started all 16 games and scored 26 goals last year for the Dragons, ranking third on the team. Prosser gathered only five ground balls but managed an impressive 15 turnovers. This year was a breakout season for Prosser, as he only scored 10 goals in 2010-11. He was also a Second Team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection at midfield.

Walsh, a redshirt senior, was head coach Brian Voelker’s go-to defenseman on the man-down squad in key situations. Walsh appeared in just four games last year and eight games the year before.

Prosser is an attractive choice, being one of the team’s top scorers, but McIntosh and Walsh may be puzzling to outsiders. These two may not be the flashiest compared to Robert Church and Brendan Glynn, who are also seniors, but of course, numbers aren’t everything when it comes to leadership.

The Drexel lacrosse team went 8-8 overall last season and 4-2 in the CAA. The Dragons went on to play the No. 14 Pennsylvania State University in the CAA Tournament semifinals and pulled out a big win. Unfortunately their season came to an abrupt close when they fell to the undefeated University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the CAA finals.

Academic All-Area Honors

Three Drexel University athletes received Academic All-Area honors from the Philadelphia Inquirer in June for the 2011-12 academic season. Robert Church and Kelli Joran from the respective men’s and women’s lacrosse teams and Michael Serensits of the golf team were recognized by the city’s most widely circulated paper for their academic and athletic performances this past season.

Academic All-Area student-athletes must earn a 3.2 or higher cumulative grade point average to be eligible for recognition and must be significant contributors to their respective teams. The publication considers student-athletes from 28 institutions throughout the area. Only academic sophomores, juniors and seniors can be named to the team.

Church, reigning from Coquitlam, British Columbia, had an impressive season. Leading the Dragons with 29 goals, 18 assists and 27 points, his stick skills are undeniable. Concluding his season ranked seventh in the CAA in goals, assists and points per game, he is comfortably tied for 12th in career goals and 14th in career points. Even with his impressive statistics, Church is a go-to leader on the team. As a rising upperclassman the team will turn to him for on-field performance and guidance, which are both qualities this talented player certainly possesses.

Joran was her team’s No. 3 scorer with 29 goals throughout the season. She also achieved high success in the classroom, where she is an education major. This is not Joran’s first award this season, as she has been recognized on multiple occasions. Prior to the season’s start, Joran was named to the 2012 Preseason All-CAA women’s lacrosse team. During the offseason she was named to the Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Division I All-Region team, earned Second Team honors for the Mid-Atlantic Region, and was named to First Team All-Philly Division I for women’s lacrosse.

Serensits served as co-captain of the golf team in his senior season on the squad. He is one of six golfers in the area to receive the honor. The Allentown, Pa. native is majoring in business administration. After experiencing a season mixed with highs and lows, the veteran ultimately ended his career at the CAA Championships with 79, 78, and 79 for a final score of 236.

Kyle Frey places at 2012 ASICS

Redshirt senior Kyle Frey from Washington, N.J., had a successful outcome at the 2012 ASICS University National Championship held May 31 through June 3 at the University of Akron. Frey took eighth place at the competition, and his high level of play earned him the title of All-ASICS University Freestyle American.

Frey defeated some tough grapplers in the 120-kg weight class on his way to receiving the award. Frey took down the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Anthony Edgren. After beating Dan Scherer from Cardinal Wrestling Club, reigning 2012 NCAA National Heavyweight Champion Tony Nelson pinned Frey. With one loss on his belt, Frey proceeded to beat the University of Wisconsin’s Cole Tobin, the University of Pennsylvania’s Steve Graziano, and Iowa State University’s Tyler Swope. After falling in his last two contests, he still placed eighth and went home with a new title to add to his accolades.

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Senior defenseman Dana Wilber was named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-American third team May 24. His addition to the All-American team made 2012 the fifth out of the previous six years that a Dragon was named to the honorable roster. He joined Scott Perri, Mark Manos, Bruce Bickford, and Adam Crystal.

Despite the fact that the Drexel University’s men’s lacrosse team’s 2012 season ended in heartbreak May 5 at the hands of the University of Massachusetts in the Colonial Athletic Association Championship Game, the Dragons also experienced a final high note.

Senior defenseman Dana Wilber was named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association All-America third team on May 24. This also happens to be his first selection as an All-American. After receiving this honor, Wilber could hardly contain his delight.

“As a senior, you want your last year to be memorable. To be named an All-American by my peers is a huge honor and also creates a great memory,” he said.

Furthermore, his inclusion in the All-America team made 2012 the fifth year out of the last six that a Drexel men’s lacrosse player was named to the roster, joining the likes of attackman Scott Perri (2011), goalkeeper Mark Manos (2010 and 2011), goalkeeper Bruce Bickford (Honorable Mention, 2008), and defenseman Adam Crystal (Honorable Mention, 2007).

Wilber served as a de facto leader on defense for Drexel this past season, finishing second on the team in ground balls (31) and in forced turnovers (18). He also played a vital part in helping his team finish 12th  in the country in scoring defense, giving up a miniscule 8.75 goals per game.

Wilber said he believes that he couldn’t have earned such an honor without the efforts and support of his teammates.

“I would attribute essentially all of our success as a unit to our coaching staff and defensive system,” Wilber said. “Our coaches do a great job of developing the players and preparing them to play as a cohesive group, which essentially is the first step in creating a good defense.”

Despite receiving such considerable accolades, he feels that more recognition should have gone Drexel’s way with regard to the team’s stellar defensive performance this season.

“While it is a great honor to be an All-American, I believe that the entire defensive team wasn’t justly recognized,” Wilber said. “We had a strong collection of talent on the defensive end, and in order to be successful, you need every person to play well.”

Wilber’s four years at Drexel have coincided with the team’s success trajectory. In 2010 the Dragons achieved their highest final national ranking of No. 13, which saw them defeat the University of Notre Dame, a perennial powerhouse, for the first time in school history. Yet never in Wilber’s time at Drexel did the Dragons reach the NCAA Tournament, losing in the CAA semifinals in 2009 and 2010 to Towson University and the University of Delaware, respectively.

While his individual achievements and triumphs are impressive, Wilber wanted nothing more than to end his career with a greater and perhaps more collective accomplishment.

“The perfect cap to my Drexel career would have been to represent the University in the NCAA Tournament, but being named an All-American is a decent consolation prize.”

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Defending national champion UVA will attempt to clinch its fifth straight Final Four appearance and its 17th in the last 19 years against Notre Dame May 20 at noon. The matchup features two teams that beat the Dragons by one goal each earlier this season.

Taking the field after them for the second game of the day’s doubleheader will be a matchup between Colgate and Duke. Colgate earned the right to be on the field after  coming from behind to beat an undefeated University of Massachusetts team.

Fans who purchase tickets to the games can experience even more of the weekend’s action without any additional cost. Drexel, the official host university for the games, plans on making it a bigger showcase weekend for all lacrosse fans attending.

Ticketholders for the games will be allowed to enter the facility on Saturday by showing their ticket for Sunday to attend each team’s practice and autograph sessions. NCAA posters will be provided for those attending each autograph session, which will make players available for 20 minutes following their team’s practice.

Virginia will kick off the practice sessions with its 10 a.m. practice, followed by Colgate at 11:25 a.m., Notre Dame at 12:50 p.m. and Duke at 2:15 p.m.

Additionally, among Saturday’s festivities is a free youth lacrosse clinic for kids under the age of 15. There will be contests and prizes, and participants will also receive a lacrosse ball that they can use to get the autograph  of one of the collegiate players.

Extending the weekend’s festivities to include events beyond just the games is part of Drexel’s initiative to spread the school and athletic department’s branding, especially for young, prospective lacrosse players seeking to play at the collegiate level. Nick Gannon, Drexel’s deputy director of athletics, said the hope is to spread the Drexel branding and get local youth involved.

“It gets more kids aware of Drexel and Drexel sports programs as well as being a player [for recruiting students],” Gannon said. “It creates an awareness that this is a first-rate school and a first-rate athletic program.”

The 2012 Quarterfinals are just the beginning for Drexel’s presence in NCAA lacrosse. The University, in partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles, will host the 2013 NCAA Lacrosse Men’s Final Four at Lincoln Financial Field. This is a result of the NCAA’s current model, which allows the championship site to host the quarterfinals the year before hosting the big weekend. Drexel obtained this right after being selected by the NCAA men’s lacrosse committee, which decides the sites.

Gannon and the University encourage anyone interested in the sport, all Drexel students and all locals to attend the weekend’s festivities. They will be able to take pride in seeing Drexel in the national spotlight.

“They’ll be proud to see the scope of the event, bringing in four nationally ranked teams,” Gannon said. “It’s something to be proud of that Drexel can host an event of this nature and partner with professional organizations.”

Tickets for Sunday’s games are available for $22 at comcasttix.com or by calling 1-800-298-4200.

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Drexel seniors goalkeeper Mark Manos (7) and defender Dana Wilber (9) wait on the opposition during the Dragons 9-14 loss Feb. 28 at Villanova University. Manos and Wilber have won two of the last three Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year awards.

“We knew that UMass is a very talented team, and they have a very potent offense,” star goalkeeper Mark Manos said. “They are the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. We wanted to try and limit them inside and win the ground-ball battles, but unfortunately it just did not go our way.”

UMass kicked off the scoring with a goal just 58 seconds into play. That lead was short-lived, as Ryan Belka and Brendan Glynn each found the net to give Drexel an early 2-1 lead. Both teams swapped points for the remainder of the period, , but unfortunately for the men in Blue and Gold, the Minutemen found the net on an extra occasion, closing the period with a 4-3 lead.

Entering the second period, the Dragons were off and running. They scored two of the next three goals, bringing the game to a 5-5 tie. At this point it appeared as though the Minutemen switched it into high gear, as they went on a 5-0 run thanks to efforts from Kyle Smith, Art Kell and Ryan Hollenbaugh.

Within the final two minutes of the half, Glynn, who finished with three goals on the day, found the net for the Dragons, closing the half with a four-point deficit at 6-10.

“We never gave up,” Manos said. “At any point during the game, we could have just said it’s over and packed it in, but we kept fighting. The seniors did not want to go out this way, but we had to keep battling. … I give credit to everyone on this team. No one gave up, and everyone played their heart out.”

Even with strong defensive efforts from Drexel, UMass once again came out strong in the third, scoring three goals within the first five minutes of the period. At this point the Dragons needed a serious boost to keep themselves in the game. Moments later, on an unassisted opportunity, Andrew Vivian found the net for the Dragons, bringing the score to 7-13. The Dragons would only score one more for the period from Bergman, while the Minutemen would add another two to their total. The period closed with UMass holding a very comfortable 15-8 lead.

Even though the Dragons were trailing by a significant margin, they weren’t ready to throw in the towel. Within the first few minutes of the final period, Robert Church and Aaron Prosser each scored, tightening the score to 10-15. During the last minutes of play, the Dragons were struck with two penalties, giving UMass yet another opportunity to benefit from the situation. Though Drexel would find the net twice more in the contest, their efforts weren’t enough to take down the Minutemen, as the title game ended with an 18-12 score.

“No one in the world wanted to win that game more than the senior class, and it is unfortunate that we were not able to,” Manos said. “We fought hard in order to battle back from a slow start and make it all the way to the CAA Championship game. This class of seniors was extremely influential and instrumental in helping bring this team up to where it is today, and we want that legacy to be remembered and to continue with the underclassmen.”

Even though the Dragons suffered a tough loss, they still had a few standout players who received recognition for their efforts. Among those named to the All-Tournament team were Glynn, Bergman and Manos, who finished the contest with 11 saves.

At the end of the day, this is just one game in the grand scheme of the season, and as Manos pointed out, the legacy these seniors are leaving is the greatest gift they can give to the rising players. Moving forward, the underclassmen can benefit from these words of wisdom:

“You write your own chapter,” Manos said. “The underclassmen just need to understand and realize that you have to take control of your destiny out on the field, and I think that all of them see that this team is something very special, and they all have a huge role in writing the next chapter of Drexel lacrosse.”

The seniors will be dearly missed, but with the knowledge they leave behind, one can only hope that the underclassmen will do them justice as they continue on their journey to making the men’s lacrosse team the best it can be.

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Drexel senior defender Dana Wilber keeps his distance against a University of Notre Dame attackman during the Dragons 5-6 loss to the Irish at Vidas Field March 3.

It’s always great to go out on top. While the Drexel University men’s lacrosse team could not bring home the ultimate prize, the Colonial Athletic Association Championship, senior defenseman Dana Wilber just capped off his finest season to date.

To validate his efforts, Wilber was awarded the CAA Defensive Player of the Year award. Wilber’s superb performance this season has contributed to the Dragons’ No. 18 national ranking. The Dragons also have one of the best defenses both within the conference and throughout the country.

The Dragons’ schedule this season ranked as one of the most difficult in the nation. Holding opponents to under nine goals per game is no small feat, and the Dragons were able to accomplish that this season thanks largely to Wilber’s excellent play throughout the year.

Throughout the season, the Dragons’ defense held ranked opponents to subpar performances. Unfortunately, some of those results did not go the Dragons’ way. Drexel’s defense held then-No.1 University of Virginia to nine goals, then-No. 2 University of Massachusetts to eight goals, and No. 5 University of Notre Dame to six goals in admirable efforts. Wilber had strong performances in those losses to top-ranked opponents.

Overall, Wilber caused 18 turnovers and 30 ground balls, leading the Dragons for 2012.  One of the highlights of his season was holding Tewaaraton Trophy winner Steele Stanwick, the nation’s top lacrosse player, scoreless and without an assist in the Dragons’ one-goal loss to UVA.

Wilber capped off his season by helping the Dragons to make a run to the CAA Championship final, where they lost to UMass. Wilber may not have won the title that he and his teammates wanted the most, but he was still recognized for his outstanding defensive efforts with this honor. As a result, he will go out on top this year as the best defenseman in the CAA.

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Drexel junior attackman Robert Church shoots one bye Villanova University goalkeeper Dan Gutierrez. Church scored one goal and two assists in the 9-14 loss to the Wildcats at Villanova Feb. 28. Church on the season leads the Dragons with 24 goals and 42 points.

Coming off clinching a spot in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament after a 13-5 trouncing of Towson University April 21, the Drexel men’s lacrosse team looked to continue its four-year winning streak on Senior Day April 28 against St. John’s University.

The Dragons said goodbye to seniors Kevin Stockel, Mark Manos, Dana Wilber, Andrew Collins, Chris Farquhar, Max Crockett, Frank Tufano, Brian Teuber and Kyle Bergman. Although Senior Day is known as a ceremonial day to honor the grizzled veterans, the lacrosse team seniors are more focused on the game than the celebration.

“It’s nice to be recognized for making it through four to five years of lacrosse here, but that’s expected,” Bergman said. “I know me and the other seniors aren’t too into the ceremonial aspect of senior day — we just want to play — but our mothers like it, and so we’re happy to do it, and we do it with a smile on our faces because, well, we love our mothers.”

The Dragons got off to a fast start against St. John’s. Goals by Bergman, junior attackman Brendan Glynn and sophomore Ben McIntosh gave the Dragons a 3-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of the first period. The Red Storm’s Kevin Cernuto scored a pretty goal at the 7:13 mark to close the gap in the score. After a stretch of time where St. John’s controlled the play, Drexel junior attackman Robert Church managed to score another goal with just 14 seconds remaining in the first period.

The second period was dominated by St. John’s. The Red Storm controlled the play for most of the period, holding the Dragons to only three shots. However, Manos stood tall by only allowing two goals on 10 shots. The Dragons managed to escape the period with limited damage and took a 4-3 lead into halftime.

St. John’s started the third period with a man up and scored a goal on the advantage just 18 seconds into the period. The Dragons grabbed the lead back at the 12-minute mark with a goal from redshirt-freshman attackman Andrew Vivian. Less than two minutes later, the Red Storm scored a goal to tie the game up. Church then scored two goals in a row to complete a hat trick and give Drexel the 7-5 lead. After the Dragons’ goals, The Red Storm scored two goals in a row to end the third period in a 7-7 tie.

The fourth period proved to be a wild one. The Red Storm came out strong, scoring the first two goals, which gave them a 9-7 lead. Soon after the St. John’s goals, the Dragons started their own comeback. Bergman scored an amazing cross-body opposite-side goal at the 9:01 mark to start things off. Under a minute later, junior Aaron Prosser scored another pretty goal over the goalie’s shoulder to tie the game. Glynn finished off the comeback with his second goal of the game. Manos had some big saves for the rest of the game to preserve the lead while the Red Storm attacked relentlessly. Drexel’s defense came up big, limiting St. John’s quality chances, closing the door on the 10-9 victory.

A combination of timely goals and strong defense won this game for the Dragons. Head coach Brian Voelker praised the team for the hard work and drive to orchestrate the comeback.

“It was nice to finish the regular season with a win and great to get a win on Senior Day,” Voelker said. “I don’t think it was our sharpest game, but we played hard and got the W. It was good that we showed composure in the fourth quarter. We got some big goals and key stops on defense.”

Church led the team with three assists and six points while Glynn had two goals and three points.

Manos made 13 saves in the game, most of which were game-saving.

“He plays the most important position on the field and plays it well,” Voelker said. “Our team has a ton of confidence in him, and they know he’ll make big plays when it counts. … Mark really shut the door in the fourth quarter.”

The Dragons then faced The Pennsylvania State University May 2 in the first game of the CAA Tournament. Before the game, Voelker noted that the comeback win against St. John’s might give them a boost against PSU.

“I hope the game gives us some confidence,” Voelker said. “We know we can play with anyone in the country. Penn State has had a great year, but I know we’re looking forward to playing them tomorrow.”

He was right about that, as McIntosh scored the first goal of the game for the Dragons. The game would prove to be a back-and-forth affair with the Dragons eventually prevailing with the upset.

Just over one minute later, the Nittany Lions scored their first goal of the game. They scored three more consecutive goals going into the second period.

The game shifted back into Drexel’s favor in the second period with three consecutive goals by Glynn, Prosser and freshman midfielder Ryan Belka, tying the game at 4-4. At 4:29, Penn State capitalized on being a man up and scored to take a short-lived 5-4 lead. The Dragons came right back to tie the game with a goal by Church. PSU scored one more goal in the half, ending the first with a 6-5 lead.

The Dragons opened the second half with four straight goals to take a 9-6 lead. Penn State answered with two goals to close the deficit to one, but Church managed to score with 26 seconds remaining in the third period to give the Dragons a two-goal lead going into the fourth period.

The fourth period started with a pair of PSU goals. The Dragons answered back with a goal of their own, but the Nittany Lions scored again to tie the game at 11 with 4:50 remaining in the game. Glynn broke the tie for Drexel with 2:36 remaining in the game. The Dragons scored one more insurance goal to solidify the 13-11 postseason win.

With the win, the Dragons will face the top-seeded University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Mass. May 5.

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Freshman Nick Saputo raced past a pack of Bucknell University defenders to retrieve a ground ball at Vidas Field. Saputo recorded tournament on page 13 two ground balls in the Dragons 11-12 loss March 12.

It was neck-and-neck early in the contest, with Drexel leading 2-1 at the end of the first quarter. The Dragons can attribute their early lead to goals from Brendan Glynn and Aaron Prosser. The only Tiger to put one past Drexel goalie Mark Manos in the first was Matt Lamon.

Entering the second, the Dragons knew they had to expand their early lead in order to get a jump on Towson. Thanks to Robert Church, Ryan Belka and Ben McIntosh, Drexel more than doubled its score and expanded the lead to 5-1.

With under 10 minutes remaining in the half, the Tigers began their prowl and started playing more aggressively. The Dragons held them off for the most part and even managed to add one more on the scoreboard, but Towson started taking consistent shots and cut the deficit to within two goals. During the final five minutes of the half, the Tigers had two different man-up opportunities but couldn’t take advantage of them. The teams went to their locker rooms with Drexel leading 6-4.

“Throughout the first half we knew we were much better than Towson, and we were making stupid mistakes that stopped us from pulling away,” freshman and CAA Rookie of the Week Nick Saputo said. “After halftime we reorganized and fixed those mistakes, giving ourselves the opportunity to pull away like we did.”

The Tigers should have stayed in the locker room for the second half instead of facing the Dragons’ fire and getting burned as badly as they did.

Out of the gate, Glynn put one on the board, followed by one from Towson’s Andrew Hodgson, whose goal would prove to be the Tigers’ last for the game. The Dragons, on the other hand, were just getting started. With six more goals scored by five Drexel players, the Dragons put the kibosh on any skepticism and claimed themselves a well-deserved spot in the CAA playoffs by taking down Towson 13-5.

This win was momentous for the men’s lacrosse team as a whole and especially so for Saputo.

“Being named Rookie of the Week was an honor, and I was ecstatic to have been recognized for the game [against Towson],” Saputo proudly said. “It is the first type of recognition I have received in my college career, and it is one I will always remember.”

Saputo’s high level of play and success on the field couldn’t have come at a better time. During the team’s do-or-die competition against Towson, Saputo used his faceoff skills to win seven of his eight draws, all of which came during the second-half surge.

“The entire team and myself did our best to stay as focused as possible because losing the game could cause us to lose our spot in the CAA playoffs,” Saputo said. “That just made every type of preparation, from mindset right before the game to practices that week, twice as important.”

Apparently the hard work paid off because after his impressive showing against Towson, Saputo’s faceoff–win percentage pumped up to 60 percent for the season. As a whole, the novice has won 27 faceoffs in 45 attempts — above .500 is a very respectable and promising percentage for the newbie on the team.

It’s hoped that Saputo and his teammates can have a memorable Senior Day April 28 against St. John’s University for the last home game of the regular season and, more importantly, earn an early win against The Pennsylvania State University May 2 at State College, Pa. during the CAA Tournament.

“Everyone on the team is more confident than ever in being able to take down PSU this time; losing is not an option,” Saputo said. “A CAA championship is the goal, and it starts with beating PSU.”

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It is ironic in sports that the players who win individual awards are usually the most modest; these two Drexel Athletes of the Week are no different.

Junior women’s lacrosse attacker Kelli Joran and senior men’s lacrosse midfielder Kyle Bergman led their respective teams to vital victories this week and have each humbly received the award for the week of April 23.

“To be named Drexel Athlete of the Week is a great honor,” Joran said. “I really feel that a lot of people on our team could have won this award because everyone played great last weekend.”

Bergman built upon that thought.

“Being named athlete of the week is an honor, but the win on Saturday was a team effort,” Bergman said. “Individual awards are nice, but I play lacrosse to win games and to try and help this team win the Colonial Athletic Association.”

Joran, a third-year player from Downingtown, Pa., scored three goals and won three draw controls April 20 against The College of William & Mary. She tied the game at 10-10 with an unassisted goal just 27 seconds before the final buzzer.

With only 11 seconds remaining in overtime, Joran notched the game-winning goal, her 27th of the season, to go along with four assists. Her 31 points this season eclipse last year’s mark of 30, her previous career high.

“Kelli has stepped up big for us in conference play,” head coach Anna Marie Vesco said. “She has peaked at the perfect time as we approached the playoffs and is determined to help our team succeed.”

In Drexel’s 10-4 victory April 22 against Old Dominion University, Joran notched a goal and an assist to help end the regular season with a bang. With the win, the Dragons improved to an 11-5 overall record and clinched the No. 4 seed in the upcoming CAA Tournament.

The Dragons will play top-seeded Towson University April 27 in the first round, a team that defeated them April 15 in a heartbreaker at Vidas Field. Down 9-5 with 20 minutes remaining, the Tigers scored six of the next seven goals, including the game-winner with just 29 seconds remaining, to stun Drexel.

“Our loss to Towson was the toughest loss we had all season,” Joran said. “It will give us even more motivation to win this weekend, and if we play our best, I know we can knock them out of the CAA Tournament.”

The highly touted Drexel men’s lacrosse team has been knocked down quite a few times this season, but after every tough loss, co-captain Kyle Bergman and the other team leaders have picked the Dragons back up.

After a disappointing loss to the No. 2 University of Massachusetts April 14, the Dragons faced Towson for the final conference matchup of the season. Bergman, originally from Toronto, notched two goals and two assists as Drexel defeated the Tigers by a score of 13-5 to clinch a spot in the upcoming CAA Tournament.

“The amazing feeling of winning and the frustrating feeling of losing have changed me for the better,” Bergman explained. “No matter what position my teammates and I have found ourselves in, believing in each other and playing together has been the key to our success.”

Drexel will wrap up its season April 28 at Vidas Field against St. John’s University, which will be Senior Day for Bergman and eight others. Although they enter their final game with a 6-7 overall record, the Dragons still expect big things from the remainder of the season.

“We’re looking forward to a solid all-around performance against St. John’s,” Bergman said. “This Saturday is a great opportunity for us to fire on all cylinders and build confidence as we head into the playoffs.”

As a senior, Bergman now has time to reflect on his Drexel career, which includes CAA All-Rookie honors as a freshman, being named Second Team All-CAA, and a total of 55 goals and 37 assists. He has 14 goals and 13 assists so far this season, tied for second on the team with 27 points.

“There are so many things that I’ll remember about my career here at Drexel,” Bergman recalled. “It’s been an incredible experience, and I’ve been really lucky to play in a program with a bunch of great guys.”

Joran and Bergman will both be playing large parts in their teams’ upcoming CAA playoffs and, according to these accolades, will welcome the challenges.

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Drexel senior midfielder Kyle Bergman carries the ball across the midfield line during the Dragons’ 11-12 loss to Bucknell University at Vidas Field March 13 as Bucknell sophomore midfielder Sam McDonough defends. Bergman scored two goals on eight shots, four of which were on net. For the season to this point, Bergman is second on the team with 15 goals and 24 points.

“There’s no real difference in losing by one or two,” head men’s lacrosse coach Brian Voelker said.

During the game’s first 12 minutes, each team was on the defensive prowl, protecting its goalie with everything it had. Neither team was able to put one in the net until Drexel sophomore Ben McIntosh shot a bullet past UMass star goalie Tim McCormick.

Less than a minute later, Aaron Prosser quickly got into scoring position to score a goal, giving the Dragons an early 2-0 lead. Due to strong defensive efforts, Drexel managed to hold onto its lead until midway through the second quarter, when the Minutemen’s Steve D’Amario managed to slide one into goalie Mark Manos’ cage.

“Our defense played a very good game,” Voelker commented. “[But] the University of Massachusetts is very talented on the offensive end.”

The Minutemen (11-0, 4-0 CAA) would continue to show their stick skills on offense, as they added another goal to tie the score at 2-2. The tied score is attributed to Will Manny, the nation’s leading point man, who would finish the contest with one goal and one assist for the day.

Before heading to the locker rooms, each team would score one more, finishing the half with a tied score at three apiece.

Heading into the third, the Minutemen scored one right off the bat, taking the lead for the first time in the contest. This goal would prove to be the first and only for the third quarter.

Entering into the fourth, the Dragons had a goal of their own, ending the stalemate that had so characterized the first three quarters.

With nearly seven minutes remaining in the fourth, Massachusetts’ Colin Fleming put another one past Manos, giving his team a 5-4 lead, which the team would maintain and expand throughout the duration of play. One minute later, teammate Steve D’Amario added a goal, giving Massachusetts the greatest lead of the game at 6-4.

During the ending moments of the game, Kevin Stockel took a shot, missed, picked up his rebound and scored, bringing the Dragons within one point with less than two minutes left to play.

After the Minutemen took possession on the next faceoff, the Dragons were forced to press and take Manos out of goal. He finished the day with eight saves. With a wide-open net, the fifth-best scoring team in the nation was able to add two more goals over the span of one minute. Drexel freshman Nick Saputo added one more goal for the Dragons.

“It was a back-and-forth game,” Voelker said. “We had opportunities to win the game but didn’t get it done. We needed to be better on offense to win. We had some great looks at the goal but really shot poorly. We also had a few breakdowns on defense that could have been avoided.”

After the contest, UMass remains undefeated for the season and is set to take on Hofstra University April 21.

Even with two consecutive tough conference losses, the Dragons hope to bounce back with a big win against Towson University April 21. This is not only the last conference game of the year, but it also determines whether or not Drexel makes it past the regular season.

“We win the game and we’re in the Colonial Athletic Association playoffs,” Voelker said. “We control our destiny.”

Last season the Dragons defeated Towson 13-9. With an already solid defense and a potentially dominating offense, the Dragons have all the tools they need to make it to the playoffs. All they have to do is go out there and win.

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Drexel men’s lacrosse senior midfielder Kyler Bergman cradles the ball in the pocket of his stick as he carries it up the field during the dragons 9-14 loss at Villanova University Feb. 28. Bergman scored one goal and had four assists, amassing five points on the night.

The Drexel University men’s lacrosse team suffered its first Colonial Athletic Association loss of the 2011-12 season when the No. 16 Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions defeated the Dragons 10-9 April 7 at Vidas Field.

This was the fifth one-goal loss the Dragons have experienced this season.

“The one-goal games are driving me crazy,” head men’s lacrosse coach Brian Voelker said. “All of our losses are to ranked teams, and five of the six [losses this season] are by a goal.”

The Dragons began the competition with a commanding offense and an effective defense. Though Penn State earned the first goal, offensive powerhouses Kyle Bergman, Brendan Glynn and Aaron Prosser managed to score one goal each to put the Dragons ahead 3-1. The first quarter ended shortly after PSU’s Matthew Mackrides, who finished with three points for the day, put one more on the board for his team— closing the first with the Dragons ahead 3-2.

With a close score looming over their heads, the Dragons kicked it into high gear. With efforts from the defensive players, the Dragons prevented the Nittany Lions from reaching the net for nearly 15 minutes. With a solid defensive wall, Glynn and Robert Church took advantage of the situation and gave their team some breathing room with a 5-2 lead. The half closed with one more Penn State goal, bringing the score to 5-3.

To kick off the third, Drexel’s Ryan Belka and T.J. Foley scored back-to-back goals and expanded their lead to 7-3, the largest of the competition. Unfortunately, that is when the tide started to turn in favor of the Nittany Lions — Penn State proceeded to score five goals in a row, four of which came in the third period.

“We knew they would make a run [in the third], but we were able to regain the lead in the fourth,” Voelker said. “Then we made some bad plays [and] decisions clearing the ball and gave them a bunch of second-chance goals.”

After Penn State’s Nick Dolik gave his team the lead for the first time since early in the opening quarter, Prosser responded with a goal for the Dragons, tying the score at 8-8.

Church then took the lead and put the last point on the board for the Dragons with just under 10 minutes left in play. From that point on, the Navy and White dominated the field. Scoring two goals within the final six minutes of play, the Nittany Lions pushed ahead and snagged the one-goal win.

“It came down to us not clearing the ball after getting stops in the fourth quarter,” Voelker said. “They scored two goals in the fourth when we played great defense but couldn’t clear — I’d say that was the difference in the game.”

With the fresh loss to PSU, the Dragons’ overall record has fallen to 5-6 (3-1 CAA). These losses haven’t been easy to swallow for the team and have left a bad taste in the mouths of the players and coaches.

“There’s a lot of reasons why we’re 5-6 right now,” Voelker said. “We’ve made some mistakes, we’ve caught a few bad breaks, we’re missing a really important player at attack, [and] we’re playing a really tough schedule.

“The bottom line is we haven’t made enough plays to win these games. But the team has a great attitude, and we’re working to get it done. We’ve proven we can play with anyone. Now we have to go out and get the Ws.”

Even though the Dragons fell to Penn State, Mark Manos held his own in the overly anticipated battle of the goalies. Going up against fellow nationally ranked goaltender Austin Kaut, Manos finished with 10 saves for the day while Kaut had nine.

“Mark played well,” Voelker said. “He made some big saves.”

Another player who really stepped up to the plate was Church. He managed to score his 78th career goal, which has bumped him up to 16th place on Drexel’s all-time scoring list.

Next, the Dragons are set to take on the No. 2 University of Massachusetts.

“We need to play a great game on Saturday,” Voelker said. “Towson is also playing well and is a huge conference rival. If we win one of the next two, we’re in the CAA playoffs. If we win both, we have a good chance at being the No. 1 seed.”

Drexel faces the Minutemen April 14 on UMass turf, and as Voelker put it, “Our destiny is in our hands.”

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Senior goalie Mark Manos stands and defends the net. Manos was honored, along with senior tennis player Sonja Stosic, by being named Drexel’s Athletes of the week.

Manos, goalkeeper of the men’s lacrosse team, shone in the team’s 11-8 victory at the University of Delaware March 31. He helped his team improve to 3-0 in Colonial Athletic Association play by saving a season-high 15 shots. It was the third consecutive victory for the Dragons, as they climbed back to .500 for the season following a disappointing 2-5 start.

Manos views this recognition as a substantial accomplishment, as he was up against Drexel’s mass pool of athletes for the title.

“It is a great honor to be named player of the week,” Manos said. “There are a tremendous amount of great athletes at Drexel, and I am extremely honored to be chosen.”

Just like Manos, Stosic is among the group of talented athletes at Drexel. The senior tennis star won her final home matches against St. Peter’s March 31.

Teaming up with Zeynep Mafa in a doubles match, Stosic contributed to an 8-1 match victory. She also took her final match 6-0, 6-3, earning her first singles point while playing in the No. 1 spot.

The fact that it was her final home match made it extra special.

“I’m happy about it since it was my senior day,” Stosic commented.

Both the women’s tennis team and the men’s lacrosse team continue to make hard charges toward the finish and their respective CAA championships.

“We’ve had some really good wins, playing some really good tennis,” Stosic said.

Both players were appreciative of their teammates’ play around them and cited it as a big reason for their recent success.

“I think we’re really playing together; we’re covering for each other,” Stosic explained. “I’m pretty happy now about how we’re playing together.”

Manos, too, has been supported by his teammates on the field, specifically the defensive unit around him.

“We had been playing great team defense, and the guys in front of me: Dana [Wilber], Brian [Teuber], Matt [Dusek], Jason [Klunder], Drew [Collins], Garrett [McIntosh] and Chris [Walsh] were making them take shots that I was able to see and stare down and make saves,” Manos said. “I cannot give them enough credit.”

That type of play will need to persist in order for the men’s lacrosse team to finish the season on a high note.

“We need to continue to play well in order to take this team to the CAA Championship,” Manos said.

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Senior defender Dana Wilber readies himself for an attacker against Villanova Feb. 28. Wilber had one penalty in the game. The Dragons will face No. 15 penn State April 7.

Both games were off to a rocky start for the Dragons. Drexel came back from significant deficits in both games, at one point trailing Hofstra and Delaware 4-0 and 3-0, respectively. Nevertheless, they shrugged off those slow starts and came back admirably to win on both occasions.

The Hofstra result was notable in the sense that it came against a top-20 team. After the first quarter, in which they were down 4-0, they slowly but surely chipped away at the Hofstra advantage. A goal by senior midfielder Kyle Bergman with 1:11 in the second quarter made it a 4-1 game heading into the third. Junior attacker Robert Church made it 4-2 early on in the second, but Hofstra answered with a goal from freshman attacker Tyler Begley eight minutes later and increased the Hofstra lead to 5-2. Hofstra would not score again and would only muster six shots in the final quarter as Drexel began its comeback. Four consecutive goals from Church, redshirt freshman attacker Andrew Vivian, sophomore midfielder Deven Thomas and senior defenseman Dana Wilber capped off a spirited late effort by Drexel.

A week later, Drexel had a similar display against rival Delaware.

“Delaware is struggling this year, but they beat us three times last year,” head men’s lacrosse coach Brian Voelker said. “We did what he had to do, though.”.

Voelker’s words were spot on, even if they didn’t come into fruition until late in the game.

Within the space of nearly a minute and half in the first quarter, Delaware scored three goals. Undeterred, junior attacker Brendan Glynn scored with 2:01 left in the quarter to give the Dragons some momentum heading into the second. Drexel took the opportunity and made the most of it. They outscored the Blue Hens 10-5 the rest of the way, dropping Delaware to a 3-7 overall record and an 0-3 record in the CAA.

During this season so far, Drexel has faced some formidable tests. Such include close losses to four top-20 teams in the No.1 University of Virginia, No. 6 Notre Dame, No.13 Bucknell University, and No.18 Villanova University. Three of those defeats came by only one goal, with the lone exception being a 14-9 loss to Bucknell March 13.

This Saturday, April 7, presents another stiff challenge for Drexel, as No. 15 Penn State University comes to Vidas Field. As has been the case for the majority of the season, Drexel will be without the services of junior attacker Nick Trizano, who has missed the majority of the season with a hamstring injury. The loss of Trizano on the field has been significant, to say the least. He scored 19 goals last season and dished out five assists as well, being a large factor behind Drexel’s 11.29 goals-scored-per-game average last season. This year, however, the offense has taken a hit, as they are only averaging 8.80 goals scored per game.

“We’re a little disappointed not to be scoring more goals. We weren’t shooting really well,” Voelker commented. “We counted on Trizano to be the quarterback of the offense, but him being hurt has changed things.”

The Nittany Lions present a very tough game for the Dragons, something that Voelker is very aware of.

“They’re a good team all over. The first thing they are talking about is their goalie. He makes big saves, starts transition offense opportunities [and so on],” Voelker said. “Their attackers are very good, as well. Seniors No. 10 Matthew Mackrides, No. 9 Jack Forester and sophomore No. 3 Shane Sturgis are all having good seasons. They have some athletes in the midfield. They had a big win against Notre Dame and really beat up on Villanova.”

Unlike the last two games, the hope is that the Dragons start out well, especially due to the offensive prowess of their opponent.

“We went down 4-0 and 3-0 the last two games,” Voelker said. “Last year we got a big lead against Penn State and held on for a one-point lead. We’re going to have to play a complete game to get the win on Saturday.”

After a season of ups and downs, the men’s team hopes to pull it together and come out with big wins for the remainder of the season.

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Junior attackman Brendan Glynn passes the ball. In the Dragons’ most recent game against Bucknell Glynn had one assist, four shots and four ground balls.

Drexel’s men’s lacrosse team is quickly digging itself into a big hole. While on the way down, the team is finding out there are multiple ways to lose a lacrosse game. No matter how frequent, the ultimate deficit ends up being one.

The team dropped two more one-goal games last week, bringing its record to 2-5 for this thus far disappointing season. Each of the two games were uniquely frustrating, despite the losses coming in two different ways.

On the road against Bryant University March 10, the Dragons fell 7-6 after blowing a five-goal lead. Getting on the board within the game’s first five seconds on a Robert Church goal, Drexel went up 4-0 about 12 minutes into the game when Nick Trizano scored his third goal of the year. Kyle Bergman’s fifth goal of the year marked the Dragons’ first of the half, thus producing the comfortable lead.

That lead would last for much of the third, but it quickly went from a comfortable one to a tight one. This, after the Bulldogs scored three goals in about a one-minute span, started with roughly 2 1/2 minutes left. The last of the three quick goals came on the man advantage from Max Weisenberg’s stick.

After scoring only one goal in the last 35 minutes, Drexel made it a three-goal game again when Church assisted Brandon Glynn for his second goal of the game.

Alex Zomerfeld started the Bryant comeback when he set up Weisenberg with his second assist. Zomerfeld then scored one of his own to tie the game. To cap his scoring off, as well as the game’s scoring, he completed the comeback with the game-winning goal with 5:25 remaining.

Drexel was unable to capitalize on the man advantage it had, but Bryant goaltender Jameson Love kept them out of the net and behind in the game. He again kept the ball out of the net in the game’s final possession, a last-second attempt by the Dragons, to protect the lead.

Bringing a halt to the offensive production, while opening the floodgates on defense, Drexel just stopped making plays.

“We just didn’t make enough plays to win,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “We played well on offense for the first quarter but not the rest of the game. We played great on [defense] until the end of the third then couldn’t get stops.”

One of the keys to the game? According to Voelker, they did not win enough faceoffs. That was especially the case in the second half, when Bryant took eight of the draws.

Drexel’s sluggish play continued into its next game. Playing against Bucknell University March 13 at Vidas Field, the Dragons this time were the ones in the 4-0 hole. Nick Gantsoudes scored each of the Bison’s first two goals, both unassisted.

Nearly 10 minutes into the game, Aaron Prosser got Drexel on the board. Bucknell led 5-2 at the end of the first quarter, and Drexel was able to tie things up going into halftime. Ben McIntosh had two of the Dragons’ goals that period, bringing his total on the season up to six.

In what ended up being the difference, the Bison scored three goals in the third quarter, compared to Drexel’s two. Chase Bailey and Billy Eisenreich had two points that quarter, each chipping in with both a goal and an assist.

In the final 90 minutes, Drexel got back to work, trailing by three. They would only get two of those back, the last of which came on Prosser’s third goal of the contest.

Again, they would come up short. The game played out almost conversely as the Bryant game.

“Almost the opposite of Bryant,” Voelker said. “We started slow. Our [defense] struggled, especially early.”

But again, it was a one-goal loss. Four of their five losses have resulted in them coming up one goal short. Why do they keep coming up short?

“Those teams made the plays, and we didn’t,” Voelker explained. “We’ve had opportunities but haven’t capitalized. We’ve generated a lot of shots but haven’t buried them.”

They’ve come close to burying teams, like the multiple leads they held against the University of Virginia, and most recently against Bryant. Despite the deflating feelings of blowing leads and coming up short, the Dragons are still confident in their chances to win.

“We know we’re capable of beating good teams, now we have to go do it,” Voelker declared.

Their first chance to “go do it” will be March 17, when they head south toe Emmitsburg, Md. to take on Mount St. Mary’s University at “The Mount.”

The Dragons will look to continue to bring their effort and play a complete game.

“We’re all upset at our record, but the guys are sticking together and working hard,” Voelker said. “We didn’t win [Wednesday], but we fought to the end. If we keep up that kind of effort, things will work out.”

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The Dragons take the ball down the field during their contest against the Villanova University Wildcats Feb. 28. Although the Dragons put up a good fight by coming back from a 6-0 deficit, Drexel ultimately fell short to the Wildcats 14-9. Even so, the Dragons won their first Colonial Athletic Association game against St. Joseph’s University 8-4 March 6.

Well, the Dragons are embracing their top-tier competition, such as the No. 1 University of Virginia and No. 7 University of Notre Dame, and playing them very stiff, essentially giving the NCAA something to think about.

Not only is Drexel doing well, but the entire Colonial Athletic Association is succeeding, with four of its seven teams ranked in the top 20 — the Dragons are just outside that at No. 22.

“There are a lot of good teams,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “There are teams that, at the end of the year, are going to be ranked really high. There are going to be teams that have really good records and have good tournament resumes. … When we get into the league, you gotta take it one at a time, you gotta get wins, gotta get into that league tournament and gotta do everything you can to win that league.”

Of late, the Dragons have played some stiff competition. Coming off a tough loss at current No. 12 Villanova University, Drexel headed straight into a home contest against the Fighting Irish, whom the Dragons have played tough the last few seasons, beginning with their overtime upset on Vidas Field just three years ago.

Heading into the game at Vidas Field March 3, the Dragons were ranked No. 18 and the Irish No. 9. The Dragons played the game with some outstanding defense but ultimately were not able to create the necessary offensive production and fell short to Notre Dame 5-6.

The loss was the Dragons’ third to a top-10 team this season; the others were Virginia and Villanova.

“Obviously we’ve had a lot of close ones with some really good teams — Virginia and Notre Dame — but the bottom line is those guys played better than us, and those guys won the games and we didn’t,” Voelker said.

The game did start off fast for the Dragons, as junior midfielder Aaron Prosser put two goals past Notre Dame junior goalie John Kemp. Stout defense and strong play by senior goalie Mark Manos held the Dragons stiff, giving them a 2-1 lead heading into the break.

“I was happy with the way we played defensively,” Voelker said. “I thought we could’ve done some things a little bit better on that end. But it was a good day.”

Unfortunately for Drexel, their defense was unable to match the offense, as the Irish put up a four-goal third quarter and added another in the fourth — five total — but the Dragons were only able to muster three more.

A huge missed opportunity for the Dragons came with a minute remaining. Drexel had the man-advantage and an opportunity to tie the score and send the game to overtime in what was mostly a defensive struggle. The Irish neutralized the threat, though, as they did not allow a Drexel shot during the man-advantage, sealing the Dragons’ fate.

“[Notre Dame is] very talented defensively, but I thought we had some opportunities, but their goalie made some saves,” Voelker said. “They caught some breaks, and they made some breaks and we didn’t, so you give those guys credit — they won the game. I think we had some chances, but we didn’t do what it took.”

Voelker went on to talk about how he, his coaches and his players took a step back and looked at this one-goal loss. He said that he hoped everyone on the team would be able to think of something they could have done better in order to earn the victory.

“Again, it’s good in some ways to know that we can hang with a team like Virginia or we can hang with a team like Notre Dame,” Voelker continued. “Now our job is to figure out how to get those wins because we’ve had the opportunities.”

The Dragons had to forget about that tough loss quickly, as they were preparing for their first conference game of the season against St. Joseph’s University.

Drexel was able to bounce back in a big way, topping the Hawks 8-4 at St. Joe’s March 6. The Dragons were led by a very balanced scoring attack — a theme on the season — and earned their second victory on this young year.

“It’s not one guy that we’re focusing on, and I think as a team that’s better,” Voelker said. “It’s better to be able to share the ball and have people step up and do it. I think Aaron Prosser has played really well the last couple of games and has looked good.

“I think we’re waiting for that next guy to step up, and we’re not really sure who it’s going to be this weekend, but it’d be great if you could have five or six or seven guys on [the offensive] end kind of spread things out and do it as a team, and that’s really our philosophy.”

Prosser, along with junior attackman Robert Church, scored two goals on the game. Church added two assists as well, and junior attackman Brendan Glynn added a goal and an assist. Glynn also added another statistic, taking a game-high 13 shots.

“If you look at the stats and you look at the game, our kids did a good job,” Voelker said. “We really controlled the ball. We controlled the middle of field, and we took a ton of shots.”

Throughout the entire game, the Dragons put hard pressure on the Hawks, but they still headed into the half tied at two apiece.

“We hit a bunch of pipes. We kept the pressure on them, and things just didn’t fall,” Voelker said. “Our kids kept working at it — it was a little bit frustrating — but we just kept working and kept working. I thought we did a really great job defensively the whole game.”

Another standout for the game was sophomore faceoff man Deven Thomas, who won 11 of the game’s 15 faceoffs, helping the Dragons to control the pace of the game by keeping the possession arrow pointed in Drexel’s direction.

“Devin did a great job at the faceoff getting us possessions, and we just kind of kept plugging away and plugging away against a team that played really hard, and things started to fall for us,” Voelker said.

With the win, the Dragons moved into first place in the CAA, albeit with a 1-0 conference record. The start in the CAA is a good one for the Dragons on this young season, as they will be facing stiff competition all year.

Drexel will hit the out-of-conference schedule a couple more times coming up, starting with games against Bryant University March 10 and Bucknell University March 13.

The Bulldogs will be a tough matchup for Drexel, as they are another team with a quality netminder. The game between these two teams last season was a classic, as the Dragons took the matchup 8-7 at Vidas Field in a four-overtime struggle.

Drexel will be welcoming back junior attackman Nick Trizano soon, and he will help balance an unpredictable Drexel attack, which has thus far been unable to put together a solid effort on defense and offense in the same game. Voelker feels his team will be able to start putting it together on both ends, and that will lead to more wins.

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Freshman midfielder Ryan Belka gets ready to make a play against No. 8 Villanova University. The Dragons lost to Villanova 9-14 but beat Albany 13-8.

The Drexel men’s lacrosse team has faced a strong lineup of competitors to start the season.

After falling to the No. 1 University of Virginia in their opener, the Dragons bounced back with a huge win over the State University of New York at Albany Feb. 25 followed by a tough loss against No. 8 Villanova University Feb. 28.

Thanks to the efforts of Robert Church and Kyle Bergman, Drexel took an early 2-0 lead against Albany. That was short-lived, as the Dragons let the Great Danes snag four of the next five goals, putting Albany ahead 4-3.

The duo of Church and Bergman once again scored back-to-back goals, taking the lead back for their team. As the first half came to a close, Albany found the net once, followed by Church scoring a goal moments later. Brendan Glynn also scored with just 21 seconds remaining to send the teams to the locker room with Drexel ahead 7-5.

The final two periods were filled with Dragon domination. After a close score of 8-7 early in the third, Drexel kicked it into high gear and ran away with a lead that was too much for the Great Danes to handle.

With key contributions from players such as Church, who finished with five goals, and goalie Mark Manos, who had 14 saves, the Dragons walked away with their first win of the season, 13-8.

“We had to go up there and get our first win,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “It was a little helter-skelter, but we did get the win, and that’s what we really focused on.”

The contest against Villanova was another story. Drexel got off to a rough start and had a hard time climbing out of the hole they dug for themselves. Within the first five minutes of play, the Wildcats scored six goals, and outshot the Dragons 12-7 in the first quarter alone.

“I give our guys a lot of credit — we were down 6-0 and fought and fought and fought,” Voelker said. “But especially against a team this good, you can’t put yourself in that kind of hole.”

Moving into the second, Drexel had to make fast moves toward the goal. With efforts from Church, Glynn, Bergman and Ryan Belka, the Dragons managed to bring their team within two points of the Wildcats at 5-7.

After Villanova sneaked another goal past Manos, the teams closed the half with the Wildcats ahead 8-5.

Entering the third, Nova translated a two-man advantage into a 10-5 lead. For the rest of the quarter, the Wildcats would score one while Aaron Prosser and Bergman would each put one on the board for the Dragons.

Even with valiant efforts in the fourth from the Dragons, Villanova kept charging the net and coming away with goals. After a defensively sloppy performance against an extremely talented team, the Dragons took their second loss of the season 14-9.

“We have to play better defensively, and we have to stop making big mistakes,” Voelker said. “The bottom line is when you play good teams and you make mistakes, they are going to make you pay for it — and Villanova made us pay for it tonight.”

Both teams finished the contest with 35 shots on goal, while Manos ended with 10 saves for the evening. This brought Villanova to 3-0 for the season, while the Dragons fell to 1-2.

The Dragons will need to be on point in order to take down their third top-10 opponent of the season in order to reach .500.

“We have to play better than we played tonight. We have to start the game off properly, and we have to get ground balls,” Voelker said. “I felt like we didn’t get any ground balls in the last three games except for in faceoffs, so we have to be better there.”

The Dragons are set to play the No. 9 University of Notre Dame at 1 p.m. at Vidas Field March 3.

The Dragons won a tight overtime matchup 7-6 over the then-No. 3 Fighting Irish the last time the two met at Vidas March 9, 2010, as then-freshman Church led the way with the game-winning goal.

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Senior midfielder Kevin Stockel shows some intensity in a game at Vidas Field. In the Dragons game against the No. 1 University of Virginia, Stockel scored one goals on six shots off the bench.

The Dragons managed to hold an 8-7 lead until the fourth quarter, when they allowed two goals with less than eight minutes remaining in the game, falling to the No. 1 team in the country. It marked the fifth consecutive year the Dragons dropped the season opener to UVA.

On paper, Drexel played better than the Cavaliers, outshooting them 41-24. Unfortunately those stats didn’t translate into goals, causing the Dragons to come up short where it counted most.

“We had some opportunities, and we didn’t capitalize,” head coach Brian Voelker said.

Virginia was the first to score when Chris Bocklet beat Drexel goalkeeper Mark Manos. It almost became a 2-0 hole for Drexel after the ball was mishandled by Manos near the net, but he was able to recover for the save.

The first quarter would end in a tie after Brendan Glynn, who had 23 goals in 2011, knotted it with his first goal of this season. It was the first of three unanswered goals from the home team, as they advanced late in the second quarter with a 4-2 advantage.

After a timeout late in the second, Virginia would settle down and then follow with a run of three goals of its own, with the last one giving them a 5-4 lead. Rob Emery started the run by scoring his first of two goals on the afternoon immediately following the timeout.

The third quarter was filled with prominent shooting. After seven goals in a short period of time, the score was tied for the sixth time in the contest. Owen Van Arsdale of Virginia scored two goals of his own less than two minutes apart from each other.

Shortly after that, the momentum changed briefly in the Dragons’ favor when the Cavaliers’ Chris Clements was called for crosschecking. Having the extra man, Drexel took advantage of that opportunity to get within one goal.

The third quarter’s final goal came from Glynn with three seconds remaining after Andrew Collins created a turnover and then made a nice pass from the side of the net to find Glynn in the waning moments. It was Glynn’s second of the game.

Rolling with the momentum, Drexel was able to retake the lead — the Dragons’ secondof the game — less than five minutes into the final quarter. Scoring his second goal of the game, Nick Trizano completed another string of three straight Dragon goals. The 8-7 lead would be the final for Drexel, as they would not score again.

Trizano would leave the game shortly after that after pulling a hamstring, which likely contributed to the deflated offensive attack.

“You know, it hurt at the end of the game,” Voelker said. “Trizano scored the big goal to [take the lead] then pulled his hamstring and was out for the rest of the game, and it really took the wind out of our sails on the offensive end.”

Virginia proceeded to score back-to-back goals, taking the lead at 9-8 and holding it for the rest of the game.

“Throughout the entire game, I knew we had a good chance of winning,” Trizano said. “And having a lead in the fourth quarter does give you some confidence, but anytime you play a team as good as Virginia, a one-goal lead is never enough.”

A big part of the defensive effort was the game played by Dana Wilber. Going up against 2011 Tewaaraton Award Winner Steele Stanwick, Wilber limited him to two shots and held him without a point in the contest. Wilber was named the Colonial Athletic Association player of the week for his impressive performance.

Defense is something Voelker wants to continue to improve on throughout the season.

“I thought the defense played well. I thought Mark played well, and I thought all over we played pretty well,” Voelker said. “It’s just a real tough, athletic defending champions team. We hung in there with them, ended up going punch for punch, and they ended up winning and we didn’t.”

Voelker looks to learn from the experience and move forward with a successful season.

“I’m telling them to keep their heads up. This is obviously a very good team, and I think we left it out on the field,” Voelker continued. “I’m proud of the way our guys played. I’m bummed out, and it hurts to lose, but I’m proud of the way our guys played.”

The team is encouraged going forward as they get ready to face Albany on the road this week.

“Keeping with [Virginia] for the entire game just proved to us that we are a good team and that we should have a good season,” Trizano said.

The Great Danes, who lost 12-7 to Syracuse in their opener, will host the Dragons at 1 p.m. Feb. 25.

“We’ve got a tough game going up to Albany next weekend,” Voelker declared. “We need to get on the bus and go up there and get our first win.”

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Senior goalie Mark Manos stands attentively in goal at Vidas Field. As a junior Manos boasted a 9.09 goal against average, and an 8-6 record.

As veteran goaltender Mark Manos enters his final year, he hopes to leave Drexel on top.

“The expectation is always high, but being that it’s my senior season, it means a lot to me and the rest of the seniors that we do things the right way and that we work hard every day,” Manos said. “It is a special season for us because it’s our last shot here at Drexel, which is unfortunate, but it is great at the same time because everybody is rallying around us, and we want to take this team to another level.”

Though it is always a team effort when the Dragons take the field, there’s no denying the mark that Manos has made during his time in Drexel uniform.

As a freshman Manos snagged the title of Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year by earning his spot as starting goalie. Moving into his sophomore year he was named Third Team All-American after helping his team earn four wins against top-10 teams, and he later received the title of CAA Defensive Player of the Year. As a junior the success only continued, as he was named Honorable Mention All-America and finished the season with 166 saves.

Which brings us to today, where he perhaps attained his most notable achievement — being selected in the 2012 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft in the third round (20th pick overall) by the expansion Charlotte Hounds. He was the second goalkeeper selected in the draft and will be playing for the Hounds during their first MLL season.

“It’s an awesome opportunity that I have to continue my lacrosse career after college, but right now the big focus is Drexel,” Manos said. “Obviously it’s something to look forward to, but for now it’s all Drexel all the time. … I have to stay focused on the task at hand, and that’s hopefully winning the CAA and making it to the National Championship.”

Manos isn’t the only senior with a lot to be proud of. Fellow seniors Frank Tufano and Kyle Bergman were both named to the 2012 Preseason All-CAA team. They were selected for the team by the seven CAA coaches.

“All the guys on this team deserve to be recognized — they go out every day and work their butts off to get this team where we want it to go, and I can’t give those guys any more credit,” Manos said. “It’s absolutely amazing what they do every day for us. It’s just the work ethic that everyone on our team has to go out and compete — you can’t ask for any more.”

Last season Tufano led his team in ground balls and caused turnovers, earning himself the title of the CAA’s current top long-stick midfielder. Bergman, who plays midfield, also had quite the season last year with 19 goals, 12 assists and 31 points overall. He is entering his senior year with a total of 65 points.

As a whole, the Dragons were picked to finish fifth in the CAA by the coaches’ poll. More impressively, they are ranked 20th in the nation by the preseason United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Coaches Poll.

“It’s awesome to be preseason ranked that high,” Manos said. “We have a lot of expectations for ourselves, and we want to get way up there. We want to be in the top five, the top 10 — it’s something that we strive for. Being ranked 20th right now is great, but we definitely have higher expectations.”

In their USILA company are fellow CAA teams Hofstra University at No. 14 and the University of Delaware at No. 19. Also in the poll is the University of Virginia Cavaliers, who happen to be the reigning national champions and Drexel’s first opponents of the season. The Cavaliers hold the No. 1 spot in the poll.

Needless to say, the Dragons’ first game may very well be the toughest of the season.

“Virginia is a great team,” Manos said. “They have a lot of senior leadership coming in and a lot of great players. We go out every day, and we work hard in order to take our team to the next level, and this is the first step to get to where we want to go — and hopefully we will come out Saturday with a huge win.”

Drexel takes on Virginia Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. at Vidas Field.

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Drexel senior goalie Mark Manos makes a save against University of Deleware senior attackman Grant Kaleikau at Vidas Field. The Dragons will start their regular season Feb. 18 against Virginia University.

“We are going to do everything we can to win the Colonial Athletic Association conference and make the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament,” head coach Brian Voelker said. “I think last year we felt like it was a good year, but there were obviously some things we could improve on.”

Some of those things include boosting the team’s overall record, which was 8-2 last year, as well as its conference record, which was an even .500 with a record of 3-3 in the CAA.

After looking back on the season, Voelker believes there is one thing in particular that his team can do better.

“The bottom line is we just have to go out and work real hard,” Voelker said. “I think we were a little better offensively than we thought we were going to be last year, and defensively we underperformed a little bit, so we are hoping to play as well on the offensive end and perform better on the defensive end [this season].”

With nine seniors returning and 11 new players joining the roster, the coaching staff has a good selection of potential position players.

The new faces include three attackmen, six midfielders and two defensemen. Cory Dobyns, Ryan Belka and Chris Frederick are joining the attackmen while James Esser, T.J. Foley, Chris Joyce, Mason Pynn, Nick Saputo and Clifton Simeon are joining the midfielders. Finally, Donald Dalton and Pat Root are the newest defensemen.

Some of these lucky novice players will earn a solid amount of playing time while others may not be as fortunate.

“I think down on the defensive end, things are definitely pretty locked in from guys that are returning from last year,” Voelker said. “But the guys we really see stepping up and playing a lot as freshman are probably from the midfield — Mason Pynn, Ryan Belka, Clif Simeon and then Nick Saputo as a face-off guy. Those four are probably the young guys that will get a pretty good amount of playing time for us.”

These new players can learn a thing or two from the returning players on the roster. Some of the veterans include Frank Tufano, Dana Wilber and Brian Teuber on defense, Kyle Bergman and Kevin Stockel at midfield, and heavy shooters Robert Church and Brendan Glynn on offense.

And the talent and leadership does not end there.

“We have a little bit more of a senior-driven team this year,” Voelker said. “There are nine of them on the team, and I think eight of them are going to play a big role in the success of our season.”

More specifically, Andrew Collins and Chris Farquhar are two seniors that have performed at a high level for the team in the past and hopefully will continue to do so in their final year as Dragons.

If you are reading this article and are even the slightest bit familiar with the men’s lacrosse team, then you know that one very large piece of the roster has not been mentioned yet. That, of course, is none other than goalie Mark Manos.

This will be his final year gracing the Drexel net, and Voelker anticipates the big man will go out with a bang.

“We are expecting a big year out of Mark. In my mind, he is one of the best players in the country; he is one of the best goalies in the country,” Voelker said. “He has had a good preseason, and as a coach he does everything we ask of him. He is a really good leader, he is a very talented player, and he is a hard worker, so we are expecting him to step up and have a great year.”

Voelker plans on having his defensive players act as a wall for their goalie so that scoring on Drexel is a nearly impossible feat for opposing teams.

The Dragons are set to take on the University of Maryland-Baltimore Country in a scrimmage Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. at Vidas Field. Though the scrimmage is first on the team’s to-do list, they can’t help but focus on their big, annual season-opening match against the University of Virginia coming up just a week later.

“They are the defending national champions, so we are going to have to work really hard to come out with a win against those guys,” Voelker stated. “We have had a pretty good preseason — some ups and downs, some bumps and bruises, injuries, but I think the kids are working really hard, and they are really focused on the [Virginia] game on the 18th.”

With a challenging season ahead of them, it’s time for the men’s lacrosse team to buckle down and pull out some big wins.

And let’s not forget the preseason NCAA coaches’ poll, which ranks the Dragons as the No. 20 team in the nation.

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Former Dragon attacker Colin Ambler (13) played four seasons at Drexel (2007-10) and finished 11th all-time in the record books with 152 points (86 goals and 66 assists) . His father, Bob Ambler played from 1972-75 and is the top points scorer in program history with 231.

Some people often ponder, “Where did all that talent come from? How did he get to be that good?” In some cases, it’s completely random when athletes appear to be almost a different type of breed than everyone else on the field. However, for Colin Ambler, there is much credit to be given to his father, Robert Ambler, the all-time leading scorer for Drexel lacrosse.

This all-around athlete proved to be a dominant force on the basketball courts, as well as the lacrosse field. Nevertheless, Ambler only played on the courts for two years, while he finished his fourth and senior year with the lacrosse team. Ambler was honored as an All-American player at Abington High School, which kick-started his years of athletic success in the future.

Ambler has been prominently recognized among Drexel’s athletic department for the past few decades after his highly earned success. By his senior year in 1975, he earned the Lt. Greene Award, which is given annually to Drexel’s top graduating student-athlete. In addition, he was honored with the Epstein Lacrosse Award as the team’s MVP.

This two-time co-captain’s success doesn’t just end there. According to Drexeldragons.com, he was an All-East Coast Conference All-Star. As a senior he played in the North-South All-Star Game and was recognized as the top senior goal scorer in the nation. He set Drexel records with 231 career points and 76 points in a season. Ambler tied the school record with 45 goals in a season and nine goals in a single game. Furthermore, he finished his career as a Dragon with 121 goals and 110 assists.

After graduating in 1975, Ambler continued on to coach lacrosse at Drexel and then at Villanova for eight years. In addition, as a teacher at Wissahickon High School, he founded the varsity lacrosse program, which he concurrently coached with varsity basketball.

For the Ambler family, lacrosse still consistently plays a huge role in their everyday lives. In 2008 Colin Ambler founded Wet Bandits Lacrosse as part of his co-op here at Drexel. This year-round club is built on improving the fundamentals and foundations of the game for players, and it offers the best experience to the community.

Both father and son have used this club as a chance to offer their combined experiences and knowledge of the sport to the community. It has successfully developed to be a premier program for all to join.

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Senior goalkeeper Mark Manos (above) is the first two-time All-American at Drexel University since 1971

Mark Manos, the Dragons’ goalkeeper, was selected in the third round of the Major League Lacrosse draft, which was held Jan. 13 in Philadelphia, by the Charlotte Hounds, a new expansion team of the MLL.

Manos was selected 20th overall with a pick Charlotte received in a trade with Long Island. To be selected in a draft chock-full of talented players is a tremendous honor for Manos.

The first pick in the draft was Cornell University attacker Rob Pannell, who was taken in the first round, which also included three players from Duke University and two from the University of Virginia. Some fellow Colonial Athletic Association players were also drafted with Manos, including the University of Massachusetts’ Anthony Biscardi and Tom Celentani, Penn State University’s Matt Mackrides and the University of Delaware’s Grant Kaleikau.

Manos’ selection should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the career of this sensational senior netminder from West Chester, Pa. Manos took over the starting job with the Dragons midway through his freshman year, and he never looked back. He won the CAA’s Freshman of the Year award in 2009 when he finished ninth in the country in save percentage.

In 2010 Manos added some more hardware to his ever-growing collection when he was named Third Team All-American, First Team All-CAA and CAA Defensive Player of the Year. He led the CAA in goals-against averaging (8.29), save percentage (.585) and saves per game (11.27), not to mention finishing seventh in the nation in save percentage. Most importantly, though, Manos led the Dragons to four wins against top-10 teams that year.

During his junior year, Manos was named an Honorable Mention All-American and finished 11th in the nation in save percentage (.563). He had 11 or more saves during 10 different games and finished that season with 166 total saves.

Charlotte is obviously getting a great goaltender whom they hope will be a fixture between the pipes for seasons to come.

Manos is the first Drexel athlete to be named to two All-American teams in 40 years.

Of course, before Manos makes the jump to the big leagues, he still has some unfinished business to take care of at Drexel.

The Dragons’ regular season starts up Feb. 18 when they welcome national powerhouse University of Virginia to Vidas Field. Manos and Drexel also take on the University of Notre Dame, Bucknell University and a full docket of CAA games this year, including bouts with St. Joseph’s University, Penn State, UMass and the University of Delaware.

Drexel looks to improve upon last year’s 8-6 mark and take advantage of having one of the best goalies in the nation.

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Head Coach Brian Voelker gives his payers direction during a 2010-11 game. Voelker is entering his third season as head coach and hopes to make this season the best yet.

Like a great wine that gets better with age, the men’s lacrosse team improves each year with the guidance of head coach Brian Voelker.

Voelker is entering his third season as the Dragons’ head coach — and he didn’t have to travel far for the job. After seven years of coaching the University of Pennsylvania, he packed up and moved right across the street. How does coach feel about the big move? He loves it.

“When coaches move around, most of the time you don’t get the opportunity to pack a box, walk three blocks and go to your new office — but my wife and I love it here in Philly — the administration, the fan support, the kids at the school have really supported the program and the kids on the team here have been really good,” Voelker said. “Drexel has been a great move for me personally, and for my family, so we are excited to be here … and a Dragon is much cooler than a Quaker.”

And we are certainly excited to have this talented coach. He brings with him years of experience and a laundry list of accolades. As a former lacrosse player himself, he graced the fields of  Johns Hopkins and certainly earned his spot on the roster. He was a three-time All-American defenseman for the Blue Jays.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg — Voelker also played for the Philadelphia Wings and earned three championships — and not to mention he made the United States World Team and won both years that he played.

When asked how he translates his defensive background to a full-field coaching approach, Voelker says he owes a lot of his success to his all-star assistant coaching staff.

“I have been lucky. The places I have been and the teams that I have coached have had strong assistant coaches that can handle that end of the field,” Voelker said. “I think our whole coaching staff kind of works together and does a lot of things together; I also roll up my sleeves and coach a lot of the defensive stuff for our team and just feel confident that I can give Conor [Ford] [the offensive] half of the field and he is going to get the job done.”

With 11 new players joining the roster, the coaching staff has their hands full with potential position players. Although they are young, the coaches are looking for determination and a solid skill set in their new players — most of which already have both.

The new faces include three attackmen, six midfielders and two defensemen. Cory Dobyns, Ryan Belka and Chris Frederick are joining the attackmen, while James Esser, T.J. Foley, Chris Joyce, Mason Pynn, Nick Saputo and Clifton Simeon are joining the midfielders. And finally Donald Dalton and Pat Root are the latest members of the long sticks.

“We got our first dose of [the new players] yesterday, and as a coach you never really know what to expect until you get the guys here and you see them running around,” Voelker stated. “But some of the young guys played well yesterday, and I think there are a couple of them who are going to compete for playing time.”

Even with budding stars, there is a whole host of returning players to look out for. Starting with, as Voelker puts it “the guy that literally and figuratively stands out for [the Dragons],” goaltender Mark Manos. With a big stature and larger-than-life stick skills, he’s got it going on. The two-time All-American will certainly stand tall in the goal and block off potential competitors.

Other returning players to look out for are Frank Tufano, Dana Wilber and Brian Teuber on defense, Kyle Bergman and Kevin Stockel at midfield, and heavy shooters Robert Church and Brendan Glynn on offense.

In addition, Voelker feels that Andrew Collins and Chris Farquhar are two seniors that have strongly impacted the team in the past and will likely step up and perform in their final years as Dragons.

With the fire lit under their bums from the “disappointing” 8-6 previous season, the coaches and players have set high expectations for the team.

“I think that [disappointment] is actually a good thing for our program — when you have a year that you are above .500, you did pretty well, but our team just wasn’t satisfied with it,” Voelker said. “We have lofty goals for the program; we want to be the best team in the CAA, we want to be in the NCAA tournament and we want to be the perennial team that makes the playoffs. We have got a ways to go to get there but the guys have been working hard towards those goals.”

Although these goals are large, they are far from out of reach. With the guidance of Voelker and his assistant coaches as well as the apparent talent on the team, there’s no stopping the Dragons from blowing fire all over their opponents. Really, there is only one thing left to say: NCAA here we come.

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The Drexel women’s crew varsity eight boat, pictured above, is one of many premiere athletic teams at Drexel. The men’s and women’s crew program as a whole has outperformed competitors consistently over the past three seasons, including their stronghold on the local, yet renowned, Dad Vail Regatta.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JULIA FISHER — ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

So, college — not too sure what to expect, right?

Well, read on and you shall find yourself enlightened at the culmination of this ever-so informative piece.

Your college experience will begin as follows: you will make your way onto campus via some sort of transportation, most likely mom and dad’s family car. Next they will move you in, embarrass you a bit in front of your soon-to-be close friends, and after a few laps around campus and a fully stocked mini-fridge, they will eventually leave you on your own as you begin your journey at your new institution. Now, obviously the point of coming to Drexel is for you to get an education and leave as a distinguished graduate, but there is no reason you can’t have fun while you’re here.

We are here to help and guide you in that regard. The following is our extremely opinionated guide to our very own Drexel athletics.

First things first, we see that you have noticed a gaping flaw in our fine institutions athletics program: where’s the football? Well the easiest way to put it is that we have been undefeated since 1973, back when we were Drexel Tech.

No worries though, as there are many other fine athletic competitions you can attend.

In the fall, we suggest attending a field hockey game. Now we know that doesn’t come off as sounding as thrilling as a Notre Dame football game, but here at Drexel we love our field hockey, especially the recently graduated two-time Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, Christina Mastropaolo. The Dragons have finished the season ranked inside the nation’s Top 20 each of the past three seasons, including their exciting trip to the elite eight of the NCAA tournament two seasons ago, when they finished the season ranked tenth.

We also suggest attending a men’s or women’s soccer game. Both programs are filled with budding stars waiting to break out and have a big season. Other fall sports to choose from are golf, tennis, crew and squash. Crew and squash specifically should catch your eye because crew has absolutely dominated in NCAA competition for the last two years and is bound to do so once again, including one of the largest races in the nation right here on the Schuylkill. As for squash, this will be the program’s first year of Division I competition, while Drexel itself will also play host to the 2011 U.S. Open Squash Championships.

In the winter comes Dragon fans’ slam dunk attraction, men’s and women’s basketball. One thing every student should do before graduation is travel to neighboring UPenn for a Drexel-UPenn basketball game, because there is no atmosphere better than the one at the Palestra as the Dragons run up and down the court against the Quakers. Also, after one of the largest wins in school history over Louisville in Kentucky last year, the Dragons are poised to make a postseason run this year, so you want to make sure you go to as many games as you can. With an extremely young and talented roster, Dragons everywhere are crossing their fingers for a trip to the Big Dance for the first time since Malik Rose took them there in 1996.

But hey, the women are no slouches either, with their most recent NCAA tournament invite coming in the 2008-09 season. The Dragons have finished in the top five in the CAA the last four seasons, competing in postseason play in two of them as well. Kamile Nacickaite will be a player to look out for as she hopes to lead her team to the postseason. Women’s basketball is another can’t-miss sporting event this winter.

Also, for basketball in general, students MUST make sure they attend at least one home game against Delaware University – now that is a true college rivalry. Regardless of whether or not the Blue Hens are visiting, the DAC Pack will always represent our university with pride and enthusiasm. You will be able to spot the blue and gold from miles away — not to mention you will certainly be able to hear them cheering on our Dragons and booing any opposing team.

Also on our list of winter sports are  wrestling, swimming and diving. The wrestling team is heading into its first season of the post-Jack Childs era, the winning coach in NCAA history, and will be leaning on third-year star captain Joe Booth, the only member of the program to wrestle in the NCAA tournament that took place at the Wells Fargo Center in March.

You can also take a splash into the swimming and diving program. These aquatic mavens have a handful of young up-and-comers that are sure to make their marks on CAA and NCAA competition. I mean come on, who doesn’t want to go to a pool in the middle of winter? It will amp you up, and get you ready for the spring.

In the spring there is another program that has been lauded by Drexel fans of late, and that is the men’s lacrosse team. They have earned berths into the CAA tournament five years in a row and have been ranked among the top teams in the nation consistently over the last few years. Their most powerful win in recent memory was an overtime victory at home against Notre Dame, a perennial powerhouse. The Dragons will be heading into the season without the nation’s second leading scorer in 2011 in last season’s CAA Player of the Year, Scott Perri. Much of the burden will fall on Robert Church, the Dragons’ second leading scorer last season as a sophomore. Also in line to lead the program will be senior goaltender Mark Manos, who happens to be the 2010 CAA Defensive Player of the Year.

And let’s not forget the women’s lacrosse team. They qualified for the CAA tournament last season for the first time in program history and will look to follow attackers Charlotte Wood, a member of last year’s Tewaaraton Award watch list, and Alyse Maiden, team’s second leading scorer behind Wood.

Guard Gerald Colds had his best season as the lone senior on the 2010-11 men’s basketball team, averaging 9.7 points per game and playing a team-high 32.3 minutes per game His 9.7 points per game were good for third on the team in scoring, behind Samme Givens (12.2) and Chris Fouch (14.9).

Also in the spring will be some of the fall teams one again in crew, golf and tennis. One of our returning tennis players that you should look out for is Nikoloz Kurdadze — he is an ace on the court and a leader off – and the tennis team will certainly make a slam on the Drexel program this year.

And wait, did we mention that when you attend these games,  you will be accompanied by Drexel’s most devoted fan, Calvin? If you aren’t already pumped up, he will be sure to raise your level of enthusiasm and make the sporting events truly unforgettable.

And let’s not forget, if you decide that you would rather be in the action than sitting in the stands, we have a list of club teams you can join. Ranging from karate to our first class hockey teams to our rough and tough rugby players — there’s no reason why you can’t be involved with Drexel athletics.

We hope this helps guide you on your journey as a Drexel Dragon — and we can’t wait to see all of you at the sporting events. Either at the DAC or somewhere as far off as say, the Virgin Islands for a preseason basketball tournament … you’ll have to look into it.

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Drexel sophmore attackman Nick Trizano and Robert Church play offence against Delaware

Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team

The Philadelphia Inquirer has chosen to honor seven different Drexel student-athletes by naming them to the Academic All-Area Team. These student-athletes were able to maintain a 3.2 grade-point average while also excelling on the field, court or in the water.

The athletes honored were rowers Lorenzo Albala, Randall Lee and Jacob Sloan; pitcher Hillary Allen and catcher Paige Collings from the softball team; tennis star Nikoloz Kurdadze; and attackman Robert Church from the men’s lacrosse team.

Rowing

The Drexel women’s varsity eight boat stroke, junior Elizabeth Bratton, has been named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Women’s Rowing Scholar Athlete of the Year. After placing fourth at the CAA Championships and second in the consolation finals at the Dad Vail Regatta, she earned All-CAA honors as well.

Women’s Basketball

As previously reported, the Drexel women’s basketball team will be participating in the preseason Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Dragons will open their season as host to Long Island University Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at the DAC.

If the Dragons win the game, they will take on the winner of the Manhattan at Hartford game. Other teams in the Preseason WNIT are national powers Baylor and Notre Dame along with Akron, Chattanooga, Detroit, ETSU, Howard, Indiana State, McNeese State, Tennessee Tech and the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Before beginning their season at the DAC in Philadelphia, the women will travel overseas for an early start to their season in Italy. They will play four games in Rome and Florence. \ The Dragons had previously traveled to Spain for the same type of preseason trip in 2007.

Wrestling

New Drexel wrestling head coach Matt Azevedo has made his first two hires for his staff. Azevedo has hired Zack Sheaffer and Todd Schavrien as his assistant coaches.

Sheaffer was most recently the assistant coach and interim head coach at Clarion University. Before that, he was an assistant at Limestone College. He is also a former heavyweight All-American as an undergrad at Pittsburgh.

Shavrien recently graduated from the University of Missouri. He was the 141-pound Big 12 champion in 2011, along with earning All-American status.

Field Hockey

Drexel head field hockey coach Denise Zelenak served as the New Jersey High Performance team head coach at the Junior Women’s National Championships. Zelenak led her team to its first ever championship title. Her team won 4-0-1 in the tournament, and they were helped to that record by incoming Drexel freshmen Christina Conrad and Meghan Plank.

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Senior attackman Scott Perri of the Drexel men’s lacrosse team finished the 2011 season as the second leading scorer in the NCAA with 66 points. He was also named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year.

The Semanik awards, named after two of Drexel’s past athletic directors, are awarded to the most outstanding student-athletes at Drexel in the past year. The Semaniks, the namesakes for these awards, were responsible for taking Drexel into Division I competition in the 1970s.

This year’s recipients both happened to be named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year in their respective sports. For Mastropaolo, this is her second consecutive year earning that honor.

When selecting the recipients for this award, Drexel’s athletic director Eric Zillmer and the rest of his committee look at several different aspects.

“What we try to do is celebrate the two athletes — female and male athletes — who bring together all of the values that we celebrate at Drexel athletics: athletic excellence, academic excellence, community outreach, responsibility, leadership, creativity — we celebrate all those value in one person,” Zillmer said.

According to Zillmer, Perri and Mastropaolo exemplify these qualities that every student-athlete at Drexel is expected to hold in high esteem.

“This year Perri and Mastropaolo, they were both CAA Players of the Year in two sports that are near the top in the country,” he said. “Women’s field hockey is one of the best conferences in the country and so is men’s lacrosse. For Drexel to have the player that the CAA considered to be their best player, in Christina’s case two-time CAA Player of the Year, it’s a great celebration that kind of caliber of student-athletes who want to come to Drexel and represent Drexel.”

Zillmer went on to say that Drexel normally prides itself as an institution that emphasizes teamwork and group success. The Semanik Awards are the one time where the athletic department sits down and highlights the accomplishments of the individuals who stand out as quality athletic ambassadors for the University.

Mastropaolo finished 2010 as the top statistical field hockey player in Drexel history. Throughout her time as a Dragon she earned several accolades in addition to her two CAA Player of the Year awards. She was also a two-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-America pick. The Harleysville, Pa., native also holds the all-time marks for Drexel in goals (60), game winning goals (19) and points (146).

But, the most important thing she did during her time at Drexel was during their first ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2009, when she led the Dragons all the way to the Elite Eight. Throughout that season as well as this past year, Mastropaolo led her team to victory over many highly regarded opponents.

“Just think about, during [Mastropaolo’s] four years here, the teams that [the field hockey team] beat: Stanford, California, Duke, UConn — and [they were] undefeated in the state of Pennsylvania in over 20 games.”

Perri, co-captain of the men’s lacrosse team, had the second best statistical year for a Dragon in program history with 66 points. Along with being named CAA Player of the Year, Perri was also second in the nation in points per game as well as in the top 10 in goals and assists.

The Smithtown, N.Y., native finishes his career as a Dragon ranked 11th all-time in goals with 89, 10th all-time in assists with 59 and 12th all-time in points with 148. He was successful not only on an individual level, but also as a leader of the charge for some of Drexel’s greatest wins in recent memory, including a career-high eight-point performance.

“Think about the goals that [Perri] scored, one of the all-time leaders, not only in the nation but in the history of our sport,” Zillmer said. “The teams that men’s lacrosse was associated with beating; he was part of the Notre Dame win. People didn’t talk about Drexel University having their athletic department create a situation where Notre Dame would come to them to play on their field, and then we beat them in overtime. This year when we beat No. 19 Penn State, he was very instrumental in that.”

The one constant shared by the two honorees is that they are both top scorers in the Drexel’s history. These two players exemplify what it means to be a Dragon and represent the Drexel community with pride.

“There’s something about being an athlete and scoring,” Zillmer said. “In most sports, it’s about scoring and there’s something special. It’s hard to define it verbally or to put it in a box, but when you see it you know that those people have it.”

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Junior goalkeeper Mark Manos of the Drexel men’s lacrosse team stands at the ready in the net during a Dragons home game at Vidas Field.

The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association named two Drexel Dragons to the All-America team as Honorable Mentions. Senior attackman Scott Perri, the 2011 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, and junior goalkeeper Mark Manos were the two players selected.

This is Manos’ second straight season being nominated for the All-America team, making him the first Dragon to have two nominations since 1971, and the first to have consecutive nominations since 1961.

Perri was not only the CAA Player of the Year, but also the second top scorer in the nation.

He was recently named as the recipient of the 2011 Mary and John Semanik award, given annually to the top male and female Drexel student athletes.

This is the first time since 1961 that Drexel has had two athletes named to the All-America team. If Manos has another outstanding season next year and earns these honors for a third consecutive year, he will be the first Dragon to do so in the program’s 65-year history.

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