Men's Soccer's Season Comes to an End in NCAA First Round

Thursday, November 21

Norfolk, Va.

6:00 p.m.

Drexel University

9-8-4

Old Dominion

11-5-1

Drexel

Old Dominion

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Men's Soccer's Season Comes to an End in NCAA First Round

11/21/2013 7:46:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

NORFOLK, Va. – The Drexel men's soccer team saw its season come to an end on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as it fell at Old Dominion, 5-1. Drexel saw the Monarchs take a lead in the fourth minute of the game and add two more scores before the game was 17 minutes old. Jared Girard scored for the Dragons, his third goal of the season.

The Dragons end their season 9-8-4 after winning the regular season and tournament championships in the Colonial Athletic Association and earning their second-straight NCAA Tournament bid. Old Dominion (11-5-1) will move on to face No. 6 seed Georgetown on Sunday afternoon.

Tim Hopkinson, the Conference-USA leader in points per game, scored twice in the first 15 minutes to put Old Dominion out in front. Jesse Miralrio added a goal and an assist. Girard scored the Dragons' goal midway through the second half off a set piece feed from Guido Pena. Despite the loss, Girard etched his name in the Drexel men's soccer record books with that score, the first by a Dragon in NCAA Tournament play since the first round of the 1963 tournament.

Old Dominion got on the board just under four minutes into the contest. Jesse Miralrio broke free in the box, charging up to the right of Drexel goalkeeper Tyler Afflerbach. His shot rocketed past Afflerbach, but hit off the crossbar and straight down without breaking the plane of the goal mouth. With the Dragons trying to pick up the loose ends on the broken play, Old Dominion's leading goal scorer, Tim Hopkinson, got behind Afflerbach and headed it home for the game's first goal.

Twelve minutes later, Hopkinson and the Monarchs struck again. Taking a feed from Ivan Militar up the middle, a streaking Hopkinson roped a shot past Afflerbach to give the Monarchs a two-goal cushion. That was followed just under one minute later when the Monarchs intercepted a Drexel clear up the left side. Cole Stringer brought the ball into the box and laced one that ticked off the crossbar, this time continuing through to the back of the net.

The Monarchs got their fourth goal less than two minutes into the second half on just their sixth shot of the night. Miralrio struck from straight on, 15 yards out, in the 47th minute to add to the Old Dominion cushion.

Drexel got one its best looks of the night with about 30 minutes remaining when senior midfielder Ken Tribbett had two shots that just narrowly missed going on net. The first was a bicycle kick from short range, just to the right of Old Dominion netminder Sean Stowe. Tribbett connected while spinning through the air, but his shot went just to the left of the post, wide and out of play. Moments later, after the Dragons regained possession, they worked the ball to Tribbett 15 yards out in the middle of the box. He got a foot on a high bouncing ball, but couldn't keep it down as it sailed just over the crossbar.

In the 69th minute, the Dragons finally broke through. A hard foul by the Monarchs gave Drexel a free kick from 40 yards out. Guido Pena took the shot, directly on goal where Stowe mishandled the knuckling shot. It trickled behind him, allowing Jared Girard to duck behind the keeper and tap the ball home. It was his third goal of the season, and the first assist for Pena.

Drexel had another look in the 75th minute when John Grosh curled in a beautiful ball off a set piece from the left elbow, 30 yards out. It buzzed just over the defenders' heads, forcing Stowe to make a save with a partially blocked view of the play. In the 81st minute, Joaquin del Rosario attempted to net the Dragons' second goal but was turned away when his header was punched out of bounds on a nice lunging save by Stowe.

In the end, however, the Old Dominion lead proved too much to overcome, as the Monarchs walked away with the victory, adding a late goal in the 90th minute for the exclamation point. Drexel, the Colonial Athletic Association's champions, ends its spectacular season on a down note, but not before managing to become the first team in program history to earn back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths. Nathan Page, who led the Dragons with 13 points this season, finishes his illustrious career with 52 total points, 15th all-time in program history. Ken Tribbett, who earned All-CAA honors in each of his four seasons in University City and led the Dragons with five shots on the evening, ends up with 37.