Drexel University
Northeastern
Dragons' Scintillating Senior-Day Performance Comes Up Just Short Against Huskies
10/22/2006 4:42:24 PM | Men's Soccer
Philadelphia, Pa. - Playing their final home match of the 2006 season, the Dragons turned in one of their best performances of the season, outshooting Northeastern 18-9 while attempting to recover from a 2-0 deficit. But Drexel's efforts on Senior Day fell just short in a 2-1 loss to Northeastern (7-9-2, 5-4-1 CAA). In his final home match as a Dragon, senior Dominick Baslamo collected his 13th career assist which moved him into sole posession of 11th place among Drexel's all-time assist leaders.
Matthew Laning and Alexander Volk hooked up on both of the Huskies goals. Sophomore Brandon Fischer scored his first career goal for the Dragons during a second period in which Drexel outshot Northeastern 14-4.
Drexel appeared to control the pace of play in the opening minutes of the match as Northeastern seemed resigned to crowd midfield and bide its time waiting for a Drexel miscue to create a scoring opportunity. Balsamo, playing with renewed vigor on his Senior Day, gave the Dragons their first tallying threats of the match when he knodded down a high cross from Anthony Bafile in the 21st minute, forcing the Huskies' Mahmoud Talaat to come up with a good save. Minutes later Balsamo would put a volleyed shot on goal from the top of the penalty box while falling to his right. All three of the seniors shots in the contest were on goal, with his best work coming in the second half.
The Huskies halted Drexel's momentum when they struck first in the 23rd minute. Alexander Volk, blasted a shot from the top of the penalty box. Drexel keeper Cory Robertson dove and deflected the shot, but the rebound rolled wide to the right side of the box. Laning collected the ball about five yards inside the right side of the penalty box with room to line up and place his shot in the far left side of the net for a 1-0 Huskies' lead.
Northeastern took at 1-0 lead into halftime, edging the Dragons 5-4 in shots with two on goal. Drexel earned three corners to the Huskies' one but did not connect for a score.
Drexel dialed up the intensity in the second half and played with a sense of urgency in front of the home crowd for the final time this year. Bafile barely missed on an equalizer when he lofted a shot from the right side on the run that dove toward the right post. But with a steady win at the Dragons' backs, the ball bounced just wide of the net on the left side.
Two mintues later, in the 52nd minute of play, Northeastern would stun the Dragons with another score. This time Laning returned the favor by blasting a shot that rebounded off of Robertson to the foot of Alexander Volk, who assisted on Laning's first-half goal. Volk's kick caught the ball waist-high on his left side, knocking it down for one bounce before it found the net for a 2-0 Northeastern lead.
The Dragons nearly caught the Huskies in a post-goal malaise when second-half substitute Todd Wampler sent in a cross from the left side. The kick appeared to catch Talaat off guard and he had to reach back to volley the ball off the line with his hand to make the save.
Brandon Fischer would reward his teams' efforts in the 56th minute when he snuck behind the defense at the far post to connect on a cross from Balsamo to make it a 2-1 match. Positioned at the left post, Fischer patiently waited for the ball to complete its descent before reaching out his foot to volley the cross high into the right side of the net.
Fischer's goal rejuvinated the Dragons who went on to generate four quality scoring opportunities from that point in the match. In the 61st minute Balsamo sprinted to catch up to an in-ball as it rolled toward the end line. The senior dove for the kick and sent the ball across the face of the goal, over a stunned Talaat and a host of Northeastern defenders who expected the ball to roll out of bounds. Sophomore Kyle O'Connor sprinted in behind the defender and found himself wide open, but he couldn't slow his momentum enough to knod the ball down and into the goal, instead his header flew wide over the crossbar.
Three minutes later Wampler would get another chance to even the match when he found the ball at his foot on the left post off a set piece five yards outside of the penalty box. The sophomore unleashed a blast that might have ripped the net off the goal, but instead it found the hands of a diving Talaat for a sensational save.
Northeastern's keeper would again prove equal to the task in the 71st minute when Pat McCaffery served a beautiful ball into the penalty box from the right sideline about 15 yards beyond the midfield stripe. Balsamo made the run to catch up with it while taking the inside line to keep his body between the defender and the ball. He settled it on his foot and blasted a shot to the middle of the goal. Talaat read the play and positioned himself to make the save.
But the Dragons refused to conceed the contest and rallied one more time with just under three minutes left in the match. Balsamo keyed the play once more with service from the right side about eight yards outside of the penalty box. The low liner found its way to Mike Crosse near the top of the six-yard box. The sophomore ducked down to deflect it but the ball tipped off the back of his head and went through to the far side of the goal. The defense, which was gathered around Crosse to negate the header, was caught off guard when the ball went past. Bafile sprinted down the left side but arrived a split-second too late to settle the ball for a shot.
Northeastern was able to posess the ball for the final minutes and run the clock down while preventing Drexel from generating another scoring chance. Talaat made eight saves to give the Huskies their fifth-consecutive CAA victory and put them in position to claim a spot in the conference tournament. Robertson made four stops for the Dragons in the loss.
Balsamo and Kwesi Klass were honored prior to the match as part of Senior Day ceremonies. The seniors combined for more than 120 career starts as Dragons. Klass made his 63rd consecutive start for the team. Drexel closes out its 2006 campaign on the road against rival Delaware on Friday, Oct, 26 at 7:00 p.m.
DU 0 1 - 1
NU 1 1 - 2
Goal summary:
22:42 NU Matthew Laning (Alexander Volk)
52:11 NU Alexander Volk (Matthew Laning, Greg Kilkenny)
56:46 DU Brandon Fischer (Domick Balsamo)
Shots: DU 18, NU 9
Corners: DU 6, NU 4
Saves: Cory Robertson (DU) 4, Mahmoud Talaat (NU) 8
