Towson Bounces Drexel in CAA Semis, 11-8

Wednesday, May 1

State College, Pa.

5:30

Drexel University

11-4

Towson (Semifinals)

9-8

Towson

Drexel

5/1/2013 7:42:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Box Score

State College, Pa. – Drexel fell behind by six goals in the first half and had its comeback bid come up short in an 11-8 loss to Towson in the Colonial Athletic Association Semifinals. The Dragons cut the lead to two late in the third quarter but were held scoreless in the fourth quarter. Drexel is now 11-4 on the season, while the Tigers improved to 9-7. Towson will face Penn State in the CAA title game on Friday.

For the second straight time, the Tigers jumped out to an early lead against the Dragons. Ben McCarty got the Tigers on the board at the 11:27 mark of the first frame. Drexel answered almost immediately as Chris Frederick fed Ben McIntosh from behind the net, and the junior evened it at 1-1. The Tigers counterpunched with two quick goals, the first by Thomas DeNapoli and the second by McCarty. Hank Brown ended the goal scoring flurry, scoring on an unassisted bounce shot with 7:51 to play. Play settled down before for a few minutes before Rob Zoppo scored the final tally of the first, making it Towson, 4-2, at the end of one.

Towson dominated the second period, scoring four unanswered goals to take an 8-2 lead. Andrew Hodgson and Matt Hughes scored goals three minutes apart in the opening portion of the second quarter. Drexel struggled to get good possessions despite dominating the “x”. Towson made the Dragons pay as Ben McCarty scored two of his four first half goals in the closing minutes of the second quarter. The Tigers held the Dragons without a goal for a stretch of more than 22 minutes before Aaron Prosser broke the 5-0 Towson run.

Towson began the second half with an Andrew Hodgson goal that was set up by Thomas DeNapoli, making it 9-3. Drexel began its comeback attempt with three straight goals in a span of 2:41. All three goals were scored by Robert Church. The first one was as strange a goal as you will see. Towson tried to clear from behind its own net. The pass reached a Towson player in front of its own goal, but Church checked the ball out of the Tigers' player stick. The ball bounced directly back into the Towson net, giving the Dragons some much needed momentum. At the 8:50 mark Church was at it again scoring an unassisted goal after a spin move in front of the cage. On the ensuing face-off, Nick Saputo won it clean and fed Church for the hat trick, narrowing the lead to 9-6 with 8:44 left in the third.

McCarty briefly stopped the Dragons' offensive outburst with a goal at the eight minute mark. The Dragons came right back by scoring the last two goals of the quarter to trim the deficit to just two for the first time since midway through the first quarter. Garrett McIntosh took off in transition and fed Chris Frederick for the first of the two goals. Church set up Ben McIntosh for the other as the teams headed to the fourth with the Tigers in front, 10-8. Towson added an insurance goal early in the fourth when McCarty scored his sixth goal of the game. He came into the game with six goals. The Dragons were unable to score again and had four penalties in the fourth quarter hamper their comeback bid.

Nick Saputo had an outstanding game on draws. The sophomore won 19 of the 22 attempts in the game. Drexel outshot the Tigers, 44-37. Andrew Wascavage made 14 saves for Towson in the cage. Cal Winkelman made seven stops in a losing cause. Church scored three times and had five points in his final CAA Tournament game.